Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [23]
But long before Elvis-mania, this section of the river was used to shepherd slaves to freedom. Learn the details at the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum. It’s set in a modest clapboard house laced with tunnels fed by trapdoors.
The Mississippi River Museum is the place to learn more about the cultural and natural history of the Big Muddy. Check out the scaled model of the lower Mississippi and the interactive 1-acre pool that doubles as the Gulf of Mexico. The museum is part of Mud Island River Park, and is linked to Memphis by a monorail. There are kayaks, canoes and bikes for rent, and it’s a decent place to while away a couple of hours if the sun is shining. Mud Island made international news when Jeff Buckley drowned here in 1997.
Spend the night at the handsome Peabody Hotel, where a flock of ducks is marched from the penthouse to the marble lobby fountain every morning. And when your stomach growls seek spicy, saucy salvation at Cozy Corner, on a rather bleak stretch of North Parkway. Don’t let the chipped wood paneling and shredded vinyl booths scare you off. This family-run spot is famous for its barbecue Cornish hen. You tear the bird apart with your hands and suck every bit of brick-red sauce off its wings. It also serves a mean rack of ribs.
Pick up the Blues Highway (Hwy 61) in Memphis and drive through the Mississippi Delta, where the blues were born. Robert Johnson, the original blues star, was born in Tunica, Mississippi, but this small riverside town has morphed into a maze of casinos, which aren’t worth your time. Roll on to Helena, Arkansas, a depressed mill town, and home to the late Sonny Boy Williamson, a regular on King Biscuit Time, the first blues radio show. BB King listened religiously as a child, and considers Sonny Boy a major influence. The show, which begins weekdays at 12:15pm, is still running (on KFFA 1360AM, and via King Biscuit Time podcast) and has been hosted by Sunshine Sonny Payne for 57 years. It broadcasts out of the Delta Cultural Center, which is also a terrific blues museum. You can listen to the show live, and may even get on the air.
Clarksdale is the hub of Delta blues country. This is where you’ll find the Crossroads, at the intersection of Hwy 61 and Hwy 49, where Robert Johnson made his famous deal with the devil and became America’s first guitar hero. And it’s here where live music and blues history are most accessible. Stay at the Shack Up Inn, an old plantation where a cotton gin and sharecroppers cabins have been converted into guestrooms stuffed with kitsch antiques. The owners are warm and fun, and are tuned in to the local live-music scene.
The Delta Blues Museum, in downtown Clarksdale, has the best collection of blues memorabilia in the Delta, including Muddy Waters’ reconstructed Mississippi cabin. It will soon move, along with his instruments, records and costumes, in to the Muddy Wing. Creative, multimedia exhibits also honor BB King, John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton and WC Handy, whose original 1912 compositions popularized the 12-bar blues. Swing back to the Crossroads for dinner. That smoky sweetness in the air is coming from Abe’s, a local barbecue joint that’s been in business since 1924. The ribs melt off the bone, and its barbecue beef, pork and ham sandwiches are popular too. Apparently when Robert Johnson was mingling with Satan, old Abe was getting a barbecue sauce recipe from Jesus. At least that’s what the menu reports.
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OIL SPILL
On July 24, 2008 a cargo barge collided with an oil tanker on the Mississippi in New Orleans, causing a 500,000-gallon oil slick. In minutes, 100 miles of the river was closed to boat traffic, costing the Port of New Orleans up to $250,000 per day. Downriver, waterfowl were covered in