Mississippi, and its film industry, offer a singular travel opportunity for movie-loving visitors. Several towns have become pilgrimage sites in their own rights, holding imaginary histories transposed over the real ones. Happily, local tourism officials have put together foolproof guides to seeing the highlights through exhibitions and walking tours. Here are some experiences worth planning an excursion around:
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The Mercantile Store in Laurel, MIssissippi
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Cafe La Fleur in Laurel, MS
Laurel’s Home Town Experience
In HGTV’s reality fixer-upper series Home Town, hosts Ben and Erin Napier transform their small home town, home by home, into a charming Southern dreamscape. Following the show’s wild rise in popularity (the show’s 2023 premiere in March had almost 2 million viewers), the Jones County Chamber of Commerce put together a guide to exploring Laurel through the lenses of the Napiers’ escapades. Wander through the show’s beloved backdrops of the historic district and downtown shops, including Laurel Mercantile Co. (co-owned by the Napiers) and Ben’s woodshop in the Scotsman General Store. Try Erin’s favorite sandwich (the Cuban) at Café La Fleur, or order the #3, Ben’s go-to, at Phillips Drive-In. Experience a show at the Little Laurel Theatre, where Erin’s parents went on their first date, and grab Insta-worthy portraits in front of murals throughout the downtown area. Find the guide at thenewstateofjones.com, or by visiting the Chamber of Commerce at 153 Base Drive, Suite 3.
Movie Museums of Canton
In Canton—a small Mississippi town that has played host to films including 1974’s Thieves Like Us, 1998’s Waking in Mississippi, 2000’s My Dog Skip, 2013’s As I Lay Dying, and many more—the legacy lives on in the Canton Movie Museums, which consists of remarkably preserved sets from major movies filmed in town.
Fans of Joel Schumacher’s 1996 critically-acclaimed A Time to Kill can wander past the coffee shop, law firm offices, and through the courthouse square. Or, if Jay Russell’s 2000 box office hit My Dog Skip is more your jam—you can step right into Willie’s birthday party scene, or the Witch’s crypt. Tickets to the Canton Movie Museums, and reservations of personal tour guides, can be secured at the Canton Welcome Center at 147 North Union Street, (601) 859-1307, and cantontourism.com.
Island View Resort in Gulfport, MS
Gulf Coast Self-Guided Movie Tours
This Property is Condemned and Christmas in Mississippi
The cult classic 1966 film This Property is Condemned, starring Robert Redford and Natalie Wood, was mostly filmed in Bay St. Louis. Visitors to the city can explore significant sites from the film, including the Bay St. Louis Depot and its surrounding district, which served as the setting for the movie’s town. The heart of the story, though, is in the condemned Starr Boarding House—which is now the home of the Bay St. Louis Little Theater. Find brochures and maps at the Depot Visitors Center at 1928 Depot Way, or download it ahead of time at gulfcoastscenicbyways.com.
Just thirty minutes away, in the beach town of Gulfport, is a perpetual winter wonderland fostered by the 2017 Lifetime film Christmas in Mississippi. The Coastal Mississippi CVB’s Film Trail, created to bring fans into the fantasy, brings them to the very same Island Casino Resort visited by Holly and Mike in the film, strolling through the eclectic, ever-funky Fishbone Alley that serves as the backdrop for their first date night, and to the center of the Gulfport Harbor Lights Winter Festival—which inspired the film’s story from the very beginning. Find information about the trail at the Coastal Mississippi tourism office at 2350 Beach Boulevard, Suite A; by calling (228) 896-6699; or at gulfcoast.org.
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Greenwood Little Zion M.B. Church
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Greenwood Courthouse
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Greenwood Crystal Grill
Greenwood’s The Help Driving Tour
Often cited as an example of how the film industry can boost a city’s tourism economy, Greenwood’s site as the filming location for Tate Taylor’s Academy Award-nominated The Help has put the little Mississippi town on the map. Over a decade since the Civil Rights-era story hit the screens, visitors still flock to Greenwood, where the Greenwood CVB provides a self-guided driving tour to filming locations, as well as behind-the-scenes locales where the cast spent time. You can visit Skeeter’s home at Whittington Plantation, relive the iconic “special pie” scene at the Johnson Residence on Grand Boulevard, and see which restaurants and nightlife spots the cast and crew haunted during their time in the city. Find the brochure at the Greenwood Tourism office at 225 Howard Street, or download it at visitgreenwood.com.
To learn more, visit visitmississippi.org/film.
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