38 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Mississippi - Atlas Obscura

Unusual
Attractions
in Mississippi

Claiborne County, Mississippi

Windsor Ruins

An eerie and beautiful group of columns mark the site of a grand mansion lost to time and fire.

Jackson, Mississippi

The Mississippi River Basin Model

Built by prisoners of war, the largest small-scale model ever built includes eight miles of tiny streams that now sit abandoned.

Leland, Mississippi

Birthplace of Kermit the Frog

A Muppet museum in small-town Mississippi honors the roots of Jim Henson's most beloved creation.

Oxford, Mississippi

Rowan Oak

William Faulkner kept his beloved estate wild and untamed.

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Margaret's Grocery and Market

Four-Hour Holy-Rolling, Hallelujah-shouting, Southern Gospel Service, rendered as a country market where "All Is Welcome, Jews, and Gentiles."

Gulfport, Mississippi

Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island

Built following the War of 1812, this fort has withstood hurricanes for centuries.

Tupelo, Mississippi

Elvis Presley Birthplace

Two-room shotgun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi and birthplace of a King.

Natchez, Mississippi

Mammy's Cupboard

This racially troublesome eatery thought a new coat of paint could erase its offensive connotations.

See All 38 Things to Do in Mississippi See All 38 Places

Unique
Food & Drink
in Mississippi

Potato Doughnuts

The first American doughnut chain used spuds.

Jezebel Sauce

Cooks in the Southern United States still whip up this spicy, seductively sweet condiment from the 1950s.

Koolickles

Dill pickles soaked in Kool-Aid? Oh, yeah!

Slugburger

No slugs were harmed in the making of this five-cent sandwich.

See all 8 things to eat in Mississippi See all 8 things to eat in Mississippi

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Stories
About Mississippi

Mass animal die-offs, simulated here in an Oklahoma hog body farm, can negatively impact the surrounding ecosystem.

Scientists Are Simulating Mass Animal Die-Offs in an Oklahoma Prairie

Understanding the ecological impact of hundreds of dead feral hogs.

by Sabrina Imbler

January 22, 2020

Conyers dismantles a hog at a Southern Food and Beverage Museum event on South Carolina barbecue.

Meet the Rocket Scientist Who's Also a Whole Hog Pitmaster

Dr. Howard Conyers is preserving a community tradition.

by Debra Freeman

January 15, 2020

The Johnson memorial at Little Zion Church in Greenwood, Mississippi, where most sources indicate he is buried.

The Not-So-Mysterious Missing Grave of Blues Legend Robert Johnson

The supernatural has surrounded the guitar virtuoso for decades.

by Matthew Taub

October 23, 2019

A female <em>Habropoda laboriosa</em>, better known as the southeastern blueberry bee.

The Key to Bodacious Blueberries Is a Bumper Crop of Bees

To attract them, though, it helps to have forest nearby.

by Jonathan Carey

An aerial view of Oxford during riots sparked by the enrollment of an African-American student, James H. Meredith, at the University of Mississippi in 1962.

The Artists and Writers Who Fought Racism With Satire in Jim Crow Mississippi

How William Faulkner and a small group of provocateurs challenged segregation in ways that resonate today.

by William Browning

From left: Workers lower the 5.3-kiloton bomb used in the Salmon test into the ground; The second bomb was set off in the cavity gouged out by the first test two years earlier.

In the 1960s, the U.S. Government Set Off a Pair of Nukes Under Mississippi

It’s a nearly forgotten chapter of Cold War history that seems hard to fathom today—even for those who were there.

August 15, 2018