There are surprisingly few bridges over the Lower Mississippi River. They are located at the important (or formerly important) towns on the river and were natural stops for us.
Memphis, TN
Memphis is the largest of the Lower River towns we visited; it is a vibrant, colorful city and we enjoyed the barbecue, blues and Beale Street.
Memphis actually has multiple bridges spanning the Mississippi. On the left the I-40 interstate bridge and on the right the pedestrian bridge to Mud Island.
Beale Street and the South Main shopping district.
Mud Island Park’s Riverwalk. This is a model of the Mississippi River from Cairo, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. The model includes the river’s meanderings, towns and the bridges spanning the river. It is 2000 ft (600 m) long with a scale of 30 inches to a mile (1:63360). The last image is our destination, New Orleans, represented in the model.
Memphis, home of the Memphis Blues🎷🎷🎷
Helena – West Helena, AR
Helena was once the seat of the highest cotton producing county in the US. It is the birthplace of Conway Twitty and Sonny Boy Williamson. The annual King Biscuit Blues festival is held here every October and 30,000+ blues fans bolster the local economy for four days. (Helena is home to radio station KFFA; the original King Biscuit Hour was broadcast from here.) Today, Helena is a shadow of its former self. To be fair, we visited on a Sunday, but it was as if we stumbled onto a movie set during off hours…
There is a small, neat park at the end of Cherry St which dispelled a bit of the gloom… until you googled “What was the Elaine Massacre?”. The image on the right is a memorial to the victims of the massacre. From the memorial alone, unless you had previous knowledge, you would never know it was the largest race riot in the history of the US.
We left Helena-West Helena more aware of the havoc the loss of economic activity can have on a community. We saw this played out in upstate New York but, moving quickly into the tourist infrastructure of the Erie Canal, quickly forgot the dismal places. Here, in the middle of the country, you get reminded almost every day.
Greenville, MS
Greenville is another struggling river town. At one point, Greenville had a large marine industry servicing the tows and barges that run the river. The Carter administration’s Soviet Union grain embargo wiped out many of the players when grain transport for export was halted. Today there is only a single service still in operation. The Delta Blues scene was also a vibrant component of life in Greenville. Nelson Street was once lined with music venues like Beale Street in Memphis. Doe’s Eat Place, on Nelson St, was one of the blues clubs but continues today only as a restaurant, one the few remaining in town.
We stopped at Dockery Plantation on the way back to Greenville. The plantation was extremely well maintained and the inside workings of the cotton gin were fascinating. Check out the price for Premium at the gas station!!!😆 Dockery is also reported to be the birthplace of the blues; Charley Patton lived and learned his craft here.
Vicksburg, MS
All of the marketing material and tourist info we saw refer to Vicksburg as “The Key to the South”. The moniker was earned when Lincoln referred to Vicksburg’s strategic importance for Union victory during the Civil War and remains relevant today with the well-preserved historical and cultural attractions. Vicksburg is home to the National Military Park, which commemorates the battle for Vicksburg, and the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum, which showcases the river and the Army Corp of Engineers efforts to mange it.
The Union and Confederate lines are documented with blue and red plaques throughout the park. In some places, the lines are only a couple of feet apart… Also, this was all farm land before the battle and, like most all of the Delta farm lands, probably cleared by hand.
At the highest point in the park, you begin to understand why Vicksburg was so important a military asset. It was the highest terrain we had seen since Memphis.
The USS Cairo was one of seven ironclads, naval military vessels designed to navigate the river’s shallows. The Cairo was damaged in the battle of Vicksburg, sunk and was recovered in 1964. The museum has reconstructed the Cairo from parts salvaged from the original.
The Riverfront Murals on Catfish Row, the downtown arts district in Vicksburg.
