Off the Beaten Path In Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi is full of interesting attractions and historic sites, but these off-the-beaten path, creatively-driven spots should be on your radar when you come to the City With Soul.
![Andy Young](https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=998767f416507ac5fc1352c6d41333b8 320w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=d553c699b4adccda4dbe52884c048e6d 540w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=cca551a3d675498fa268f6c02be4db7d 768w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=aeb2547d3ad2a726cfccab88abd8abc4 1024w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=c01ae90f314c726fea2f1f53ad677b44 1200w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=4498647f75f352e749f1b2b1664e8757 1440w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Pearl-River-Glass-Andy-Young.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=31b93b0eec284b5098f12fe6a71eacbc 1920w)
Pearl River Glass Studio – Midtown
What started as a single artist’s desire to broaden the appeal and sensibilities of stained glass has since become the center of an art world revolution. Pearl River Glass Studio — now 45 years in the making — specializes in stained class applications both big and small.
The 10,000-square-foot facility is open for tours so that visitors can glimpse the scope and artistry necessary to bend light into abstract expressions and statements of the sun’s glory.
Pearl River’s work can be found all over the world, but by stopping in to visit, you can take a little piece away with you for your home.
Mural Hunting at The Slab – Downtown
Take an old grocery warehouse site, long abandoned, buildings torn down, and turn it into something amazing? If you ask skateboard enthusiasts in town what they could do with it, they’d offer you back The Slab, a DIY skate park at 455 North Mill Street with plenty of space for large scale murals.
The artist behind most of the works is Gavin Bird who, since childhood, has created drawings, paintings and three-dimensional pieces. His work usually revolves around living things – animals and landscapes – but has been known to offer tribute to local legends and institutions as well.
Use the Google public art map (linked above) to navigate to The Slab and find other murals around town.
![two people talk among rows of crops under w white tunnel](https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=a993887669604a960b2ab69d6b2ce2c0 320w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=900890caed2715044bba90e2f85479dc 540w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=586f526783f46d95177ca3eb290cd754 768w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=4cd39987221b4e902729920f00b9f84a 1024w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=3e1b1d7bd86c7e11068582fd694023d8 1200w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=b9e7be8e7690877372c60a121a3bcc38 1440w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Footprint-Farms.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=6f47d84605d3eca9291fe0460279ed23 1920w)
Foot Print Farms – West Jackson
Foot Print Farms is the largest urban farm in the state of Mississippi, and its existence is indebted to Cindy Ayers, its founder. Foot Print Farms, located in West Jackson, helps train farmers throughout the state to work with communities and help address the issue of food deserts in Mississippi.
The 68 acre specialty crop vegetable and livestock farm has a focus on agritourism for community development, hosting community events, chef-lead dinners and, often, an urban artisan market, Magnolia Sunset Markets, co-founded by Ayers.
Foot Print Farms also serves as an educational incubator for teaching young farmers.
![Turntables in the foreground with a man in red; customers at the counter around him in a store.](https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=e7f636aa2fe67dc1b43ea19e7877500e 320w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=b67684013ebf02899c3dac7e57e72714 540w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=e69990bb4a87b37796a56773d29c9d2e 768w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=08d834985673d9d48f153788a6e4bb90 1024w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=dfdb024855ad6013058337a227db4a12 1200w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=deceef36edd377ba7bb7c5b8ef957c07 1440w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Offbeat-Venom-with-customers.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=3b1f9fed3eff1f1bf976661397435173 1920w)
Offbeat – Downtown
Billed as an “alternative culture” store - now located downtown, OffBeat started in May 2014 as an idea and an attempt to build community through a store and art gallery.
“I learned how to read from comics and being a DJ… they just mesh so well together,” said owner Phillip “DJ Young Venom” Rollins. “I felt like (comics) wouldn’t be strong enough as a store by itself, so, let me combine the two and add in some designer toys and a gallery wall for minority artists.”
