Jackson, Mississippi Day Trips

Vicksburg National Military Park

The Vicksburg National Military Park commemorates one of the most decisive battles of the American Civil War: the campaign, siege and defence of the city of Vicksburg, 44 miles (71km) west of Jackson in Mississippi. Vicksburg was under siege for 47 days in 1863 as confederate forces vainly tried to defend the city high on the bluff guarding the Mississippi River. The battlefield at Vicksburg is in a good state of preservation and visitors can explore 1,325 historic monuments and markers, 20 miles (32km) of reconstructed trenches and earthworks, an antebellum home, 144 cannon emplacements, the restored Union gunboat, USS Cairo, and the Vicksburg National Cemetery. While in Vicksburg don't miss a riverboat ride on the mighty Mississippi and a visit to the River City Blues Museum in Clay Street, with the largest blues collection on public display in the world.

Website: www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm; Telephone: (601) 636 0583 (Visitor centre); Opening time: Visitor centre open daily 8am to 5pm; Admission: $8 per vehicle (valid for 7 days), or $4 per person per day

Elvis Presley Park

The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, was born in Tupelo, northern Mississippi in 1935 in a humble home where he began his meteoric rise to fame. The simple two-room house where Elvis drew his first breath is now contained in a park, which has become a place of pilgrimage for thousands of fans every day. The city of Tupelo has other attractions too to make a trip north of Jackson worthwhile. Elvis Presley Park includes not only the period-furnished house, but also a museum, memorial chapel, gift shop and a life-size statue of the legend, aged 13, as he was when he moved from Tupelo to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family.

Address: 306 Elvis Presley Drive, Tupelo; E-mail: info@elvispresleybirthplace.com; Website: www.elvispresleybirthplace.com; Telephone: (662) 841 1245; Opening time: Monday to Saturday 9am to 5.30pm (until 5pm from October to April); Sunday 1pm to 5pm; Admission: House: $4 (adults), $2 (children). Musuem: $8 (adults), $4 (children). Separate tickets are also available