Greenwood to Tupelo

We left Greenwood early, knowing there would be a lot of interesting things to see along the way, so it was just midmorning when we finished our “The Help” tour here at the Tallahatchie  Bridge. The bridge is on Money road, near Tallahatchie Flats and the house where Skeeter's outside home scenes from "The Help" were filmed.

Until we got close enough to read the whole plaque, we really thought they might be touting this bridge as being “the one” where the imaginary Billy Joe threw an imaginary something into the water in 1967's “Ode to Billy Joe.” (Remember, we were on "The Help" tour, so our sense of reality/Hollywood was a bit blurred.) But in fact, no one is trying to make something out of nothing; it's a Mississippi Country Music Trail marker acknowledging the success of former Greenwood resident Bobbie Gentry.

And we want to make it perfectly clear that we threw nothing - nothing at all - off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Although it was tempting.

This ballad struck a cord with millions of people and still gets a surprising amount of air time. It was a huge crossover hit and appealed to people of all ages, many of whom – despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary – seemed to believe the story was true. People spent hours debating what Bobbie and Billy Joe had been doing on Choctaw Ridge, why they threw something off the bridge, what they threw, why he jumped....Unencumbered by the fact that Bobbie Gentry repeatedly said she made up the story, folks soldiered on with their speculations. We remember adults in Tupelo, people who ordinarily had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in gossip, discussing at length the identity of the couple who “bought a store in Tupelo.” Seriously. Any male store owner with a wife named Becky (or a wife not named Becky) was fair game to be the unnamed "brother." For some time the gossip revolved around a shoe store owned by a couple who had lived in town for years and were well known locally. Their long history in town and the fact that anyone could just walk in the store and ask them – to say nothing of the fact that they probably didn't even know Bobbie Gentry – warranted no consideration. The fun was in the speculation. And it was fun for a lot of people, because it's exciting to be part of something the whole country is talking about. And the whole country really was talking about that song.

DOCKERY PLANTATION

Moseying on toward Cleveland, we came upon Dockery Plantation. Although it hadn't been on our agenda for this particular trip, we had time to look around and take a few pictures. Dockery was a huge player in its day, a 10,000 acre cotton plantation that once employed 2,000 people. Because it functioned until 1982, there is still a lot to see, and because influential blues man Charley Patton once made his home there, a lot of people want to see those things. 

Like most large plantations, Dockery was self contained – it had its own cotton gin, school, post office, store, churches, money, and even a running railroad track to connect the plantation to the main railroad line in nearby Rosedale! Private tours can be arranged, but we were happy just to stroll around and admire the place.

The next two pictures are for our readers who have never visited the Delta but have always heard how flat it is. It is.

CLEVELAND

We had been to Cleveland years ago, and we loved it. So, we wanted to go back and take a longer look at Delta State and possibly pick up a couple “Fighting Okra” tee shirts for some of our favorite little people. Delta State took us by surprise last time, and we wanted to spend more time there. We drove around campus, toured their student center, and once again, were stunned by just how large this university is, to say nothing of how lovely it is. 

It's also lively! Even in late June the campus was a hopping, vibrant place.  (See Delta State website)

Near DSU, we passed the construction site for the huge (27,000 SF) building that will be The GRAMMY Museum Mississippi. Most Mississippians are aware that our state has produced some of the world's finest musicians/singers/songwriters of every ilk. It almost defies belief that such a small state could house such a wealth and variety of talent, and it's heartening to see  the world acknowledge Mississippi's bounty. Apparently, the site is actually on the university's campus, which we hadn't realized was that huge. It is though, and the school is (not coincidentally) home to the Delta Music Institute.

While hosting such a museum is quite a coup for Cleveland, we think the town is pretty incredible anyway. Their pretty train station, cool clock, and charming, beautifully landscaped downtown (with plenty of parking!) make it a pleasure to visit.. 

Also, they are kind to ducks.

And, they have some of the finest small town shopping we have ever stumbled across – thanks (we assume at least in part) to it being a university town. We had fond memories of our last shopping excursion there, and sure enough, we had an equally good experience this time. 

We started our visit at Neysa's Fireside Shop – a beautiful store bursting with desirable things for the home; we could have stayed for hours. It's run by really nice people too, which always helps. We admired everything, and Marian picked up some great Mississippi pillows. Then we moved two doors down to another place we remembered fondly from our last visit: The Monogram Store. This place has everything you might want to monogram, plus a lot of things you didn't even realize could be monogrammed. It's just a wonderful store.

