‘The Magnolia State’
The states nickname originates from the Magnolia Tree which can be found all across the state – it’s the state tree as well.
The state’s name is derived from the Mississippi River.
Mississippi host about 400 festivals across the state. Each year, in April, the World Catfish Festival is held in Belzoni, which is known as the Catfish Capital of the World. Mississippi produces more than 70% of the world’s supply of farm-raised catfish.
Tupelo is the birthplace of the “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley. Visitors may tour the Elvis Presley Museum, chapel and the two-room house where “The King” was born.
What to do / Sightseeing
- Tupelo
- Natchez
- NASA Stennis Space Center
Mississippi in a nutshell
Visitors to Mississippi will find changes at some of the Magnolia State’s most famous landmarks. The Elvis Presley birthplace, chapel and museum in Tupelo have undergone major expansions.
Corinth opened a new multi-million dollar Civil War Interpretive Center this summer while Tunica’s river park boasts the only passenger riverboat between Memphis and New Orleans.
The Blues Highway, U.S. 61, is dotted with new museums and landmarks honoring the founders of blues and rock and roll. In Greenwood, the cutting-edge design concepts of homegrown Viking Range Corporation are attracting international attention to its elegantly appointed Alluvian Hotel.
What hasn’t changed about Mississippi are the great weather, natural beauty, outdoor recreation and irresistible allure of places like Vicksburg, Oxford, the Natchez trace and Holly springs and the magic of names such as Rowan Oak, Faulkner, the Crossroads, Cotton Row, Dunleith, Rosalie, Beauvoir, Shearwater and Ship Island.
Mississippi’s 5 Regions
The northeastern part, known as the Hills Region, includes a tiny piece of the western tip of the Appalachians (the highest elevation in the state) and plenty of man-made lakes and waterways (where eagles can be seen). Some of the most important battles of the first years of the Civil War were fought at Corinth, Holly Springs and Brice’s Crossroads.
Elvis Presley spent his boyhood in Tupelo before heading west on Highway 78 to Memphis.
William Faulkner was born in New Albany and moved to Oxford where he wrote the novels set in his fictional Yorknapatawpha County based on settings in the Hills Region.
The past, he once said, is not even past, and the spirit of Faulkner country is alive and well.
If you doubt it, then just visit a place like Borroum’s Drug Store in Corinth, where portraits of bearded Civil War generals look down on you from behind an old-fashioned soda fountain.
The Pines Region is the eastern side of central Mississippi, marked by the collage towns of Starkville and Columbus at one end and the home of Jimmie Rodgers, Meridian, and the Choctaw Indian’s Pearl River Resort in Neshoba County on the other. The Tennessee -Tombigbee Waterway and a system of locks and dams mark the eastern side of the Pines Region while the Natchez race parkway traverses the western side.
The Capital/River Region includes Jackson, Vicksburg, Natchez and post Gibson . It boasts the state’s biggest collection of museums for sports, agriculture, history an natural sciences as well as the National Military Park and the highest and most scenic views on the lower Mississippi River. Jackson is minutes from the Ross Barnett Reservoir with excellent boating and fishing, and nearby Ridgeland boasts The state’s largest shopping mall.
The Delta is the land of cotton farms, catfish ponds, casino resorts and the Blues musicians who influenced the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Elvis and many others. An astonishing number of creative artists lived here including bluesmen B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, furry Lewis, Big Bill Broonzy and Charley Patton plus writers Shelby Foote, Willie Morris, Walker Percy and Muppets creator Jim Henson. The Delta is ideal for exploring by car on the Blues Highway or the Great River Road.
The Coastal Region includes miles of white sand beaches, but that’s Spanish history, fantastic seafood, , deep-sea fishing , neon –lit casino hotel resorts, golf courses, aquariums, adventure sports, backwater bayous ad quaint little towns. From the Gulf islands National Seashore and Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs to the Stennis Space Center in Stennis, the Coastal Region is packed with more things to do and places to see than any other area on the Gulf.
State Data & Essentials
State Name
Mississippi – State Abbr.: MS
Statehood
10-Dez-1817
– Statehood Ranking: 20
Land Area
46,907 square miles (121,485 qkm)
– Land Area Ranking: 31
Population
2,967,297 (2010 Census); 2,844,658 (2000 Census)
Capital
Jackson
Biggest City
Jackson
Nickname
The Magnolia State
Motto
“Virtute et Armis” (== By valor and arms)
Highest Point
245, 5 m / 805 ft (Woodall Mountain)
Lowest Point
Sea Level
Daylight Saving Time: yes
Tree
Magnolia
Flower
Magnolia
Bird
Mockingbird
Animal
White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Song
Go, Mississippi (by Houston Davis)
