The Mississippi Blues Trail

Tour Inclusions: 8 nights’ accommodation; 8 breakfasts; 5 lunches; 8 dinners; admissions, entrance, and guide fees as stated in the itinerary, including taxes, and gratuity. Except gratuity for guide fees is not included on adult tours unless otherwise requested.

• Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center
• A Painted House Film Set Farmhouse
• Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Visitor Center
• Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center
• Crossroads Museum
• Helen Keller's Birthplace
• Muscle Shoals Sound Studios
• FAME Studios
• Alabama Music Hall of Fame
• Elvis Presley Museum
• BB King Museum & Delta Interpretive Center
• Ground Zero Blues Club
• Cotton House

• Visit the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center. The Museum and Educational Center emphasis includes literature of the period, 1930s world events, agriculture, family lifestyles and relationships, and development of Northeast Arkansas during the Depression and New Deal eras.
• Arrive in Lepanto, AR. and enjoy an included Lunch at a local steakhouse with a Personal Welcome from the Town Mayor!
• Visit A Painted House Film Set Farmhouse.  Many items used in making the movie are displayed in the vintage-looking house constructed for the film.
• Arrive at the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Visitor Center. The Dyess Colony was created in 1934 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to aid in the nation’s economic recovery from the Great Depression. As a federal agricultural resettlement community, it provided a fresh start for nearly 500 impoverished Arkansas farm families, including the family of music legend Johnny Cash. The colony has been resurrected through the restoration of several historic buildings open to visitors. The Dyess Colony Visitors Center, located in the Colony Circle at the former site of the theatre and pop shop, is the first stop.  It includes a gift shop, orientation video, and exhibits.  The Dyess Colony Administration Building next door houses exhibits related to the establishment of the colony, lifestyles of typical colonists, and the impact that growing up in Dyess had on Johnny Cash and his music. From the Colony Circle, visitors are shuttled to the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, less than two miles from the Colony Center.  It is furnished as it appeared when the Cash family lived there, based on family memories.
• Enjoy dinner included at a local café. Find a veggie plate and an array of fresh salad selections on the menu, all featuring ingredients sourced from no more than 100 yards from the cafe. The sleek interior is unexpected, boasting a rustic-industrial vibe, complete with shiny white subway tile work, industrial piping and rich, wooden tables and accents.
• Check-in to your local area hotel. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Prior to checking out, enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.
• Visit the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center.  A division of the National Park Service, one of the National Park Service’s newest visitor centers interprets the key role of Corinth, Mississippi, in the Civil War’s Western Theater. The 15,000 sq. ft. modern facility features interactive exhibits, a multimedia presentation on the Battle of Shiloh, and a video on the Battle of Corinth.
• Next, visit the Crossroads Museum, Corinth Depot and Historic Crossroads.  The museum sits only a few feet from the original tracks inside the Historic Corinth Depot and offers visitors a chance to get a glimpse of a passing train. Exhibits at the museum include Civil War relics, depot and railroad industry displays, fossils, Native American artifacts, and aviation memorabilia. On the museum grounds, there is a historic caboose and a Civil War cannon and carriage used during the Battle of Shiloh.
• Enjoy lunch included at an old drug store.  Founded in 1865 by former CSA Army surgeon A.J. Borroum, it is the oldest drug store in continuous operation in Mississippi. It houses Native American artifacts, Civil War relics, and an authentic, working soda fountain.  This business has been owned and operated by the Borroum family since its founding. They serve old time sodas and milkshakes at the soda fountain counter that will take you back to yesteryear, and they are known around these parts for having one of the best signature treats in Corinth – the Slugburger.
• Continue to The Shoals, visit the Florence Lauderdale Visitor Center.
• Tour the W.C. Handy Home & Museum. W.C. Handy, widely recognized as the Father of The Blues, was born in Florence, Alabama, in 1873.  Here you can feel the Blues down to your toes standing beside the very piano that shook with “St. Louis Blues” for the first time.
• Visit Helen Keller's Birthplace. The home and museum room are decorated with much of the original furniture of the Keller family. Each is highlighted by hundreds of Miss Keller's personal mementos, books and gifts from her lifetime of travel and lectures in 25 countries for the betterment of the world's blind and deaf-blind.
• Check-in to your local area hotel.
• Dinner is included at Swampers at the hotel. Your meal is accompanied by Muscle Shoals musicians and the special appearance of a “Swamper”. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.
• Arrive at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, formed in 1969 by four session musicians called The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who had left Rick Hall's nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recording facility.
• Enjoy a tour of FAME Studios. See the Recording Studio that recorded artists like Aretha Franklin with “Do Right Woman” & “I Never Loved a Man” which went on to win a Grammy for Album of the Year.  Many others recorded here like Wilson Pickett who fired off a string of classic recordings including “Mustang Sally,” and “Hey Jude” which featured Duane Allman.
• Enjoy lunch on own and free time in Downtown Tuscumbia.  We suggest lunch at the Superhero Chefs, the brain child of celebrity chef Darnell Ferguson who has appeared on The Food Network several times and won the 2018 Ultimate Thanksgiving Cook off. This is a superhero-themed restaurant serving urban eclectic American cuisine, and breakfast all day.
• Stop at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia which is a great place to start with exhibits honoring musicians from all over the Yellowhammer State. While the museum does cover the whole state, Shoals artists are well-represented among the display cases and busts of Hall of Fame inductees in the great hall.
• Return to your hotel, and enjoy dinner included at 360 Grille. Located on top of the Renaissance tower, the revolving restaurant offers breathtaking views of Florence. Soak in the sights as you indulge in delicious steaks, fresh salads, and more. (Meals: B, D)

