Best Things to Do in Vicksburg for History and Culture Lovers

Vicksburg, Mississippi, famous for its role in the Civil War, combines history and small-town treasures for a delightful weekend getaway. You literally have to slow your roll here; the surprisingly hilly streets force you to walk carefully and absorb your surroundings.

• Walk or drive through Vicksburg National Military Park, home to more than 1,400 monuments, memorials and the restored USS Cairo ironclad gunboat.
• Discover downtown delights including the Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum, the Catfish Row Museum and galleries showcasing Mississippi artists and blues culture.
• Explore riverfront murals, historic homes, Tiffany stained glass windows and locally guided tours that bring Vicksburg’s many layers of history to life.

Vicksburg’s National Military Park is the city’s marquee attraction. Certainly, it is one of the most important Civil War sites in America, the site of a pivotal 47-day siege that helped change the course of history. But the park is only the beginning of the story.

Perched above the Mississippi River, Vicksburg has quirky museums, historic churches, vibrant art galleries, riverfront murals, ghost stories and a surprising connection to the first bottled Coca-Cola.

Whether you’re a history buff, a culture lover or simply looking for a distinctive Southern weekend getaway, you’ll find plenty to explore beyond the battlefield.

Editor’s note: The writer was hosted. This is an updated version of a post written by Christine Tibbetts and published in 2022.

Walk the Battlefield That Changed the Civil War

OK, I don’t actually believe in ghosts. But if I did, I think they’d haunt Vicksburg National Military Park. This vast battlefield, key to the Civil War (hence Vicksburg’s nickname, “Key City”), endured a 47-day siege. When the Confederacy surrendered on July 4, 1863, the North gained control of the Mississippi River.

There are more than 1,400 monuments and memorials, recreated trenches and the Vicksburg National Cemetery. You can bike the 16 miles around the park, drive to different spots and walk or run miles of trails.

Highlights of the Park

• The Missouri Monument soars 42 feet high and features a winged bronze young woman almost that tall reaching skyward.
• Climb 47 steps to the Illinois Memorial, a Roman temple large enough to hold the names in bronze and stone of every Illinois soldier in the Vicksburg siege and campaign.
• Licensed Battlefield Guides are available to hire for 2-hour tours providing in-depth information about the Siege.

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Experience Life on the USS Cairo

The USS Cairo is the only Ironclad ship rescued after sinking and available to board today. The walkways are sturdy, the signage informative and the sense of wonder enormous.

Imagining ourselves on that ironclad, sinking in 12 minutes after being struck by two torpedoes in December of 1862, is a stunning opportunity to live within history.

The USS Cairo Museum is in the Vicksburg National Military Park, next to the Vicksburg National Cemetery. Easy-access restrooms are in the museum.

Explore the Museums That Bring Vicksburg to Life

Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum

The kitschy Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum, housed in what was once the Biedenharn candy store, has an old-fashioned soda fountain. Vicksburg is the first place Coca-Cola was bottled, by the son of the candy store owner.

The museum has Coke artifacts, including old advertising slogans touting the health benefits of Coca-Cola. You can buy a Coke float or old-time candy here, none of which have any known health benefits.

The Old Court House Museum

The Old Court House Museum, in a gorgeous 1858 National Historic Landmark, sits high above downtown Vicksburg. The historical exhibits include dolls (whose owners are often identified by the husband’s first name, for example, “Mrs. Peter So-and-So”), furniture, china, tools and Civil War memorabilia.

Jefferson Davis started his political career here. There are extremely troubling descriptions suggesting that his slaves were his “friends” who “loved their master.”

Vicksburg Civil War Museum

The Vicksburg Civil War Museum sees the war through a very different lens. The privately owned museum, the first African American-owned Civil War museum, focuses on the African American experience of formerly enslaved soldiers, freedmen and abolitionists during the Civil War.

Owner Charles Pendleton, a Vicksburg native, greets visitors and quizzes them on Civil War history. This was a humbling experience.

The Old Depot Museum

The Old Depot Museum offers a history of Vicksburg through transportation. The museum housed waiting rooms for train passengers: one for whites and one for “colored” passengers. No need for integrated waiting rooms now; there is no passenger train service. The working model railroad and antique model cars are must-sees.

