More on Tunica

Day 3:  More on the top of the Delta

The casinos have created an alternate universe around Tunica.  There is the epicenter of country blues, hiding in plain sight amongst the billboards and the modern buildings.  Out on Casino Strip Resort Blvd., there's the Tunica County Jail, looking mighty small.  Of course, most of the black men went over to Parchman Farm.







Robert Johnson grew up on the Abbay & Leatherman plantation, still a working farm, but smaller than when it supported 850 sharecropper families.  The commissary that Robert's stepfather would have used his scrip in is still there, just east of the Exxon/Checkers Drive-in and still in use.



The casinos have brought wealth to the county.  There are some nice buildings, new schools and a museum.  Hard to tell how much the lives of the 70% of population that were once the sharecroppers have fared.

Started -- Day 1

 Highway 61 is called the Blues Highway for the fact that it runs along the Mississippi and was the main north-south path for the musicians that traveled around the Delta.  In reality, it starts north of the twin cities, and I could have followed it down the river.  I opted for speed, and picked up Hwy 61 about 20 miles outside of Hannibal.  Tomorrow, I'll get to Memphis, the top of the Delta and the funnel through with the country blues players passed on their way North.