Music Heritage Tour Itinerary

Day 1

Begin your Mississippi Music Heritage tour from Memphis, Tennessee, where you've experienced historic Beale Street and enjoyed a tour of Graceland, Elvis Presley's mansion. On your way to Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley, travel through picturesque Holly Springs with its magnificent antebellum man- sions. Once in Tupelo, enjoy a tour of the humble two-room house where the "King of Rock and Roll" was born, and visit the memorial chapel and the Elvis Presley Museum. You can also see the sites in Tupelo important to Elvis' early life - the school where he won his first talent contest for singing "Old Shepp," the hardware store where he bought his first guitar and the fairgrounds where he performed early in his career.

Day 2

Continue the journey to Oxford, a quaint college town immortalized in the writings of William Faulkner and the present-day home of best-selling author John Grisham. Begin the day with a tour of Rowan Oak, Faulkner's home, then visit the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, a research center for Southern music, folklore and literature housed in an antebellum observatory on the campus of the University of Mississippi. Enjoy a tour of the college campus before continuing on to the Mississippi Delta, the "Birthplace of the Blues." Visit the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, which houses memorabilia of such music greats as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and B.B. King. Stop at the Stackhouse Delta Record Mart and Rooster Blues to hear the latest blues hits. Then travel through the Delta to Greenville and try your luck at the casinos along the Mississippi River.

Day 3

This morning, enjoy a round of other interesting sites in Greenville, including Winterville Mounds Museum, one of the largest Indian mound groups in the Mississippi Valley, before traveling across the state on Highway 82. The first soulful sounds of blues music originated in the Mississippi cotton fields. From Greenville continue on to Leland, home of Muppet creator Jim Henson. Tour the Highway 61 Blues Museum to learn even more about the Mississippi Delta Blues. To truly experience the lifestyle that inspired the music, explore Florewood River Plantation State Park in Greenwood, where exact replicas and costumed interpreters re-create life on the Mississippi plantation of the 1850s. Afterward, take a driving tour of the city and see historic Cotton Row, the second-largest cotton exchange in the United States. Tour Greenwood's Blues Heritage Gallery, dedicated to Robert Johnson, the renowned "King of the Delta Blues."

Continue your journey through the Delta to Yazoo City and where you can take the Yazoo City Blues Tour and learn about Bentonia Blues and the Skip James connection. Press on to Jackson, where you can enjoy Blues, Rock, and Country music at one of the local clubs.

Day 4

Following a bountiful country-style breakfast, tour the many antebellum and Victorian homes, including the boyhood home of playwright Tennessee Williams. Then travel to Meridian's Highland Park, home of the Jimmie Rodgers Museum. This memorial to the "Father of Country Music" features Rodgers' original guitar, personal belongings and other memorabilia.

While in the park, take a ride on the rare antique Dentzel Carousel, one of only three remaining in the United States. Before departing Meridian, tour the Peavey Visitors Center. Much of today's music is produced through equipment manufactured in Meridian by the Peavey Electronics Corporation. The center contains artifacts from the beginning of the corporation and a hands-on display of current products such as guitars, amplifiers and keyboards.

Before continuing the music experience with the country's best jazz in New Orleans, travel to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the many activities awaiting you along the Gulf of Mexico.