A highlight of the museum is the Fall of Dixie Diorama, which gives you an overview of the battlefield you see during a visit to Vicksburg National Military Park. You really get a sense of how the topography played a key role in the Siege of Vicksburg. The intricate model has more than 2,000 miniature soldiers.

Catfish Row Museum

The new Catfish Row Museum tells the history of Vicksburg through food, commerce and music. It has an exhibit, Exploring Foodways in Vicksburg, that discusses how immigrants to the city incorporated local food into their cuisine. There were pockets of Jewish and Asian immigrants, and Jewish settlers built the first synagogue in Mississippi. There is also an exhibit on the merchants of Vicksburg; in the mid-1800s, there were 35 Jewish-owned businesses in the small city.

The museum, housed in a building on the National Register of Historic Places, was originally built as a carriage manufacturing plant before becoming an automobile dealership. Catfish Row runs a summer cooking series where local chefs and James Beard Award winners cook and teach about Southern and Native American food.

Chase Ghost Stories Through Local History

The McRaven Tour Home offers guided history tours, special candlelight tours and nighttime haunted tours. We took a ghost tour, which also included a history of the house. McRaven is the oldest building in Vicksburg. Built in 1797, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Take in Views of the Mighty Mississippi

Head to the river to see the Vicksburg Riverfront Murals on the floodwalls along Levee Street. The murals depict historic events in Vicksburg, including floods, river traffic and, of course, the 47-day Siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War. You will hear a lot about the battle while you are in Vicksburg.

Additional Mississippi River Attractions:

• Sorting out the mighty Mississippi River and the Yazoo River in Vicksburg is a great reason to stand and gaze from a high bluff at the Mississippi Welcome Center on Washington Street.
• The Catfish Row Children’s Art Park is wide open for running and jumping, and some whimsical play areas.
• Want to get on the river? Choose a canoe outfitter and really explore.
• The Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum focuses on river life, ecology and wildlife.

Step Inside One of Vicksburg’s Architectural Treasures

Tourists flock to the Church of the Holy Trinity from river cruise boats that stop on the Mississippi River’s Yazoo Diversion Canal. Thirty-three stained glass windows are a big reason why, six of them by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Long, slender side-by-side stained glass windows present flags from both sides of the Civil War. Historians say this is one of the first instances in which troops of both sides were memorialized in the same space.

See Vicksburg Through Local Eyes

Vicksburg Old Town Tours is locally owned and operated by Bertram and Carol Hayes-Davis. Bertram is the great-great-grandson of President Jefferson Davis. He knows stories and has the family documents and even the Confederacy leader’s rocking chair to back it up. Walking tours include their home, half of which is antebellum, 1840-era, and half is 1870.

SheBuysTravel Contributor Christine Tibbetts appreciated the insider perspective. “Hearing the history from Bertram and Carol Hayes-Davis creates space to consider various viewpoints. He’s protective of his family, for certain, but not the least bit strident or demanding of agreement.”

Tour Stops:

• Christ Episcopal Church is on the tour, where a worship service was held every day of the siege even with continuous shelling. Many citizens hid in caves. Population of Vicksburg then: 5,000. Number of troops in the city: 30,000.
• The Duff Green Mansion & Inn is a go-inside part of the tour with permission to sit on the furniture while gazing up at 15 1/2 foot ceilings. This 1856 home is now an inn; during the Civil War it was a hospital for Confederate and Union troops and therefore not destroyed.

Meet the Artists Keeping Delta Culture Alive

Christine loved the many art galleries in Vicksburg. She suggests looking for works by Vicksburg native William Tolliver. Born in 1951, the self-taught artist’s paintings of African American life are prized museum and private collection works today.

Where to Browse

• The Attic Gallery exudes stability and funkiness all at the same time. Fifty years this gallery has been open, and its walls are jam-packed with the energies of Southern folk art.
• H. C .Porter Gallery is much younger but filled with the deep personality of the blues. Painter, printmaker and photographer H. C. Porter interviewed and photographed 31 Delta blues musicians in their homes.

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