From there it was only a few steps to The Sweetery. You have to love a place with a name like that. We stopped in for a visit and a really delicious cookie and we're so glad we did; it's a fun place to spend a little time. They have all sorts of goodies, but we had learned our lesson the day before. We walked off our cookies by checking out the rest of downtown (and trying on a few things in a fashionable clothing store), and then it was time to move on. There was just no way to see all the things we wanted to see in Cleveland as a sidetrip, so we plan to return and spend a day there once the GRAMMY Museum opens. There are several restaurants we want to try and a few landmark buildings we'd like to check out, plus we really want to see DSU during the regular school year, when everything is going full on. But for today, Oxford called us and we had to go.

We can't help it. We left our youth there and it's such fun to revisit it. Every time we go, we spend a few minutes looking for changes on campus and taking delight in anything that is just as we remembered. Then we check out Oxford's seemingly infinite number of new streets, intersections, houses, and buildings and complain about how different (that would be, better) Oxford was when it was just a simple country town. And then - not being ones to dwell on the negative - we proceed to eat and shop in all the wonderful places that didn't exist in our day.

Greenwood - The Alluvian Hotel

We visited Greenwood on our "Grand Tour of the Delta" years ago and really enjoyed our time there. One of our favorite memories was seeing the famous Alluvian Hotel, where we took a brief, but impressive, tour of the public areas. What a cool hotel! Minimalist in the best sense of the word, with beautiful art and flower displays, modern furniture, and marble-floored public areas that aren't cold or off-putting. It was so impressive that we decided we wanted to stay there someday. And, someday finally arrived!

We got to Greenwood about mid-afternoon and, while our carb coma was wearing off (slowly), we were still far from energetic. We checked in – easy enough since we had booked online – and set off to have a look around town, beginning on Howard Street, since that's where the hotel is. Our first stop was just a few doors down: Made in Mississippi – a great store full of interesting and beautiful things...an absurdly large number of which one or both of us already own, given our propensity for buying anything that is made in or shaped like Mississippi. There was much to admire there anyway though, including some stunning local pottery.  The Mississippi Gift Company

After that we just walked around, admiring everything in the windows of the Viking store (which was, sadly, closed for the day) and oohing-and-aahing over charming old buildings. Greenwood is very clean, and they have a lot of brick sidewalks and crossing strips; these things add a lot of refinement to downtown's overall look.

And thank you, Greenwood, for saving these old painted ads! There's a certain charm to them.

We were particularly impressed with the courthouse, which is not only massive, but really beautiful.

And, like almost every Southern courthouse, there is a Civil War Memorial.

Once all the stores closed, we began looking for the restaurants on our list. No, we weren't hungry – at all – but there are four famous restaurants that we have never tried, and we hate to miss any opportunity. One restaurant of interest was at the hotel, Giardina's. Its reputation precedes it, and it is definitely a place we would like to dine, but we really wanted to try one of the old-timers, one of the places people are either asking us about or scolding us for not having tried. 

At the top of our list was Lusco's, a real icon; any restaurant that can stay in business for over 80 years deserves a visit! We had hopes of sitting in a curtained off booth just for the experience, having missed the whole Speakeasy era and everything. Unfortunately for us, we were there on a Monday and it is closed on Monday. (Mondays, by the way, are second only to Sundays for finding things closed, but we couldn't alter our travel dates.) So, we decided to visit Crystal Grill, another local icon, but with pie! For the last fifty years or so, they've been known for their pies with “mile high meringue.” That sounds nice, although probably not as nice as the pie part, and as we all know, there is always room for pie, so it only made sense to go to Crystal Grill.

Imagine our surprise when we saw the sign on the door saying they were on vacation.

We had another good option, however, in Delta Bistro. So, even though we weren't hungry, we were able to convince ourselves that if we didn't eat now, we would be hungry later. We went in and found a very modern restaurant full of young Foodies – always a good sign. We opted for appetizers: cups of shrimp bisque along with a salad for Marian and crab cakes for me. Then, for reasons we can't really explain, we decided to share a piece of the lemon pie they are famous for. The food was really good, but we should have stopped with the soup. Actually, we should have grabbed a couple of those green apples the Alluvian sets out for guests and just dropped by the Bistro for a drink. As it was, we made ourselves totally miserable, a stupid, stupid thing to do. So, we waddled back to the hotel and settled ourselves in our room.

And it was lovely. Lovely room, lovely dressing area, lovely bathroom. So nice. We both have stayed at more luxurious hotels, but there is something really special about The Alluvian. We discussed this at length and finally decided that there is just a zen quality about the whole place. So quiet. So soothing. It is really a wonderful experience to stay there.  Check out the "The Alluvian Hotel" 

The hotel itself is rather small - there are only something like 45 rooms, plus a few suites and loft apartments, and maybe that's why it seems to run so smoothly. The few other guests we saw appeared to be there on business; the only staff we saw were at the front desk - a smiling, friendly desk clerk and an equally pleasant bellman. There's no hubbub; the hotel is refreshingly quiet.