• Prior to checking out, enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.  (DI)
• Depart for Tupelo, MS.
• Visit the Elvis Presley Museum - Completely renovated in 2006, the state-of-the-art museum displays new exhibits containing Tupelo artifacts, large photo-murals, and graphics and audiovisual presentations focusing on Elvis, his childhood, and his first music.
• Visit downtown Tupelo and the Hardware Store for unique Elvis souvenirs and enjoy lunch on own in a “Dive” and afterwards enjoy a milkshake served at Elvis’s favorite Drive-In.
• Continue to Indianola, MS. Check-in to your local area hotel.  
• Enjoy dinner included and a show where BB King and others performed. (Meals: B, D)

• Prior to checking out, enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.
• Visit the BB King Museum & Delta Interpretive Center, a Delta blues museum with the mission to "empower, unite and heal through music, art and education and share with the world the rich cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta."
• Continue to Clarksdale, MS. Enjoy lunch at Ground Zero Blues Club where you can see the best of today's Delta Blues musicians. Although some national acts perform from time to time, visitors are more likely to find the "real deal" at Ground Zero Blues Club® — those musicians who live in the Mississippi Delta and continue in the tradition of their musical forefathers Charley Patton, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Wednesday through Saturday there is always Live music at Ground Zero Blues Club® (and even on a few Sundays when the occasion arises), serving a "down home" menu.
• Explore Delta Blues Museum – The state’s oldest music museum delivers not only the music but also the culture that produced it.
• Enjoy free time to explore the shops in Clarksdale prior to dinner included this evening at a Bar & Grill offering a unique Delta dining experience. The brilliant kitchen team, led by Clarksdale Chef Carl Jackson, is well known for their creative, innovative Southern cooking style. With a constantly evolving seasonal menu, original cocktails and live music, you’re invited you to enjoy the best of the South.
• Depart for Cleveland, MS.
• Check-in to the Cotton House. Cotton House’s name was inspired by the property’s location on the historic Cotton Row in downtown Cleveland. A fixture on the Mississippi Blues Trail, at the doorstep of the Grammy Museum, and in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Cleveland and Cotton House evoke the celebratory spirit and the welcoming, communal nature of the hardworking, hard-playing people and heritage of the area. The Cotton House name inspires these same feelings and values in its guests, serving as a reminder to those both near and far of the carefree experience that awaits them. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.  (DI)
• Stop at Dockery Farms for a photo op.  Dockery Plantation was a 25,600-acre cotton plantation and sawmill in Dockery on the Sunflower River between Ruleville and Cleveland. It is widely regarded as the place where Delta blues music was born. Blues musicians resident at Dockery included Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, and Howlin' Wolf.  The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
• Next, we arrive in Greenwood, MS, where 95% of the movie “The Help” was filmed.  Enjoy a guided tour including:
  • Popular movie sites such as “Hillies” House from “The Help”.
  • You’ll also visit Money, MS where Emmitt Hill was murdered in the 1950s, a spark that galvanized the Civil Rights Movement.
  • Learn about Robert Johnson, the Blues artist that “Sold His Soul to the Devil” and whom musicians such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones give much credit for their own music.
  • Bobbie Gentry was from Greenwood, MS, and you’ll stop to take a photo op at the “Tallahatchie Bridge”.
• Lunch included today at a culinary mecca created by a James Beard Award nominated chef.  Enjoy world-class food featuring a smorgasbord of local ingredients.
• Greenwood is also the home of Viking Cooking Appliances and you will participate in a Cooking Demonstration here!  The group will split and rotate the class and visiting the Museum of The Mississippi Delta.
• Depart for a Share-Cropper’s Shack Catfish Fry including Live Entertainment by a local Blues Man.  Enjoy your favorite beer or BYOB with a corkage fee.  Enjoy this classic Delta-style Dinner Event!
• Return to your hotel for the evening. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Prior to checking out, enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.
• Explore the GRAMMY Museum!  The GRAMMY Museum is an exciting and interactive celebration of the power of music occupying a vibrant space with cutting edge exhibits, interactive experiences, and films providing a one-of-a-kind visitor experience — engaging, educational, celebratory, and inspirational. The GRAMMY Museum Mississippi is an affiliate of the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, and as such, GRAMMY Museum Mississippi shares its mission to celebrate the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music — the GRAMMY Award.  The Mississippi Delta has a deep history with music. Legendary Mississippi-native musicians including Robert Johnson, B.B. King, and Elvis Presley influenced America's most accepted music styles such as the blues, jazz, hip-hop, and rock n' roll.  Mississippians represent a remarkable number of Grammy recipients when taking the state's relatively small population into consideration. In fact, as of 2011, the state holds the most Grammy winners in the United States along with many other nominees, Lifetime Achievement winners, and Hall of Famers.
• Stop at McCarty’s Pottery.  Lee and Pup McCarty began making their famous pottery in 1954 concentrating on both artistic and functional pieces. Platters, casserole dishes, lamps, hanging planters, dinnerware, and a large variety of sculptures are among pieces adorning homes across America and the world. The McCarty’s unique style, again with the focus on the simple yet elegant, is one of the main reasons for the "collectability" of the pottery.  Another reason is the glaze used in the firing process. In the 1950s and 1960s, the McCartys experimented with native clays and glaze resulting in a wide variety of colors. By the 1970s, they had invented their signature glaze of nutmeg brown, cobalt blue, and jade. McCarty’s pottery can be identified by the trademarked "river," a small black wavy line representing the Mississippi River on most functional pieces, and by the trademarked McCarty’s signature which is hand signed on the bottom or back of each piece.  Lee and Pup have come a long way since William Faulkner showed them a clay deposit in a ravine on his property and told them they could have it. In the early days, they insulated the Barn with cardboard, froze in the winter, sweated in the summer, and persevered. With their artistic vision and incredible work ethic, McCarty’s Pottery has become known around the world.
• Depart for Oxford. Enjoy lunch on own and free time to explore in Downtown Historic Square Oxford.  Here, you’ll find many unique shops and restaurants.
• Visit William Faulkner’s Home, Rowan Oak.  Rowan Oak was William Faulkner’s private world, in reality and imagination, and served as inspiration for much of his work for more than 40 years. The modified Greek Revival home sits on 29 heavily wooded acres just south of the historic Oxford Square.
• Check-in to your local hotel.
• Enjoy dinner included this evening at an old Blues House.
• Return to your hotel for the evening. (Meals: B, D)

