Home » City News » USA Today: Clarksdale has two of Top Ten Best Mississippi Attractions USA Today: Clarksdale has two of Top Ten Best Mississippi Attractions

Elvis Presley Birthplace, Vicksburg National Military Park, GRAMMY Museum and Clarksdale’s Mississippi Rock & Blues Museum in top five.

Rock & Blues Museum Clarksdale Mississippi's musical roots are on display at the Rock & Blues Museum in Clarksdale, where the diverse collection spans from a 1905 Edison phonograph to a 1980s newspaper from the UK announcing the assassination of John Lennon.

Rock & Blues Museum, Clarksdale
Mississippi’s musical roots are on display at the Rock & Blues Museum in Clarksdale, where the diverse collection spans from a 1905 Edison phonograph to a 1980s newspaper from the UK announcing the assassination of John Lennon.

(USA TODAY)  The Magnolia State is many things; it’s the birthplace of the blues and a critical Civil Rights battle ground. It’s natural beauty includes the sandy beaches of the Gulf and the famed waters of the Mighty Mississippi. It’s a place where rural towns, seemingly untouched by time, exist alongside cities redefining modern Southern cuisine and culture.

USA Today asked a panel of Mississippi travel writers and photographers to nominate their favorite state attractions. For the past four weeks, 10Best readers have been voting daily for their favorites.

The top 10 winners in the category Best Mississippi Attraction are as follows:

1.  B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center – Indianola
2  Elvis Presley Birthplace – Tupelo
3. Vicksburg National Military Park – Vicksburg
4.  GRAMMY Museum Mississippi – Cleveland
5.  Rock & Blues Museum – Clarksdale
6.  Mississippi Civil Rights Museum – Jackson
7.  Tupelo Automobile Museum – Tupelo
8.  Eudora Welty House and Garden – Jackson
9.  Shack Up Inn – Clarksdale
10. Natchez Trace Parkway

Natchez Trace Parkway Travelers learn about this land’s ancient history at the Natchez Trace Parkway, which preserves part of the ancient Old Natchez Trace trail, once used by many groups, from Native Americans to settlers. Today, this stunning destination boasts 444 miles of natural landscape, stretching through Mississippi and into Tennessee, where visitors can learn about North American as far back as 10,000 years. Drive, hike, ride horses or bike through the national parkway and find dozens of points of interest, great scenery and wildlife – and maybe feel a bit like an explorer yourself. Photo courtesy of Mississippi Tourism Shack Up Inn Clarksdale One of Mississippi's most unusual hotels doubles as an attraction in its own right. An old cotton gin and sharecropper cabins have been refurbished into quirky yet comfortable accommodations on the historic Hopsen Plantation. It's a must for blues lovers exploring the musical heritage of the Mississippi Delta region.

Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale
One of Mississippi’s most unusual hotels doubles as an attraction in its own right. An old cotton gin and sharecropper cabins have been refurbished into quirky yet comfortable accommodations on the historic Hopsen Plantation. It’s a must for blues lovers exploring the musical heritage of the Mississippi Delta region.

A panel of experts partnered with USA Today 10Best editors to pick the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Marlo Kirkpatrick and Melissa Vincent were chosen based on their knowledge and experience of travel in Mississippi.

Posted January 20th, 2018 by