10 Of The Most Captivating Small Towns In Mississippi

You will not be remiss when you go visit some of the most captivating small towns in Mississippi. Where magnolia trees grow throughout the Magnolia State, and bygone battles raged for the soul of America, each of these mesmerizing small towns in Mississippi is a far cry from the busier streets of cities like Jackson. These destinations not only provide a smaller degree of quietude and solitude that metropolitan areas sometimes lack, but they also offer insights into Mississippi’s modern characteristics and the history of the state’s cultural foundations. Allow yourself to be enchanted and awed by the most captivating small towns in Mississippi.

Port Gibson

On the banks of the Bayou Pierre and beside the Natchez Trace Parkway lounges the small town of Port Gibson. There, one can tour the fabulous grounds of the Windsor, a Greek Revival mansion with over 23 Corinthian columns for you to admire. There, you can explore the ruins of two Confederate fortresses, Cobun and Wade, at the Grand Gulf Military State Park. And there, you can learn all about how Ulysses S. Grant fought the Battle of Port Gibson in an attempt to conquer the town of Vicksburg to the north in the heat of the American Civil War.

Port Gibson remains to this day because Ulysses S. Grant found the town "too beautiful to burn." So discover for yourself why Port Gibson was beautiful enough not to be razed by war by booking a room at either the Isabella Bed & Breakfast or the Collina House.

Bay Saint Louis

Beside the Mississippi Sound, an embayment of the Gulf of Mexico, the small town of Bay Saint Louis has accommodated thousands of visitors since the days of wealthy planters from New Orleans, Louisiana. With a name inspired by King Louis IX of France upon the town’s creation in the year 1699, Bay Saint Louis is home to the Hollywood Casino & Resort Gulf Coast, a chimera between the gambling spectacles in Las Vegas and the star-studded delights of Los Angeles.

In recent history, Bay Saint Louis experienced Hurricane Katrina in 2005, whereupon several buildings were destroyed while some, like the Bay Saint Louis Historic L & N Train Depot, were restored and renovated. Far, far back into the past, Bay Saint Louis took part in the Battle of Christian during the War of 1812. These days, travelers can admire the Milky Way galaxy from the John C. Stennis Space Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Most importantly, you can feel right at home in some of Bay Saint Louis’ welcoming establishments like the Carroll House Bed & Breakfast or the Pearl Hotel.

Cleveland

Cleveland is a gateway to some of the best attractions you can find in the Mississippi Delta. Whether you are attending the town’s yearly 50 Nights of Lights festival every middle of November when Christmas lights are aglow for the upcoming holiday or heading into the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi to learn all about the people who all won GRAMMY awards, Cleveland certainly exceeds what Ulysses Everett McGill, the protagonist of the movie Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou, said: “Well, ain’t Cleveland a geographical oddity. It's less than an hour from just about anywhere in the Mississippi Delta!”

If you are a student or someone eager to learn, you might want to head towards Delta State University or tour the Amzie Moore House and Interpretive Center, where Civil Rights leaders like Stokely Carmichael, Bob Moses, and Dr. Martin Luther King Junior met. Afterward, get to know all about the railroad system at the Cleveland Railroad Museum or see live performances at the Bologna Performing Arts Center (BPAC). Finally, book a room in comfortable lodgings like the Cotton House or the Lyric Hotel.

Corinth

Approximately two hours away from the city of Memphis in Tennessee, the small town of Corinth was the site of a few conflicts in the past. Originally known as Cross City, it was renamed after the city of Corinth in Greece in 1857. The town took part in the Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War due to its strategic and central position. The Corinth National Cemetery serves as the final resting place for over 5,500 Union and Confederate soldiers, while the Shiloh National Military Park Corinth Interpretive Center functions as an interpretive site about the Battle of Shiloh.

Furthermore, the Corinth Contraband Camp narrates the liberation of over 6,000 African-American slaves around the area, while the Verandah-Curlee House was the former headquarters of Confederate leaders in Mississippi. Should you wish to explore more of Corinth’s wartime past, you should definitely book a room in an abode like The General's Quarters Inn.

Biloxi

Biloxi, around 45 minutes from Bay Saint Louis, was originally known as Fort Maurepas when French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville established a military base on Mississippi’s shoreline in 1699. Up until the year 1702, Fort Maurepas was the territorial capital of the Louisiana Territory. Over the following years, the site was passed on from France to Spain and Great Britain, then more locally to the West Florida Republic, the Confederacy, and finally to the US government. Biloxi nowadays serves as a premier resort town where one can celebrate a Mardi Gras festival or learn all about Mardi Gras at the Coastal Mardi Gras Museum.

