A short drive from … Jackson: seen the city? Then head on out for the following attractions

Travel America, July-August, 2005 by Darlene P. Copp

With a vibrant blend of Old and New South, Mississippi's capital city was named one of America's 10 "most livable" mid-sized cities for 2004. 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. The gardens of literary giant Eudora Welty opened to the public last year.

40 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, Anchuca (1830), Cedar Grove Mansion (1840), and Duff Green Mansion (1856) stand out for their compelling wartime connections. The Southern Cultural Heritage Complex offers a limited program of guided tours through an architecturally and historically significant block of buildings. Boat tours on the Mississippi River offer fine views of the bluff city.

55 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.

65 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.

80 Outside Philadelphia, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians owns and operates the Pearl River Resort. Together, the Golden Moon and Silver Star hotels and casinos boast 85 table games, 4,000 slot machines, 15 restaurants, and 1,000 guest rooms. Other resort options include Dancing Rabbit Golf Club and Geyser Falls Water Park with Clearwater Key white sand beach.

At A Glance

Vicksburg shrines honor soldiers who fought for the North and South.

Jackson's nickname became "Chimneyville" after Union Army attacks in 1863 left a landscape of forlorn chimneys.

Hiking trails, nature exhibits, and historic sites provide diversions for motorists on the Natchez Trace Parkway, a national road designed for leisurely touring.

Contact: Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, (800) 354-7695, www.visitjackson.com; and Mississippi Travel and Tourism Information, (866) SEE-MISS, www.visitmississippi.org.