Trip: Day 3

Locations: Winona, MS; Cleveland, MS; Sumner, MS; Clarksdale, MS; Olive Branch, MS; Memphis, TN

Day 3 was our last day in Winona. We checked out of the hotel around 9 that morning and made our way to Dockery Farms in Cleveland, Mississippi. Dockery Farms is said by most to be the birthplace of the blues. Many of the blues musicians I have mentioned in my previous posts worked and lived at Dockery for various periods of time. At its most, Dockery was at one time 10,000 acres large and supported 2,000 workers. Some of the old buildings are still located on the property.

Just so everyone knows exactly what the place is

Another Blues Trail marker

There was actually a button you could press behind this sign that would play blues music over the speakers hidden amongst the old buildings, but they didn't work, so that was a bummer. There were some workers taking apart an old house on the property, the other girls got some stuff from the place, but I honestly didn't have anywhere to put anything, so I passed on that. Next we headed towards Sumner, Mississippi, but made a quick unscheduled stop in Ruleville and visited the grave of Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist who helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964. Her famous quote is "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired"

Freedom Trail marker at Hamer's grave in Ruleville

A short while later, we arrived in Sumner, Mississippi, the site of the Emmett Till murder "trial." I use the word trial loosely because there was absolutely no way two white men were going to be convicted of killing a black kid in Mississippi in 1955. Many outrageous claims were made, most notable of which being that the body pulled from the river was not even Till itself. DNA testing in 2004 proved this theory to be false. There isn't much to Sumner, mostly the courthouse and surrounding buildings. I always find myself wondering if it seemed that desolate so many years ago as it does now. We were disappointed that the courthouse was closed for lunch (they still do that kind of thing?) so we couldn't go inside to the actual courtroom. Maybe next visit...

Tallahatchie County Courthouse

Historical marker

We then headed towards Clarksdale, Mississippi for lunch and a tour of the Delta Blues Museum.We passed through "The Crossroads" which is rather famous, and depicted in the song "Crossroad Blues" by Robert Johnson. While there are many "crossroads" in Mississippi, this one at the intersection of Highway 49 and Highway 61 is the most well known.

Crossroads sign in Clarksdale

 

We ate lunch at the Ground Zero Blues Club which is co-owned by Mississippi native Morgan Freeman. I absolutely loved the ambiance of this place. Just about every surface of the club had been signed by people that had visited, eaten at, and danced to blues music. I didn't go too crazy since it was just lunch and I knew we'd be hitting up Beale Street later that night. I had fried grits (yeah they were WOO), fried green beans, and a grilled chicken salad. Of course, I had to leave my mark on the table (and on one of the windows)

Bet this looks cool at night

Yeah, I know

After lunch, we toured the Delta Blues Museum right across the street from the blues club in an old railroad depot. No pictures, unfortunately, they were not allowed inside the museum. The museum had lots of cool items, the best being the old log cabin that Muddy Waters lived in while working on Stovall Plantation.

Exterior of Delta Blues Museum

By this time, I was very anxious to hit the road towards Memphis. We had a ways to go before we got to our next hotel, which is in an suburb of Memphis called Olive Branch. We passed by Tunica, Mississippi which is a lot like Las Vegas in the fact that you drive for miles and miles of absolutely nothing then out of nowhere Tunica pops up, which is mostly casinos as far as I know. We finally made it to our hotel, had a little bit of down time, then it was time to head north to the city I'd always wanted to visit.

So why was I so excited to go to Memphis? I'll leave the Graceland stuff out for the time being, mainly because my true reason for going to Memphis runs much deeper. My paternal grandfather, who I never met, was from Memphis, or as far as we know, lived there for much of his life. He lived in a suburb really, called Germantown. I never really knew much about that part of my family, but as far as my father and I know, that part of the family lived in that area of Tennessee for many years. I have to admit that I came alive inside when we got there. I'm not imagining things because Dr. Wynne and Dr. Elfenbein both commented that my whole aura changed when we got to Memphis.

All cheese aside, we headed out to Beale Street that night. I absolutely LOVED it!! Wednesday night during the summer is Bikes on Beale Night, so there were HUNDREDS of bikes out there, definitely added to the atmosphere! We ate at Blues City Cafe who's saying is "Put some South in your mouth!" It was absolutely delicious! They serve steaks family style, so we got a HUGE 2 lb t-bone steak, which came with a salad, fries and bread and split it amongst all of us. Dessert was REALLY good, I ordered an apple dumpling with ice cream and we all split that too because it was WAY too much for just one person!

Absolute epic nommage

Afterwards, we walked up and down Beale Street visiting all the cool shops. We split up a little later, and Kathleen and I headed into The Band Box to listen to a blues band, and what an experience that was! The band was fantastic, and a guy from the audience joined in and KILLED it on his harmonica. Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 rating my first Beale Street/Memphis experience, I give it about a 27 maybe? By the time we got back to the hotel, I was absolutely exhausted and went right to bed because I knew Day 4 would be a tiring one as well because we had lots of ground to cover.