Meanwhile, other places of information, such as the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum and the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, may give you an appreciation for the arts and appetites in Biloxi. One can tour the Beauvoir Estates, the former dwelling place of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. One can also admire loggerhead turtles and pelicans at Deer Island or enjoy fine accommodations in the Rue Magnolia Bed & Breakfast, Hilton Garden Inn, or Harrah’s Gulf Coast. Either way, you will absolutely have a blast in the beautiful town of Biloxi.

Canton

Canton, about 25 miles north of the city of Jackson, preserves a number of antebellum architectures in addition to several Native American relics and artifacts for you to admire. Between the Mississippi Championship Hot Air Balloon Festival every July to the Ross R. Barnett Reservoir near the Pearl River and Big Black River, Canton has a wide spectrum of spectacles for you to see. Journey through the Natchez Trace Parkway that the ancient Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw people once used to reach Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

Explore the wild reaches and trees of the Mississippi Petrified Forest and the swampy biomes of Cypress Swamp. Finally, feel safe and sound in rejuvenating hotels and inns such as Relax Inn.

Tupelo

Tupelo might seem like any ordinary town in Mississippi, but it was in these bustling antebellum streets that the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, was born. His home now stands as a museum chronicling his career, and every June 5 to 9, the locals honor the king with the Elvis Festival. Oddly enough, Tupelo is also renowned for the largest buffalo park in Mississippi, in addition to being the site of several American Revolutionary War battles such as the Battle of Hikki’ Ya’ (Ackia) at the Chickasaw Village Site and even American Civil War battles such as the Battle of Brice’s Crossroads, the Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, and the Battle of King’s Creek.

So, if you are curious to see the differing attractions Tupelo has to offer, you should first consider keeping your belongings and luggage safe in suitable accommodations like the Hotel Tupelo or Scottish Inns.

Natchez

Natchez, one of the towns along the Natchez Trace Parkway beside the Mississippi River, welcomes travelers taking the Spring Pilgrimage for those visiting the Pilgrimage Garden Club and the Natchez Garden Club to learn more about Natchez’s history. You will undoubtedly learn much when touring the antebellum buildings of the Longwood and Stanton Hall or visiting the Grand Village of the Natchez Native Americans. Furthermore, you can go exploring at the Natchez National Historical Park, where the Melrose estate, the William Johnson House, and Fort Rosalie are open to all.

Another historical landmark is the buried shackles at the Forks of the Road. Find more sightseeing at the Homochitto National Forest, Natchez State Park, and the Emerald Mound; and feel comfortable when spending your evenings in lodgings like the Natchez Grand Hotel, Concord Quarters, or Stone House Musical B&B.

Holly Springs

Approximately 60 miles away from Corinth, Holly Springs was first built by immigrants from Europe in the year 1836. Originally called Suavatooky, before being renamed a year later, Holly Springs used slaves to produce cotton. But in the American Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant freed the slaves and made Holly Springs into a supply depot and headquarters, which Confederate General Earl Van Dorn, a participant in the Battle of Pea Ridge, would occasionally raid.

Travelers living in this modern and liberalist milieu can enjoy free walks and treks through Holly Springs National Forest. One can admire Holly Springs’ aesthetic tastes at the Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery, while the Ida B Wells-Barnett Museum and the "Behind the Big House" tour can give you a comprehensive look into African-American history. For those of you intrigued by Holly Springs’ jolly atmosphere, you can spend a much longer vacation in wonderful places like the Wynne House Inn or Magnolia Inn.

Oxford

Not to be mistaken with the city of Oxford in England, the small town of Oxford in Mississippi does shelter its own unique university. However, this college town houses the University of Mississippi or, as the locals affectionately call it, the "Ole Miss." Even though it is not as prestigiously famous as Oxford University, Oxford’s University of Mississippi is nevertheless a remarkable academic haven for those eager to learn and grow. Within the Ole Miss’ grounds, a Civil Rights Monument—a statue of an African-American named James Meredith—commemorates the first African-American student to ever be integrated in 1962.

Newcomers to this sublime and illustrious town can tour the home of Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, the Rowan Oak. Even now, several notable authors such as Larry Brown, Barry Hannah, Willie Morris, and John Grisham, to name a few, have made their homes in Oxford. There are many more attractions and activities to cherish in Oxford, even when you are spending your days and nights in The South Lamar Bed & Breakfast, The Inn at Ole Miss, or Courtyard Oxford.

There are many great attractions along the “great river” called “misi-ziibi” by the Ojibwa (Chippewa) and beyond the more commonly known Mississippi River. In a land that created the Teddy Bears, because President Theodore Roosevelt did not want to shoot any bears in Mississippi, you will find some of the most captivating small towns worth visiting. Between a scholar’s academic appeal that can be sated in Oxford, a historian’s interests in remarkable landmarked towns like Holly Springs, Tupelo, and Port Gibson, or even seaside towns bordering the Gulf of Mexico basin such as Biloxi and Bay Saint Louis, there is no shortage of possible vacation spots for you to savor in your trip throughout the Magnolia State of Mississippi.