Discover Your True TownMississippi’s towns

and small cities offer Southern friendliness

and some surprises. B eyond the interstates and four-lane highways, past the strip malls and fast-food stops, lie some of Mississippi’s

greatest treasures. They are True Towns,

as real and as friendly as they come.

Brookhaven (population 13,205)

Stop by Janie’s Pastry Shop & Bakery for

“chicken-on-a-stick” at lunchtime. You’ll

join city and county officials as well as

carpenters working on the latest downtown

renovation. From a window seat you can

see the 1825 Foster-Smith Log Cabin in

Railroad Park and the Amtrak train that

goes through shortly after noon. During

the Ole Brook Festival in October, the view

includes food vendors and arts and crafts.

Drive the shaded streets peppered with 19th-

century cottages and two-story Queen Anne

homes. On West Cherokee Street, visit historic

Whitworth College, home to the Mississippi

School of the Arts, a residential school for

artistically gifted 11th- and 12th-graders.

Cleveland (population 14,841)

Cleveland is home to Delta State University.

You have to love a place where the unofficial

college mascot is the “Fighting Okra,” depicted

as a pod of okra wearing boxing gloves.

Downtown, Cleveland has created a linear park

with trees and a paved walking trail where

the railroad once ran. The Historic Crosstie

Shopping District spreads along both sides of

the park and includes Cotton Row Bookstore,

a wonderful source for regional books.

Delta State University’s Bologna Performing

Arts Center serves as a local entertainment

venue, and its Wright Art Center Gallery

features rotating exhibits. Potteries in nearby

Mound Bayou and Merigold add to the

cultural heritage. Po’ Monkey’s, a juke joint

near Merigold, helps keep the blues alive. And

nearby Historic Dockery Farms pays tribute to

the early bluesmen who lived and worked there.

Hattiesburg (population 48,012)

Hattiesburg encompasses the University

of Southern Mississippi, William Carey

University and a revitalized downtown.

One business to relocate downtown was

Plums, joining sister store A Gallery on East

Front Street. Together, they’re chock-full of

artwork, china, gift items, jewelry and crafts.

Cultural offerings include the restored Saenger

Theater downtown, with concerts, movies and

musicals, and art museums on the campus

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