Mississippi Delta Literary Tour

The group will gather at the Alluvian on Sunday afternoon, February 28, for a talk about the history of Greenwood, which became known as the “world’s largest inland long-staple cotton market” and the home of Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Frank Smith, Mildred Spurrier Topp, and other writers. We’ll learn about area art and artists, visit Turnrow Book Company, and enjoy dinner at the Delta Bistro, prepared by Taylor Ricketts, one of Mississippi’s famous chefs.

In Yazoo City, on Monday, the group will visit the B. S. Ricks Memorial Library, one of Mississippi’s oldest libraries, which displays books by more than 100 authors from Yazoo County; the Triangle Cultural Center, a former elementary school now filled with exhibitions about local history and culture; the Oakes African American Cultural Center, with displays about the area’s prominent black citizens and famous blues artists. There will be presentations on the city’s most famous and beloved son, writer Willie Morris, and book columnist and editor Herschel Brickell. Longtime resident Sam Olden will host the group for lunch at his historic home and lead a tour of the city, ending at Glenwood Cemetery to visit the graves of Morris and the Witch of Yazoo, immortalized in his 1971 book Good Old Boy. The author’s widow, JoAnne Prichard Morris, will join the tour for the day in Yazoo City.

In Greenville, on Tuesday, we will begin our day with a trek across the Delta, making stops in the towns of Indianola, Morehead, and Leland en route to Mississippi’s most literary city, Greenville. Upon arriving, W. Kenneth Holditch will hold forth on Greenville’s rich literary heritage at the William Alexander Percy Memorial Library, and Hugh and Mary Dayle McCormick will enlighten us with an account of the city’s rich and colorful history. We’ll also drive along the famous Greenville levee, take a bus tour of this historic Delta city, ride a carousel in the E. E. Bass Cultural Arts Center, hear a reading from Lanterns on the Levee at William Alexander Percy’s gravesite, and relax and visit in the private homes of Greenville citizens. That afternoon, the tour will once again visit McCormick Book Inn, the Delta’s—and Mississippi’s—oldest independent bookstore, where visiting and local authors will gather to sign their work. The day will conclude following a meal at Doe’s Eat Place, winner of the James Beard Foundation America’s Classics Award in 2007 and perhaps Mississippi’s most famous restaurant.

En route to Clarksdale, on Wednesday, Delta State University professor Henry Outlaw and director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning Luther Brown will guide us across the region discussing the Delta’s cultural history. We will pay our respects at Robert Johnson’s gravesite, see the remains of the store in Money where Emmett Till allegedly made his tragic whistle, and visit with local quilters and gospel singers at the Tutwiler Community Education Center. Clarksdale stops will include the Cutrer Mansion and St. George’s Episcopal Church, where literary scholar W. Kenneth Holditch will speak on the town’s influence on Tennessee Williams’s work; Cathead Records, a center for blues recordings and Mississippi folk art; and the Delta Blues Museum. That evening the tour will enjoy supper at the home of Panny Mayfield, and Mississippi actors Johnny McPhail and Alice Walker will perform scenes from Tennessee Williams’s Mississippi plays on her front porch. The day will end in Merigold, with a visit to Po’ Monkey’s juke joint—perhaps the last remaining bona fide southern juke joint in Mississippi.

The Delta tour is $575 per person for all program activities, 10 meals, and local transportation. The fee does not include lodging. Remember to sign up early. Only a limited number of places are available, and they will go fast.

Group accommodations are offered at the Alluvian, in downtown Greenwood (www.thealluvian.com). Rooms at the Alluvian require a separate registration. Standard rooms are priced at a discounted rate of $170. Call 866-600-5201 and ask for the Literary Tour rate. Also call the hotel to inquire about rates for luxury rooms and suites. Additional rooms can be reserved at the Greenwood Best Western, 662-455-5777, or the Hampton Inn, 662-455-7985.