A charming river town on the Mighty Mississippi, Vicksburg is famous for its Civil War battlefield, national cemetery and historic show houses. It’s also a lively casino town with dozens of outlet stores, museums and art galleries featuring Southern folk art.
Things to do in Vicksburg
Walk through the past in 12 elegant tour homes dating back to the 1700s, as many are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can walk in the footsteps of Jefferson Davis at Anchuca Historic Mansion and wander through a former Civil War hospital at Duff Green Mansion. At McRaven Tour Homes, nicknamed the “time capsule of the South”, you’ll find antiques from the 1800s.
Vicksburg National Military Park houses a sombre collection of 1,340 monuments from America’s Civil War and the Vicksburg campaign, siege and defence of 1863. Take a guided tour of Vicksburg National Cemetery to see the graves of 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers. You can also visit the USS Cairo Museum, home to a 13-gun ironclad vessel and recovered artefacts, including muskets and 19th-century pistols.
Discover the cultural impact of the river at Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum. Exhibits include displays on the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and an aquarium of indigenous fish species. You can also canoe along the river, gliding past thick forests, looming bluffs and vast sandbars.
Get a dose of Southern folk art at The Attic Gallery, which showcases paintings, handmade pottery, Native-inspired jewellery and blues-music art. Stroll Levee Street to admire 32 larger-than-life murals depicting the river and Vicksburg life over the centuries.
Getting around Vicksburg
Buses, coaches, limousines, taxis and bike hires offer transportation to major tourist attractions. You can rent a car in town or at Jackson-Evers International Airport, about 70 kilometres away.