Overview
Introduction
"The past is never dead," said William Faulkner. "It is not even past."
The author's famous quotation could be used as a slogan for his home state's tourism department. With a legacy of turbulence and grandeur, Mississippi's history takes center stage for visitors. You can see the antebellum homes created by the riches of the slave era, then visit the sites of the Civil War battles that brought an end to the plantations. You can learn about the great stories and songs that seem to grow from the state's troubles—everything from Faulkner's Southern Gothic fiction to the raw blues of Robert Johnson.
Or, if you prefer neon to magnolias, you can go to the casinos. Mississippi's more recent history includes a boom in gaming establishments, and although they may be less romantic than the state's pillared mansions, they draw a lot of travelers. There's gaming to be found throughout the state, and the Gulf Coast and Tunica County have benefited from a virtual second wind—and windfall—thanks to the revenue generated from casinos. Mississippi is now the third-leading gaming destination in the country after Nevada and New Jersey. Although many tourist attractions, restaurants and hotels along the beach were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005, most of the Coast's casino-hotels are back open.
Mississippi's short but attractive shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico shouldn't be overlooked, either, as it offers both developed resort areas and the quiet preserves of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. When planning your trip, make sure to detour around the Highway 90 bridges over Biloxi Bay and the Bay of St. Louis. New bridges are under construction to replace those destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Geography
Most of Mississippi is either relatively flat or made up of rolling hills of farmland and forest. The northeastern portion is the hilliest area, and much of the state is covered in pine and hardwood forests. The Mississippi River forms the western boundary, and other major rivers, notably the Pearl and the Yazoo, flow through the state. The Mississippi Delta is a flat alluvial plain with rich soil stretching from south of Memphis, Tennessee, to Vicksburg. The Gulf Coast, which is scalloped with shallow bays, sports a string of offshore barrier islands that are part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The scenic Pascagoula River is the last major river system in the U.S. that doesn't have its flow impeded by a dam.
History
The Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez tribes lived in villages near freshwater and along the coast and survived by farming (maize, squash, beans), hunting (deer, bear) and fishing. The Choctaw and other tribes of the Creek Confederacy had a rich cultural and religious life: Their annual calendar was marked by a series of first-fruit ceremonies, denoting the agricultural cycle.
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto was the first European to enter the territory (in 1540), and it was another year before he chanced upon the Mississippi River. In 1682, the French explorer Sieur de la Salle claimed the area for France. In 1699, French Canadian Pierre le Moyne established the first European settlement—Fort Maurepas—on Biloxi Bay. Over the next century, the French and Spanish laid claim to part or all of the area, but it came under U.S. control in 1803. Mississippi attained statehood in 1817, but it was not until the Native Americans of the region turned over their land in the 1830s that the state's role as an agricultural mainstay of the South emerged. King Cotton reigned over an economy that was powered by slave labor and dominated by large plantations.
Not surprisingly, Mississippi was quick to secede at the outbreak of the Civil War and played a major role in the conflict. But the cost was great: The Union Army devastated much of the state, and the years of Reconstruction were troubled and violent. African Americans were no longer slaves, but they were still denied full rights as citizens. Poor white Mississippians didn't fare much better—like black farmers, they found the sharecropper's existence a brutal one. Mississippi's long-ingrained racial divide has weakened considerably in recent decades, thanks in large part to the civil-rights struggles of the 1960s. How much the state has changed was evidenced by the 1994 conviction of Byron De La Beckwith for murdering civil rights activist Medgar Evers in 1963, and the 2005 conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for murdering civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in 1964. The movie Mississippi Burning was based on the quest for justice in the slayings of the young civil rights workers.
Many people think of Mississippi as one big cotton field. In fact, although cotton is still an important crop in the Mississippi Delta, most of the state is covered with forest. Mississippi remains a state heavily dependent on agriculture, with timber sales and poultry vying for the top spots each year as the largest cash commodities in the state. But the state also has a higher than average percentage of manufacturing workers. The Tupelo area is a major upholstery manufacturing center, and Pascagoula is home to one of the nation's largest naval shipyards, Northrop Grumman, as well as Chevron's largest refinery in the U.S.
Since gambling was legalized along waterways in Mississippi in 1990, a large number of jobs have been created at casinos that include hotels, theaters and often upscale golf courses. Increasingly, a larger percentage of jobs in the state are in the service industries.
Two of the state's largest economic-development projects are a Nissan factory located near Canton in the center of the state and a US$880 million SeverCorr steel mill near Columbus.
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina swept across the Mississippi Gulf Coast and brought a 30-ft/9-m storm surge that devastated the thriving tourist towns of Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Pass Christian, Biloxi and Gulfport. It is expected to take years to repair the damage to roads and bridges and may take a decade to rebuild all the homes, churches, schools and public buildings that were destroyed. Since Katrina damaged or destroyed an estimated 65,000 homes in South Mississippi, for the next decade, large numbers of construction workers will be needed to rebuild houses, apartments, businesses, churches and infrastructure such as bridges.
Mississippi has long had the reputation of being last among the states in a number of economic indicators. The state continues to have the lowest per capita income in the U.S. but has been making progress in reforms to reduce the high school dropout rates by making education more relevant to future careers. State funding for education has increased, and the state has excellent workforce-training programs for business and industry offered through community colleges.
Snapshot
Mississippi's chief attractions are antebellum homes, beaches, Biloxi and Gulfport, Civil War and civil rights sites, casinos, the blues, Oxford, the Natchez Trace, Gulf Islands National Seashore, the Pascagoula River, golf, fishing, birdwatching, historic attractions such as Vicksburg National Military Park, and scenic drives.
Travelers interested in southern culture and outdoor activities will enjoy Mississippi. It's an excellent state for touring at a relaxed, easy pace. Those travelers who are uncomfortable in hot, humid weather may find the state less to their liking in the summer.
Potpourri
The longest, largest man-made beach? The Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Mississippi has the most tree farms of any state and the most churches per capita.
The town of Holly Springs escaped destruction by Union troops because of a piano. After capturing the town, Union Gen. Benjamin Grierson discovered a Steinway piano in one of the mansions. When he learned that the piano's owner had studied with his former music teacher in New York, he called off the burning of Holly Springs and began playing.
Shoes were first sold in boxes as pairs in a Vicksburg shoe store.
Columbus was originally called Possumtown.
At one point in time, 500 millionaires lived in Natchez, making it the richest city in the U.S.
The world's only cactus plantation is in Edwards.
Famous Mississippians: Elvis Presley, Jimmie Rodgers, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, John Grisham, Barry Hannah, Jim Henson, Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Shelby Foote, Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones, Walter Payton, Brett Favre, Beth Henley, Bo Diddley and W.C. Handy.
Since the early 20th century, visitors have left offerings at the graves of Emil and Kelly Mitchell, the king and queen of the North American Gypsies. You'll find their graves in Meridian's Rose Hill Cemetery.
Vicksburg was left a port city without a port when the Mississippi altered its course. Only by diverting the Yazoo River was the city able to regain its port status.
Paul B. Johnson State Park was built by German prisoners of war imprisoned at Camp Shelby during World War II.
The country's first black members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were from Mississippi.
Neglected Union graves in the small town of Columbus led to the observance of Memorial Day. Confederate widows noticed the graves and believed that war casualties, from both the North and South, deserved better.
While Mississippi has the lowest per capita income, it is also listed as the most generous state in the country by the Catalogue of Philanthropy, because state residents give a greater percentage of their income to charity than residents of any other state.
