A Short Drive from … JACKSON - Jackson, Mississippi, travel highlights - Brief Article

Travel America, July, 2001 by Darlene P. Copp

Seen the city? Then head on out for the following attractions (shown with approximate mile distances from city center)

This year, Mississippi's capital city of Jackson hosts its third international exposition since 1996. "The Majesty of Spain," closing on September 3, showcases priceless treasures never before viewed outside Spain's royal palaces. The state's past unfolds at the Old Capitol Museum, the 1842 Governor's Mansion, Manship House Museum, and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Museum, which includes the Chimneyville Crafts Gallery, a showroom for handiwork of the Craftsmen's Guild of Mississippi.

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Vicksburg tells the story of its harrowing Civil War naval assaults and 47-day siege through its museums, cemeteries, and tour homes. Vicksburg National Military Park may be explored via a 16-mile driving route with 15 interpretive stops, an outstanding array of monuments and memorials, and Vicksburg National Cemetery. The imposing Old Court House Museum preserves many roomfuls of artifacts from the city's past. Among several historic homes open daily, the neighboring Balfour House and Pemberton Headquarters House, a National Historic Landmark, stand out for their compelling wartime connections. Across the street from them, the Southern Cultural Heritage Complex offers a limited program of guided tours through an architecturally and historically significant block of buildings.

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The Natchez Trace Parkway offers a scenic drive between Jackson and Port Gibson, the town Ulysses S. Grant declared "too beautiful to burn" that today retains much of its charm in its homes and churches. An 1850 mansion, Oak Square doubles as a tour home and country inn. Self-guiding tour brochures, available at a tourist information center, cover sites close to town, such as Grand Gulf Military Park along the Mississippi River and the eerie Windsor Ruins, 23 columns remaining from the grandest antebellum mansion built in Mississippi.

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Heading northeast of Jackson along the Natchez Trace Parkway presents an opportunity to follow a self-guiding trail through a cypress swamp before arriving at Kosciusko. The town's information center on the parkway includes an exhibit on Revolutionary War hero Tadeusz Kosciuszko, while the 1897 county courthouse holds a commanding presence on a picturesque square.

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Outside Philadelphia, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians owns and operates the Silver Star Resort & Casino, the only Mississippi casino not on water. Besides table games and more than 3,000 slot machines, there are six restaurants, a 500-room hotel, two golf courses, and top-name entertainers like Wayne Newton, Wynonna, and Bill Cosby.

Contact: Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, (800) 354-7695, www.visitjackson.com; and Mississippi Tourist Information Center, (800) WARMEST, www.mississippi.org.