Seeking Small Town America: The Road Trip Begins
When planning this road trip out through the Southern states, we wanted our first stay to be in small town America, some off the beaten track small community kind of place where we could delve into how things work and what makes backwaters tick. Somewhere with a ring to the place name would be a bonus, so when we spotted a B&B named “The Wisteria Inn” in a town called Crystal Springs, temptation hooked us in without any further research.
Heading north away from New Orleans on the I-55 we get a real grasp of the extent of swampland, the first 20 to 30 miles of the highway is on elevated road on pillars above flooded lands, trees half submerged in the silent waters. Such terrain means no towns or villages, there’s nowhere here where the ground is secure enough to be built upon. Miles of bridge over miles of nothing but water. Swamps, lakes and bayous eventually give way to deciduous greenery and grassy meadows and we are on our way out of Louisiana and into Mississippi.
As we roll into Crystal Springs we are greeted by red painted concrete tomatoes on each street corner and a sign proclaiming this little community as the “Tomatopolis of the World” – in time gone by this was a farming town with a claim to be the first place to distribute tomatoes and lettuces throughout the USA, and they are still very proud of it. “Mississippi grown” was a label of quality and, even though those times are long gone, the pride remains. There’s even a tomato museum in town. No really, there is.
Inside the tomato museum
If it’s not tomatoes, it’s religion. Crystal Springs seems to have roughly one church for every seven houses and messages of love for God and Jesus appear every few hundred feet around town – there’s absolutely no doubting that we are in the Bible Belt here. We can only ponder how the town manages to fill so many churches at service time, maybe some locals do a church crawl every Sunday.
Crystal Springs is Southern state small town America just as you would picture it: timber houses sit on large plots of manicured land with perfect lawns and no discernible boundary. Wives tend gardens while husbands ride grass cutters or tinker with the RV. Out front of every house is a wooden porch with rocking chairs. Rising on tall stanchions above each small community is a water tower with the village or town name emblazoned on the tank at the top; the largest shop in town is the hardware store. The barber’s shop is run by Lee and the first two guys we meet are Stacy and Larry. Could it get any more stereotypical?!
Everyone in town stops to chat with us and a couple of times we’ve had pretty much the life story before we get chance to move on – but of course we don’t mind this at all, meeting people is how we learn the character of a place. When they pause to ask where we’re from, our response is met with a universal reaction of open mouths and dropped jaws, as if to say, “you’re travellin’ the world and you’ve ended up in our lil’ ol’ town?! Well, I’ll be….”
But it’s funny how absolutely everywhere has a claim to fame and, having literally chosen Crystal Springs for no reason other than its quaint name, it turns out to be a hotbed of blues music history. This little agricultural community was home to renowned exponents of what is known as delta blues – the delta of course being the Mississippi – including a blues legend in one Robert L Johnson. Johnson’s music has been covered by such powerhouses as Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers, amongst others.
So, somewhat bizarrely, Crystal Springs has two small but notable museums, one dedicated to blues legends and the other to tomatoes. The Robert Johnson museum boasts a modest but remarkable collection of 78s, posters, photographs and other memorabilia and is a fascinating tribute to the local hero. There’s also a map of the delta showing the birthplace of each delta blues star who made good – and there are an awful lot condensed into a small area. Johnson is yet another member of the “27 club”, and music fans will know what that means.
The railroad runs right through the middle of Crystal Springs. There are barriers at the road crossings but no other fences or protection, the line simply cuts a swathe right through the very centre and several times a day a horn-blowing mile-long freight train powers its way noisily through, shattering the peace with a decibel level which shudders the buildings.
Its central location isn’t a coincidence – in fact the town moved about a mile eastward when the railroad was built, seizing the opportunity to use the new network as its gateway to riches as the “tomato trains” loaded up and distributed fresh produce to the waiting nation. Nowadays there is no station, the trains no longer stop, they just thunder through with a blast of noisy activity so out of keeping with Crystal Springs’ tranquility. And yet it all somehow adds to the town’s character.
Our amiable host at the inn, a male Stacy, engages us with tales of the townsfolk and the town’s history as we chat over breakfast and out on the porch. This is exactly what we were hoping for in our search for smalltown America, all our boxes are being ticked at our very first stop. We wander around the lake at Chautauqua Park, take a drive to a couple of neighbouring towns, Hazlehurst and Wesson, and laugh in our bed each time the next freight train blasts its ear splitting horn as it barges through, even at the dead of night.
Images of Hazlehurst
Wednesday morning, one last chat with Stacy, one last amble around town, and it’s back into the Chevy and on with the road trip, up through the greenery of Mississippi and into miles and miles of flat farmland and dead straight roads punctuated by tiny farming communities huge distances from the nearest big town. Strange place names pass by, some intriguing, many amusing. Just exactly how does a small village get named Yazoo City? We pass Prague and Moscow, McGehee and even Dancing Rabbit Creek. “You are now entering Grady, population 649”, proudly announces one road sign.
After 100 miles or more on pretty minor roads with very little traffic, suddenly out of nowhere there’s a giant suspension bridge which takes us over the Mississippi and across the state line into Arkansas, and eventually just a hint of forested hills starts to give shape to the horizon beyond those vast flat fields.
With five hours of non-freeway smaller roads behind us, we roll into our next destination mid afternoon, past Bob’s Food City and The Armory Gun Shop, and on to Central Avenue. This is the town where a certain Bill Clinton grew up, and is over the next few days to provide some real intrigue.
Welcome to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
37 Comments
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
An interesting snapshot of the small towns. I used to live in the U.S. and I recall that numerous churches are a feature in many parts, not just the south.
