America's Byways - Road Trip 2019, Part 2

Shirley House - Vicksburg Military Park

Yesterday (Thursday, July 25) turned out to be a lot of fun. I knew that it would begin with a visit to the Vicksburg National Military Park, but I had only a vague idea of what the day would hold after that. I've been to the Vicksburg Civil War battle site several times over the years, but this was my first stop there in at least ten years. The park, of course, was as beautiful as I remembered it (nothing ever really changes in these military parks), but I was a little disappointed that one of my favorite spots on the self-guided driving tour was undergoing a much needed bit of maintenance work. The Shirley House, the only structure in the park that actually stood during the Vicksburg siege of 1863, was being stripped of its old paint, being repainted, and having its roof repaired.  As you can see from the picture, it was looking pretty rough yesterday, but it will be as beautiful as ever when all the work is done.  

The Battle of Vicksburg was actually a siege on the city by the Union army that lasted from May 18, 1863 to July 4, 1863 in which the North tried to starve out the city and thereby force its Confederate defenders to surrender control of the Mississippi River to the Union. The battle was one of those trench warfare scenarios in which the same ground was fought over for weeks with mounting casualties on both sides.  One of my great great grandfathers was here with a Louisiana unit and was wounded during the fighting, so it feels a little bit eerie to locate and walk the same ground that his unit defended 156 years ago. Ironically enough, the Confederates surrendered here on the same day that General Lee was losing the Battle of Gettysburg up in Pennsylvania. Although the two losses taken together pretty much ended any chance that the South might win the war, the Confederacy fought on for an additional two years.

Representation of King's Creative Space

From Vicksburg, I decided to drive north along what the state has dubbed its Blues Trail.  Mississippi produced so many twentieth century blues greats that every little town in the Highway 61 region (the Mississippi Delta) has its own claim to fame.  I've explored some of the area in past wanderings, and I remember particularly enjoying the Jimmie Rodgers museum and my visit to Jimmie's gravesite in Meridian. This time I stopped in Indianola to visit the relatively new B.B. King museum and gravesite there. King died in 2015 and is buried on the grounds of a museum that contains a history of the blues, a history of the evolution of race relations in this country, and a representation of King's brilliant career.  Best of all is the comprehensive collection of personal items used by the great blues artist during his long career, a career that saw him performing to large audiences all over the world. Items on display include some of King's stage suits, the musical instruments used on tour and in the studio by King and his band,  and an impressive collection of Grammys won by King over the years. If you are a fan of the blues, this is a must-stop destination for you.

Stage Area of Ground Zero Blues Club

My next stop was in Clarksdale to take a look at actor Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club, an authentic looking venue that prides itself on presenting live performances by today's Mississippi Delta blues bands. I was surprised and happy to find a group of twelve Austrians there who had rented large Harley Davidson motorcycles in Dallas and were touring the South together.  They had actually passed me on Highway 61 a couple of hours earlier and I wondered who they were at the time because of their matching bikes.  They seemed to be having the time of their lives and told me that they were all longtime blues fans and would be spending several days in the Delta.  As I left the club, I heard them reserving a table for that night's show, so they are off to a good start.  Meeting them reminded me again what a great ambassador of the music B.B. King was for so many years.

From Clarksdale, I decided to drive to the Shiloh Military Park to revisit a Civil War battle site that I've visited every approximately every five years for the last thirty-five or forty years.  I had to drive eleven miles past the park in order to find decent lodging, so I'll be doubling back there first thing in the morning.  This was a good day.

(Click on the images to see expanded version.)