Since our room was so nice, we wanted to just enjoy being there. So, we tried to force ourselves to stay up and read and watch TV until the sun went down – yes, that was our goal, and a pitiful one at that. However, we couldn't even attain that small goal, so we finally gave up and just closed the curtains. The bed was super comfy and the linens luxurious, so we woke up totally refreshed. The Alluvian has the whole "comfortable night's sleep" thing down pat.

Needless to say, we were up early the next day, feeling good and ready to hit the road. Incredibly, given the events of the previous day, as soon as we showered and dressed, we took the elevator up to the top floor for breakfast. Yes, we did.

Breakfast is included, so we expected the standard feast of inexpensive carbs, and we vowed to restrain ourselves...to just eat a little something. Breakfast is served in the Terrace Room.  It's beautifully done and, like the rest of the hotel, has a quiet elegance about it. It was sprinkling rain so we didn't get to sit outside and enjoy the view, but the room itself was perfect. And the view of the buffet was fantastic!

photo courtesy The Alluvian Hotel

What a great breakfast! Great tasting food, beautifully served. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, biscuits, gravy, bagels, juice, fruit, scones...there they all were, waiting for us. It was the same basic menu that many other hotels serve, but the preparation and quality were a cut above; everything we tried was delicious. But, as nice as it was, it probably seemed even nicer because it was at The Alluvian with its zen-like decor, its upscale clientele, its invisible staff, and us. Just perfect.

Duck Hill and Winona

We said goodbye to Vardaman's sweet potatoes and headed west, toward Jake and Rip's. For the uninitiated, that's a restaurant just off I-55 in Grenada, and it serves some of the best restaurant-fried okra ever. We love fried okra, but experience has taught us that restaurant okra is almost always disappointing. We eat it anyway, of course, because it's okra, but it saddens us. So, we were happy to find that Jake and Rip's okra, while not as good as homemade, is far better than any we've found in a restaurant. We weren't hungry, having just gorged on sweet potato everything, but it was lunch time and we don't often find ourselves at Jake and Rip's around lunch time, so we took that as “a sign.” We ordered okra and catfish (with assorted carbohydrates) and stuffed ourselves shamelessly before setting off for our next stop: Duck Hill.

Duck Hill is a town of some 700-800 people sitting on U.S. Route 51 between Grenada and Winona. Although we are not particularly knowledgeable about such things, we are told that it hosts a very good Grassroots Blues Festival every July.

Duck Hill's name is interesting in that it has nothing to do with ducks; it's named after a Choctaw chief (and medicine man) named Duck. He held war councils on a large hill near town, so - Ta Dah! - Duck Hill.

The town is so small that it's hard to believe the “City of New Orleans” once stopped here on its run between Chicago and New Orleans. It did though. The old depot no longer stands, and there is nothing that makes us sadder than to learn that there “used to be” a depot. They lend such charm to a town.

There is, however, a Union Pacific caboose parked on a bit of track alongside the main drag. It's in a small, park-like area, and there is a statue of Chief Duck standing next to it.

While checking out the train and statue, we spotted a museum nearby, so we zipped over.

The building had obviously been a country church in another time,  but we couldn't discern what kind of museum it is now, or even if it is still open. We noted a broken window or two, so it may no longer function as a museum. Oddly, we never saw anyone to ask about such things.

Well, not so oddly, really; the town's not deserted by any means, we just didn't knock ourselves out. There is a beautiful new bank on the main street through town, and there were cars parked around the hardware store, too. We feel sure anyone at either place would have been happy to help us. Unfortunately, however, the sweet potatoes, sweet tea, okra, cornmeal-coated catfish, hush puppies, french fries, etc. had lulled us into carb comas by then and we were having a really hard time staying awake and focused. That's sad as it would have been nice to chat up a few locals and learn more about Duck Hill.

We did manage a stop at their lovely Civil War Memorial, but after that, the best we could do was turn the car's AC way down to keep us awake and continue on to Winona.

We were most impressed with Winona, by the way. It reminded us of Aberdeen, Water Valley, or one of the many fine old towns that exude the elegance of an earlier era. The town has lovely old buildings and some gorgeous old homes, and they have made a concerted effort to save some of their old murals. We love that.

But here's what we loved most about this pretty little town: they have their train depot. Thank you, Winona.

Actually, it would be shameful if they didn't have their depot, given that Winona was one of Mississippi's many "railroad towns." And, Winona not only kept its depot, it has apparently made good use of it by leasing it to businesses. The whole scene is enhanced by the train cars permanently parked there!

