Things to Do in Cleveland, Mississippi

The first GRAMMY Museum built outside Los Angeles opened here in 2016, beside the Delta State campus. The 28,000-square-foot museum covers every genre, how records get made, and Mississippi’s outsized share of GRAMMY winners. Its Mississippi Music Table shows how the state’s artists shaped blues, country, gospel and rock.

★ Good to know It’s closed Mondays. Check the museum’s site for current special exhibits.

Will Dockery started this cotton plantation and sawmill in 1895, and it grew to 25,600 acres with its own store, post office and money. Charley Patton lived here, and Howlin’ Wolf, Pops Staples and Robert Johnson passed through. It’s widely called the birthplace of the blues and is on the National Register.

★ Good to know It sits on Highway 8 east of town toward Ruleville and is still a working farm, so treat it as a roadside stop and respect private property.

Cleveland grew up around the railroad, and this city museum downtown tells that story. The centerpiece is the largest O-gauge model train layout in Mississippi, 71 by 17 feet, showing a Delta town from the 1940s to the 1960s. A 1941 Illinois Central caboose sits outside and is open during museum hours.

★ Good to know Admission is free, and it’s open weekdays plus Saturday afternoons.

South Chrisman Street was the center of Black business and nightlife during segregation, anchored by the Harlem Inn, opened in 1935. Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Ike Turner and Fats Domino all played there, according to its owner. Cleveland’s other markers honor W.C. Handy, the GRAMMY Museum and Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklin’s father, who preached here.

★ Good to know Civil rights leader Amzie Moore lived at 614 S. Chrisman; his house is now preserved as a museum on the Freedom Trail.

Chinese families have lived in the Delta for generations, in a space between the region’s Black and white communities that often went unrecorded. This museum collects their oral histories, memorabilia and photographs. It’s on the third floor of the Delta State University archives and museum building.

★ Good to know Its hours follow the university archives, so check the Delta State library site before you go.

Delta State began as a teachers college in the 1920s. Cleveland won it partly by agreeing to move the rowdy Black Bear Saloon. The campus is home to the Bologna Performing Arts Center, and the Boo Ferriss Baseball Museum beside the stadium honors the Red Sox pitcher who coached here.

★ Good to know Check the Bologna Performing Arts Center calendar for concerts and touring shows during your stay.