Phil & Michaela
Yes, like the mission towns of California. But I think Crystal Springs topped the church v population charts!
Patricia Furstenberg
Nothing like going off the beaten track to discover the old charm of a region. That Robert Johnson museum looks amazing and I wouldn’t mind a stroll through Chautauqua Park.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Patricia, much appreciated. We do love these little out of the way places, they really do make a good change when exploring an area, it’s so good to get a feel for different kinds of places.
Lookoom
Great description of small towns. The sense of community is very strong in these small towns where everyone knows each other and chats in the drugstore. It’s so different from the big cities. Two opposite worlds, in fact.
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely. We kept saying that for a drive of just a few hours, it was impossible to reconcile life in Crystal Springs with life in New Orleans.
Annie Berger
Plus, I’d imagine to reconcile life in the Amazon where you’d just come from before New Orleans!
Phil & Michaela
Yeah now that WAS a culture shock!
Andrew Petcher
Enjoyed this. I remember in America everyone we met asked if we were Australian!
Phil & Michaela
Crystal Springs was so remote that they didn’t even consider that we might not be American – they just thought that we were from a far off state where they have a different accent!
Andrew Petcher
You picked a good place there. It is getting more and more difficult to discover places not overrun with tourists.
Travels Through My Lens
You have found quintessential small town USA, where people are friendly and inviting, and people rarely lock their doors. Spring brings dangerous weather in the southern states; safe travels!
Phil & Michaela
There’s something special about finding little places like that – a real sense of travelling somewhere different. Yes we’ve been following the storm warnings just today…there’s some weather about!
Monkey's Tale
I have been in and through a few too many of these small American towns I’m afraid. Too many Trump signs to make me make me want to return.
Phil & Michaela
I know what you mean. Actually there wasn’t a single sign with “that name” on, in Crystal Springs, but plenty of God and Jesus signs. However, some conversations with locals made it pretty obvious where their political allegiances lie.
Toonsarah
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Crystal Springs! The Robert Johnson museum looks like a must (Chris would love the sight of all those guitars!) and the tomato one a close second. I love the friendliness of small town America, and yes, we’ve met with similar astonishment from locals when they hear we’re from London 😀 Looking forward to hearing more about Hot Springs…
Phil & Michaela
Love finding these off the tourist trail places and as you will know it’s relatively easy in America. When you find them and you’re the strangers passing through, it gives you an enormous sense of “proper” travel. We absolutely adore that feeling!
Toonsarah
Oh yes, so true! We still remember the teenage girl (clearly a schoolgirl on a summer job) who served us when we stopped off for cold drinks in a small town somewhere in California way back in 1991. She couldn’t get over the fact that she was serving people from England, having never met anyone from here before. She raved about our accents and every time she passed our table she would repeat ‘awesome’ several times!
Phil & Michaela
😂
Heyjude
My OH would also love those guitars!
Marie
Wonderful commentary – I was with you every step of the way….
Phil & Michaela
Thank you, Marie – it’s easier to record experiences when they’re a little bit different, isn’t it…don’t you think….😁
grandmisadventures
I really enjoy small towns, especially in the South. They just burst with that lovely southern hospitality and local pride 🙂
Phil & Michaela
We love that feeling of being the strangers passing through town, getting to know local characters and then moving on. It’s the essence of a road trip! We’ve arrived in Memphis today, here till Saturday, next stop Nashville!
grandmisadventures
can’t wait to see you in a few days!
Phil & Michaela
That feeling is entirely mutual 😊
Heyjude
In some respects this reminds me of the small towns in South Africa. The hardware store, the barber, the church(es) and everyone knowing everybody. My OH would love the Robert Johnson museum and those guitars! The one thing I loved about driving in the US was the open roads (exceptions being the big cities which I loathed driving in or around) just you and not a single other vehicle in front or behind. Never happens here.
Phil & Michaela
There’s still lots of empty road driving here, too. And it’s a pleasure! I like the small town feel. We like mixing it up on these trips too….different kinds of experiences.
Annie Berger
Thought of the old Don McLean American Pie song when you wrote you were driving a Chevy (to the Levy) on your road trip through small town America! Oh, the miles we’ve driven over the Louisiana bayous with the trailer rattling behind us on those same bumpy roads sorely in need of repairs – you brought back many memories! Loved the vivid descriptions of the characters and the museums in Crystal Springs – perhaps there’ll be a resurgence of tourism there now, thanks to you!
Phil & Michaela
Oh I do hope not – it was its very detachment that made it so appealing 😊. Love those kind of experiences, an essential part of a road trip huh…
Parks and Planes
What a unique stop! We did a 10 state road trip and spent a lot of time in Arkansas esp. the rural parts. Was a nice change of pace. Hope things continue to go well for you on this trip!
Phil & Michaela
Yes, both Crystal Springs and Hot Springs were great stops for very different reasons
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
You are visiting the south just before it gets really toasty. Enjoy.
Karen (Back Road Journal)
Your adventures of discovering small town America certainly did start out well at your first stop. Crystal Springs has a lovely charm about it. Hopefully your entire trip will be met with hospitality from welcoming people.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you for your comment, Karen. We’re nearing the end of the trip now and yes it’s been great all the way through…love the small towns we’re stopping at, every one has its own piece of fascinating history.
WanderingCanadians
Love how the town has a tomato museum … and that you went to it! The houses look so charming.
Phil & Michaela
Funny how even the smallest towns have stories to tell, isn’t it. It’s one of the things that makes road trips so cool.