• Prior to checking out, enjoy breakfast included at the hotel. 
• Visit the Blues Archives at Ole’ Miss, here, you’ll see donations from BB King’s private collection. Enjoy a tour and presentation including “Blues 101” ~ The History of the Blues and its Influences.
• Enjoy lunch included today at a delicious southern home-made BBQ buffet.
• Explore the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the former location of Stax Records. It is operated by the Soulsville Foundation, which also operates the adjacent Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School, all located on one campus.  It is a 17,000-square-foot museum with videos, films, photographs, original instruments used to record Stax hits, stage costumes, interactive exhibits, and more than 2,000 other items of memorabilia. Some of the standout exhibits include an authentic circa-1906-old Mississippi Delta church from Mississippi, reconstructed in the museum to help show the gospel roots of soul music; the Soul Train dance floor; Isaac Hayes' restored 1972 gold-trimmed, peacock-blue Cadillac El Dorado; and a changing gallery where special exhibits change five times each year.
• Arrive in Walnut Ridge and meet the Mayor who will personally show the group around town.  Walnut Ridge is the home of the Beatles sculpture located in Downtown Walnut Ridge, dubbed The British Invasion of the Rock n’ Roll Highway. The sculpture pays tribute to a visit from the legendary rock band to Walnut Ridge on September 18, 1964. The Beatles landed in a small plane at the Walnut Ridge Airport on their way to a weekend vacation at a dude ranch in southern Missouri. See this, and other Beatles and Music tributes as you visit the town of Walnut Ridge.
• Enjoy dinner with the Mayor included this evening at a fine local establishment well-known for its delicious fare.
• Check-in for the evening at your local area hotel. (Meals: B, L, D)

• Prior to checking out, enjoy breakfast included at the hotel.
• Depart for home. (Meals: B)