Watch Offbeat’s Facebook for upcoming events.
Suzie Cranston’s birdhouse garden – Fondren
Find the house in Fondren with over 100 birdhouses in the front yard – and you’ve stumbled upon the grieving process of Suzie Cranston.
When her son Peck died nearly thirty years ago, a garden sign gifted to her read “peace begins in the garden” and has since inspired the three-decade art project.
There are nearly twenty churches and a replica of her childhood home among the purely decorative and rarely functional birdhouses, other than the ones that “occasionally house a rogue squirrel.”
![](https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=4ed30cdf48d29f852bd0142d81821ce7 320w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=ba2fc63b0d084a6319fa85b7bf21d32e 540w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=dd4a68f390adb1e03aa90c5d54636b25 768w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=ea54a19bab729ff5e2531da1405ce141 1024w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=7ab256f39135ba250eba7e4a07e91ab9 1200w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=b52af5f1ed968054ffe95047f4d23cea 1440w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Merci-Train.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=62636e8aed909808b07496ccf45ccde4 1920w)
Merci Train – Downtown
One of the few remaining Merci Trains sent to the United States in 1949 is here in Jackson.
In 1947, Washington Post columnist Drew Pearson launched a grassroots effort to help war recovery in France and Italy. Over $40 million worth of supplies was collected from across the United States, eventually filling more than 700 railroad cars. The train became known as the American Friendship Train, and the boxcars arrived in Europe in December 1947.
See it up close and in person behind the Old Capitol Museum at the former GM&O railroad depot building.
![A patch of concrete that, upon closer view, is a guided model of the Mississippi River basin](https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=320&s=7eea6c5a5c60fa97aa8b1f38f9eb7106 320w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=540&s=2eaff6560b8d2952e8f0cc92b2192228 540w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=768&s=7b5bbf4f7b8682b8301fbef78e4a18ec 768w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1024&s=4211bb8d7af7535f3fe2820951c5079d 1024w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1200&s=49efefc8aefcc90e259a9c0da1a6474d 1200w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1440&s=ff931c2cb04305e6ea341838c93e2d85 1440w, https://visit-jackson.imgix.net/images/Buddy-Butts-River-Basin-Model.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&position=50%2050&q=80&w=1920&s=265b03da8ed31ad9a94b4ff9b486cc69 1619w)
Mississippi Basin Model at Buddy Butts Park – South Jackson
A fantastic piece of JXN history, yet so few know of its existence, the Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi River Basin Model at Buddy Butts Park (off McRaven Road) features eight miles of miniature streams. It’s the largest small-scale model ever built and represents 15,000 miles of rivers and 41% of the United States to study the effects of river flooding on the country. Fascinating!
Explore more about the model with the Friends of the Mississippi River Basin Model.
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Nationally Recognized Glass Artisans + Gifts
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The Slab
Get DirectionsThe Slab (AKA DIY Mill Street Skatepark, Frank Melton Memorial Skatepark) is a DIY concrete skatepark in Jackson, Mississippi that began construction by the Jackson-Metro skate community in 2015. The park is…
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Outdoor Event Space
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Alternative Culture Store + Art Gallery
Get Directions (601) 376-9404Billed as an "alternative culture" store, OffBeat - now located in Downtown Jackson - started in May 2014 as an idea and an attempt to build community through a store and art…
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Suzie Cranston’s Birdhouse Garden
Get DirectionsA birdhouse garden in a Fondren residential front yard featuring over 100 quirky and colorful birdhouses.
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WWII Gift From France
Get Directions (601) 576-6940The “Merci Train” was given to the state of Mississippi by France after World War II. The wooden train cars were given in gratitude to each state by France after the war…
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MS River Basin Model
Get DirectionsFeaturing eight miles of miniature streams. It’s the largest small-scale model ever built and represents 15,000 miles of rivers and 41% of the United States to study the effects of river flooding…