We drove around town admiring things for a little while, but this was a visit with a specific purpose - we wanted to see The Wisteria Hotel. We had seen a picture of this beautiful place in its heyday and there are so few old wooden hotels still standing that we didn't want to miss a chance to see one. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it. We didn't have an address and it's not listed under "Places of Interest" on the GPS, so we had to ask for directions. A very nice lady  gave us explicit directions, although she seemed a bit puzzled as to why we wanted to see it. Apparently, it is in a state of decline. We don't know what extent of decline because, even with directions, we couldn't find it. We were still too comatose to process sequential  information...and probably unfit to be operating heavy machinery (like a car).

We had only planned to stop over briefly in Winona anyway, as the town is part of another planned Tiny Travel trip - one we intend to undertake fully lucid. But when we realized we  couldn't follow directions well enough to find a large building in a town of 5,000 people, we knew it was time to go on to Greenwood and lie down for a little while.

Vardaman

Our latest adventure has taken us almost all the way across the state, and much of the fun in so long a drive is that we get to see so many places on the way. So, our first stop was in Vardaman, surely one of the most delicious stops in the state. We'd visited in 2010, because we just had to see “The Sweet Potato Capital of the World.”  (See Vardaman article from 2010)

We went to Sweet Potato Sweets that first trip, a delightful little bakery/store on Highway 8 (AKA 117 E. Sweet Potato Avenue). Three women married to sweet potato farmers opened it in 1996 to use/market this versatile veggie. What a good idea that was! Two of the wives still own the store and their husbands provide the sweet potatoes. You just can't shop more  "local" than that. It serves/makes sweet potato everything...and by everything, we mean everything. There are sweet potato pies, pound cakes, layer cakes, bread, muffins, cookies of all types, fudge, candy, cheese straws, sausage balls, jam, butter, marmalade, quiche – the list goes on and on. These women know their sweet potatoes. We graciously tasted several of these items for you (bonbons, yum yums, bread, jam, and fudge), just so we could give an honest assessment. So far we haven't stumbled upon anything we wouldn't jump for joy at having again. You are welcome...really...we were happy to do it.

It occurred to us after we left Vardaman the last time that we had overlooked one of the main reasons we visit these Mississippi towns: actually seeing the town. This is somewhat embarrassing, given that “town” is located pretty much next door to Sweet Potato Sweets. Seriously, from the store, you pull right onto the highway and take the first or second street on your right and – Voila! There it is.

Like so many small Mississippi towns, there are a lot of empty storefronts in Vardaman, something that saddens us more with every town we visit. However, we are happy to report that  "Vardamanians" appear to be on top of this. We were impressed with the good things about downtown Vardaman. And one of those good things was that they not only have murals – like so many cool Mississippi towns –  but that they have the only sweet potato murals we have ever seen. Given that murals generally celebrate something special or unique about a town, that's not surprising, but we love how they pictured what is important to them. And sweet potatoes are really really important to Vardaman, so much so that we are giving serious consideration to checking out their Sweet Potato Festival in November.

The street running through the strip of downtown stores and businesses is actually a boulevard – medians planted with lines of identical trees bisect the road, and that's always an attractive look. At the highway end of town is a small park-like area that obviously serves some social function – there's a small stage area, benches, tables, etc. But here's the part we love the most: the majority of the nice things we saw were paid for by individuals for the benefit of all. While it would be wonderful if city leaders could simply wave a wand for such things, this seems like a fine alternative.

We particularly loved the street lamps that had "Donated by..." plaques on them, but benches and other things did as well.

We saw quite a few buildings in dire need of revamping, but there are buildings in good shape too, and some with really good "bones."

The buildings that have been renovated have been done really well! We were particularly taken by Front Porch. We have no idea what it is/was. A venue for receptions, maybe? It is completely empty, but beautiful inside and, obviously, beautiful outside.

And, another beautiful mystery storefront!

Then there's the tee shirt store. We can't tell you how disappointed we were that it was closed (for vacation) as it looked like a fun place to browse. Marian especially loved the farm implements and things stacked on the walkway out front - a taste of old Mississippi if ever there was one, and a testament to the honesty of local citizens. We both grew up knowing these old-timey implements with varying degrees of intimacy, but Marian seems to remember them far more fondly than I do, so it gives her great joy!

We left Vardaman with happy hearts at what a town of only about 1,000 people can accomplish. And we want to note that, although we didn't have time to scour Calhoun City again, as we drove through we noticed that they have the same sort of street lights and that they, too, appear to be provided by locals. Good for them, too!