SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE ITINERARY

Life Along the River

With so much to see and learn about West Tennessee, this four-day itinerary will introduce you to the history and heritage of life along the river.

Day One

Start your day at Birdsong Resort, Marina & Lakeside RV & Tent Campground on beautiful Lake Kentucky in Camden. In addition to the lakefront resort, Birdsong is also home to the only freshwater culturing farm in America.

Make advance reservations for the from the museum and jewelry showroom to riverside sessions with a pearl diver and the farm manager. You’ll get a brief biology lesson on the mussel and its place in the area’s aquaculture as well as getting a peak at the “catch of the day” and learning about the process of growing and grading freshwater pearls. The full tour, three to five hours long, includes a catered shore lunch and a trek to Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park for a tour of the Tennessee River Folklife Museum at historic Pilot Knob. Shorter versions of the tour are also available.

Depart for Jackson, the hub of Southwest Tennessee and have dinner at one of our fine local restaurants.

Day Two

After breakfast at your hotel, visit the Carriage House Antique Market and Café, 195 Carriage House Drive, where you’ll find an assortment of antiques, art, books, children’s clothing, collectibles and decorator items in 15,000 square feet of space. The café is available for an afternoon snack or drink.

Next, head to Brooks Shaw's Old Country Store/Casey Jones Village for lunch, music, and shopping. One of Tennessee’s top 10 travel attractions, Shaw’s serves delicious buffets and includes a beautiful 1890’s ice cream parlor and fudge shop, gift and confectionary shop, as well as a collection of more than 15,000 antiques on display.

Relive the Steam Age of railroading at the Historic Casey Jones Home, complete with 130-ton replica of Engine #382 and a model train exhibit inside a restored G.M. & O. railroad car. and Train Store and various specialty shops.

And there’s always music, from the Songwriter’s Depot to regular performances by barbershop and gospel groups and the Jackson Area Plectral Society Club Jam (plectral means pickin’ for the uninitiated).

Follow up the fun at Casey Jones Village with dinner at the Catfish Cabin; 1290 S. Highland Avenue.

Arrive at the International Rockabilly Hall of Fame, home of the , for night of music and dancing. A resource center dedicated to preserving and promoting Rockabilly music, the Hall of Fame recognizes the pioneers of the music while the museum displays memorabilia reflecting its heritage. See life- size portraits of Hall of Fame inductees such as Jackson’s own Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Sun Studio’s Sam Phillips, Johnny Cash and others. West Tennessee is home to some of the greatest living rockabilly musicians, some of whom will entertain your group with live music and dancing with the Rockabilly Rockers.

Day Three

Start out your day with breakfast at Brooks Shaw’s Old Country Store, then depart for N.C. & St. L. Depot; 582 South Royal Street, an important restored turn-of-the-century depot featuring a museum, Amtrak dining car, and two cabooses. An elaborate model railroad display reflects Jackson’s history as West Tennessee’s railroad hub.

Afterward, at Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park, tour the largest Middle Woodland period mound complex in the United States, with ceremonial and burial mounds that predate known Native American tribes. The adjacent museum is designed to replicate a mound with displays, interpretive programs and a theater.

After lunch, make the short trip to the Sheriff Buford Pusser Home & Museum in Adamsville ; See the suburban home of McNairy County’s world-famous sheriff, featured in the “Walking Tall” movies and television series. The site contains cars, original furnishings, a video presentation, and a host of memorabilia depicting the life of the late Sheriff, from childhood through his famed law enforcement career. Groups can meet with Dwana Pusser-Garrison, Sheriff Pusser’s daughter, to hear stories of growing up with a legendary father.

Step further back in history at the Shiloh National Military Park, site of the first major battle in the western theater of the Civil War. One of the best preserved battlefields in the nation, Shiloh also commemorates the siege and battle of the key railroad junction at nearby Corinth, Mississippi. features.The battlefield tour starts at the Visitor Center where exhibits and a brief film provide an introduction; the wide array of markers includes 153 monuments, 229 cannons, and more than 450 historic tablets.

The last stop before dinner is nearby Savannah, where you will visit the [[VENDOR:: tennessee_river_museum]] and tour historic Cherry Mansion. Tennessee River Museum explores the heritage of the river valley with displays of paleontology, archeology, war on the river, the Trail of Tears, the steamboat era and the changes brought about by TVA.

Cherry Mansion, circa 1830, sits on a bluff overlooking the Tennessee River and was used as headquarters by several Union generals including Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War. The home is furnished with several pieces that were original to the house and with period antiques collected locally and abroad.

After a full day of sight-seeing, it’s time to head to your hotel at Pickwick Landing State Resort Park, a riverboat stop for almost 100 years until the construction of TVA’s Pickwick Dam. Check into the Park Inn, where every room enjoys a view of the lake, and prepare for dinner at Freddy T’s Restaurant., a unique tropical dining experience offering steaks, seafood and much more.

Day Four

After breakfast at the Park Inn, depart for the in Grand Junction. Recognizing more than 40 breeds of bird dogs, the museum features numerous exhibits, sporting dog art, wildlife murals, artifacts, historical objects, a collection of game birds and wildlife specimens, gift shop and more.

The next stop is the Bolivar Historic District, where three Historic Districts are home to several outstanding antebellum mansions representing many architectural styles. Court Square includes the 1868 courthouse, as well as one of the three log courthouses left in the United States.

Your last stop is the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville, which includes the West Tennessee Music Museum, spotlighting Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, and Sleepy John Estes, one of the world’s most famous blues musicians; the Cotton Museum Room, tracing the history of this important crop from 1828 to the present; The Hatchie River Museum Room, focusing on the fragile watershed of the last unchannelized river in the lower Mississippi River Valley.

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