Don't Miss These Mississippi Destinations

Whether the two of you have visited Mississippi many times or are new to the state, you'll find a big variety of destinations, from music museums to historic mansions. Have a look at this list of unique locations when planning your next visit:

• The Blues is a music form that began in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, and is considered the only music original to the United States. The University of Mississippi Blues Archive in Oxford, contains the world's largest collection of Blues music.
• William Faulkner, one of the literary giants of the twentieth century, was born in New Albany. His accomplishments include winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award. He is considered to be the greatest writer of fiction during the first half of the 20th century. His novels include The Reivers, The Sound and The Fury, Light In August, and Absalom, Absalom. His home, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, is open to the public. At Rowan Oak, visitors may view Faulkner's room where an outline for A Fable has been scribbled on the wall by the author's own hand.
• Tupelo is the birthplace of the "King of Rock and Roll," Elvis Presley. Visitors may tour the Elvis Presley Museum, chapel and the two-room house where "The King" was born.
• Jimmie Rodgers, from Meridian, has long been recognized as "The Father of Country Music," and was the first name placed in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The Jimmie Rodgers Museum, in Meridian, is dedicated to this amazing performer who was known worldwide as "The Singing Brakeman," The museum features his original guitar, and other memorabilia of his life and career.
• Greenville is the birthplace of puppetmaster Jim Henson, creator of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big Bird, Cookie Monster... the list goes on and on. In Leland, where he spent his boyhood along Deer Creek, can be found the Birthplace of the Frog Museum, an exhibit dedicated to this unique individual who has made the world laugh and smile at the antics of his Muppets and the Sesame Street Characters.
• The Dentzel Carousel, circa 1892-99, in Meridian, is one of three two-row antique stationary Dentzel menagerie carousels in existence. Original paintings of museum quality adorn the top crown and all animals are meticulously hand-carved of basswood and poplar. For twenty-five cents you can take a ride on this remarkable National Historic Landmark.
• Windsor, circa 1860, near Port Gibson, was the largest antebellum mansion ever built in Mississippi. Because of its immense size, this stately home was often incorrectly referred to as a college by Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, as he piloted riverboats up and down the Mississippi River. The mansion's cupola served as a lookout post for both Union and Confederate patrols, and the mansion was used as a Union hospital. Windsor survived the destruction of the Civil War, only to burn in 1890, at the hands of a careless smoker. The haunting Ruins of Windsor, with its 23 remaining monolithic columns, has been filmed extensively and was the site of filming the major motion picture, Raintree County, staring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Cliff.
• The Singing River, in Pascagoula, murmurs a tragic tale of Indian lore. The Pascagoula Indians were a tribe of contented, idyllic people, whereas the Biloxi Indians considered themselves the 'first people, " and were jealous of the Pascagoula. Anola, a princess of the Biloxi tribe, was in love with Altama, chief of the Pascagoulas. She was betrothed to a chieftain of her own tribe, but fled with Altama to his people. Faced with enslavement by the Biloxi tribe, the Pascagoulas joined hands and began to chant a song of death as they walked into the river until the last voice was hushed by the dark, engulfing waters. The Singing River is famous worldwide for the noise it makes, like a swarm of bees. The music, which grows nearer and louder until it seems to come from under foot, is best heard in the still of evening, during late summer and autumn. Various scientific explanations have been offered for the phenomenon, but none have been proven.

For more on any of these destinations, visit www.visitmississippi.org

Photos courtesy VisitMississippi.org