Mississippi

D

Communications

There were 20 daily newspapers published in the state in 2002. The first three founded in Mississippi were the Mississippi Gazette, which began operation in about 1800; the Intelligencer, established in 1801; and the Mississippi Herald, founded in 1802. All three papers were published in Natchez. The oldest existing newspaper in Mississippi is the weekly Woodville Republican, which began publication in 1824. The daily with the largest circulation is the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. Other major daily papers include the Biloxi Sun Herald, the Meridian Star, the Tupelo Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, the Pascagoula Mississippi Press, the Hattiesburg American, and the Greenville Delta Democrat-Times.

The first radio station in Mississippi, currently known as WFOR, began operations as WDBT at Hattiesburg in 1925. The first television station, WJTV, was established at Jackson in 1953. There were 68 AM and 85 FM radio stations and 21 television stations in the state in 2002.

E

Music and Theater

All-day singings, or community singings of hymns and folk songs, are a popular tradition in Mississippi and are held regularly on the local, regional, and statewide levels. Symphony orchestras are found in some cities and towns in the state, including Jackson and Tupelo. Little-theater groups are active in many communities and universities.

VI

Recreation and Places of Interest

Mississippi’s abundant water resources and mild climate provide residents and tourists with recreational opportunities throughout the year. Facilities for water sports include boating, swimming, and fishing in almost all the state-administered parks and recreation areas and in the recreation areas administered by the federal government.

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A

National Parks

The National Park Service administers seven units in Mississippi. Four of them, Tupelo National Battlefield, Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg National Cemetery, and Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, are associated with the American Civil War (1861-1865) (see Vicksburg, Campaign of; Brices Cross Roads, Battle of). Vicksburg National Military Park commemorates the siege and defense of Vicksburg, one of the most decisive battles of the Civil War. Today the battlefield at Vicksburg includes more than 1,300 monuments and markers, reconstructed trenches and earthworks, and cannon emplacements. The Vicksburg National Cemetery, established in 1866, contains more than 18,000 graves. The identities of those in nearly three-quarters of the graves are unknown. Soldiers from the Civil War, the Spanish-American War (1898), World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953) are buried in the cemetery. Natchez Trace Parkway, most, but not all, of which lies in Mississippi, follows the route of a historic Native American and pioneer road. The Mississippi section of the Gulf Islands National Seashore contains Fort Massachusetts and several primitive offshore islands. The newest unit, Natchez National Historical Park, is centered among one of the country’s best-preserved concentrations of homes from the time before the Civil War, known as the antebellum period.

B

National Forests

The six national forests in Mississippi cover 467,000 hectares (1,153,000 acres). The largest, De Soto National Forest, covers more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of dense pine forest in the southeast. The other forests are Bienville, Delta, Holly Springs, Homochitto, and Tombigbee. Most of them have camping, hunting, fishing, and boating facilities.

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