Back a decade or so ago, in his book, “American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America”, journalist Colin Woodward asserted that the United States was comprised of eleven distinct nations. By studying the dialects, recipes, historical movement and immigration patterns and other attributes of people living in different areas of the country, he was able to provide an understanding, or at least a theory of an understanding, of regional identities.
From naming Yankeedom (New England and Northern PA and Ohio), Tidewater (Eastern NC and VA), Greater Appalachia (Western VA to North Texas, including Northeast Mississippi), The Deep South (most of the southern states including North Florida and Southeast Texas), New France (Southern Louisiana), and others like the Far West, the Left Coast, the New Netherlands, El Norte and The Midlands, Woodward catalogs the nuances and motivations of each region.
Mississippi is a state that contains the border of two regions: Greater Appalachia and The Deep South. Some have said that much of the great writing and great music that has come from the state has come from the confluence of these cultures, from both the resistance to and assimilation of these two very different identities.
But today we are only talking about one of Mississippi’s identities: The Deep South.
Known as “The Most Southern Place on Earth,” the Mississippi Delta could also be known as the “Deepest South” of the Deep South, and it is the place for folks from New France or The Midlands, or even Yankeedom, to come and explore when looking to observe and experience what the greater Deep South is all about.
Beginning in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ending on Catfish Row in Vicksburg (according to author David Cohn), this rich alluvial plane made up of soils deposited by rivers with names like Tallahatchie, Sunflower and Yazoo has been fertile ground for America’s (the whole nation’s, not just a region’s) culture and history. Blues Music was born here and later combined with Greater Appalachia’s Country Music to form Rock and Roll (America’s greatest cultural export). The list of musical artists from the Delta is legion and one can scarcely drive a mile without happening on some blues marker or historic site. The Civil Rights movement galvanized in these old cotton towns. Even Kermit the Frog was born here, inspired by the denizens of the bayou near Jim Henson’s childhood home in Leland, Mississippi. And it all is set on the flat seas of green and brown (depending on season) under the fantastically immense Delta sky.
Discover the Delta from Cleveland
From renowned pottery places with ties to William Faulkner, world-class restaurants and roadside shack tamale shops, higher-end shopping and accommodations, blues clubs, blues museums, and a host of other attractions (like the $13 million GRAMMY Museum in Cleveland, built there as Mississippi has more GRAMMY winners per capita than any other state), there is more than a weekend’s worth of “must do’s” within an hour’s drive of the small university-town of Cleveland, Mississippi, the home of Delta State University, whose mascot is the Fighting Okra.
Located on historic Highway 61 in the literal heart of the “Deepest South” Delta, and less than 45-minutes from Clarksdale, Greenwood, Greenville, Rosedale, Mound Bayou and many other Delta communities, Cleveland boasts lodging, dining, shopping, entertainment, and attractions all in a safe, very attractive, and walkable downtown.
It truly is a lovely town in the middle of the Delta and as such is the best home base for your next Delta adventure.
To plan your exploration of the Greater Delta from Cleveland, check out the city’s travel planning website at visitclevelandms.com where you will find itineraries (Civil Rights, antiquing, Blues, family-friendly, couples, girlfriends, etc.), events to plan around, dining and lodging options, and more.
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