Neshoba County Fair

Mississippi's biggest campground fair belongs to a stock association, not the public. Nine men formed it in 1891, and its 150 acres hold more than 600 family cabins that cannot be sold without the association's approval. Grand Ole Opry stars Pee Wee King, Cowboy Copas and Minnie Pearl played in 1946, and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1957. The speakers' stand mattered as much: in the 1950s and 1960s candidates defended the state's traditional way of life in racial terms, and Ronald Reagan's 1980 states' rights speech is cited by critics as racial coding.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chahta Immi Cultural Center — 4.2 mi
  The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians' own museum and cultural center at Pearl River, with basketry, artifacts and the tribe's guidance on what visitors may see.
• Old Neshoba County Jail — 7.3 mi
  The 1955 jail in downtown Philadelphia where James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were held on June 21, 1964, hours before they were murdered.
• Mount Zion Methodist Church — 14 mi
  The Black church in Longdale burned by the Klan on June 16, 1964, rebuilt by its congregation, and the place Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner had gone to visit when they were murdered.
• Nanih Waiya — 21 mi
  The Mother Mound of the Choctaw in Winston County, a sacred origin place returned to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in 2008.

More markers nearby

• Bob Ferguson — 4.7 mi
• Choctaw Indian Fair — 4.8 mi
• Otis Rush — 7.0 mi
• Marty Stuart — 7.3 mi