Location: Jackson
Top Things to do in Jackson
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The 10 Best Things to do Good for Big Groups in Jackson, Mississippi (MS)
Hospitality and history make the capital city a great choice for a weekend jaunt. At Smith Robertson Museum, examine African-American struggles and triumphs. Historic Farish Street, a growing entertainment district, reveals a rich Blues heritage. Visit the Old Capitol Museum, the Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural Science, the Zoo, the Mississippi Children’s Museum and more. Find events, accommodations and restaurants to complete your experience in a city with soul.
Restaurants in Jackson
1. Capital City Kayak Adventures
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 61 reviews
Kayak action in Jackson! Let’s enjoy the sights and sounds of nature right here in the metro area. Guided tours, instruction, and all equipment provided. No experience is required. Rentals and tours are by appointment only. TEXT the number provided to check for availability and to book an appointment.
2. More Than a Tourist, LLC
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 17 reviews
More Than a Tourist is your one-stop concierge service for Jackson Mississippi & surrounding areas. MTAT has a variety of tours to offer: Walking Tours, Private tours with transportation, day trips, food tours. More Than a Tourist can also customize tours for one person or a small to large group. Let us help you experience Jackson and Mississippi!
3. Museum of Mississippi History
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 43 reviews
Located in the heart of downtown Jackson, the museum explores over 15,000 years of state history. Visitors will enjoy innovative exhibits, educational programs, and hundreds of artifacts.
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
Mississippi has come a long way since the Civil War and the turbulent 1960s and it's all available for one and all to see at the Museum of Mississippi History in Jackson, Mississippi. Located at 222 North Street, combined with the equally impressive Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, it covers the history of the state as far back as 13,000 BC. Exhibits cover everything from Hernando De Soto to 19th century slavery to the Cotton Kingdom to the Civil War to Reconstruction to the Great Depression to Prohibition to the Civil Rights Movement to Hurricane Katrina. On the cutesy side, see the crown that Mary Ann Mobley wore when she won the Miss America pageant in 1958. But start with the First Peoples exhibit, which dates to 13,000 BC and traces life in Mississippi to 1518, with stories of Choctaw and Chickasaw people and artifacts such as a 500-year-old dugout canoe, weapons, pottery, tools and other archaeological discoveries. Other must-see exhibits are Mississippi Distilled, popping the cork on Prohibition, with stories of piety and politics in the "wettest dry state," where Prohibition began in 1908, 12 years before it became a national law; Cultural Crossroads 1519-1798, documenting Native Americans who first inhabited the state and Hernando De Soto and other European explorers who came later; Joining the United States 1799-1832, documenting the arrival of African-Americans, statehood for Mississippi, examining the Bowie knife, dueling pistols and other weapons that determined frontier justice and how federal laws forced Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to leave their ancestral homelands; Cotton Kingdom 1833-1865, featuring the earliest photographs taken in Mississippi and comparing the lives of an enslaved family, yeoman farmers and wealthy planters, noting that by 1984 there were more slaves than whites in Mississippi; The World Remade 1866-1902, Reconstruction in Mississippi, the story of a Mississippi businessman who first bottled Coca-Cola and a collection of tools used by African-American blacksmiths; Promise and Peril 1903-1927, witness the struggles of suffragettes Nellie Nugent Somerville and Belle Kearney in their quest for equal rights, see a lamp used during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and explore changes and challenges that Mississippi faced at the turn of the century; Bridging Hardship 1928-1945, documents how the Great Depression crippled Mississippi, how FDR's New Deal put Mississippi back to work and displays a baseball glove owned by Willie Mitchell, a Mississippi native who once struck out Babe Ruth; and Forging Ahead, 1946 to present, allows visitors to survey damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and see how the struggle for civil rights raged in courtrooms, how Mississippi moved forward in industry, technology and immigration, how a diverse array of activists, artisans, entrepreneurs, politicians and everyday citizens contributed to the Mississippi story. For outsiders, it's a very fascinating journey through the history of a state that has undergone dramatic changes.
4. Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 194 reviews
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum shares the stories of a Mississippi movement that changed the nation. The museum promotes a greater understanding of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and its impact by highlighting the strength and sacrifices of its peoples. Visitors will witness the freedom struggle in eight interactive galleries that show the systematic oppression of black Mississippians and their fight for equality that transformed the state and nation. Seven of the galleries encircle a central space called This Little Light of Mine. There, a dramatic sculpture glows brighter and the music of the Movement swells as visitors gather.
Reviewed By grandmareviews1952
The museum is amazing. You can step into the jail cell or watch videos of what led to the civil rights movement. The museum is filled with people and events that are displayed from the floor to the ceiling. We didn't have enough time to see the upstairs, so be sure to allow enough time to see everything. It is very moving to see how men and women believed in a better world for their families and what the sad reality of it was like for them to do so.
5. Mississippi State Capitol
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 255 reviews
COVID-19 UPDATE FOR OUR VISITORS: Tours may be reserved for groups of 30 people or fewer. The unreserved, drop-in guided tours remain suspended, but guests are welcome to participate in self-guided tours. The gift shop remains closed. The building is open Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., should you wish to visit. We look forward to returning to a full tour schedule in the near future. Thank you. (Updated as of May 3, 2021) Patterned after the National Capitol, this has been the Capitol building for the state of Mississippi since 1903. Today it is major tourist attraction as well as the focus of Mississippi state government activities.
Reviewed By curtispat - Philadelphia, United States
The Mississippi State Capitol building is a very impressive building. The 1 hour guided tour (several times a day) is well worth your time.
6. Old Capitol Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 213 reviews
COVID-19 UPDATE: Based on information provided by the Mississippi Department of Health about the coronavirus epidemic, we are temporarily closed until further notice. Jackson’s oldest building, the Old Capitol is home to a museum exploring the history of the site when it was the seat of Mississippi government from 1839 to 1903. The Old Capitol was the site of some of the state’s most significant legislative actions, such as the passage of the 1839 Married Women’s Property Act, Mississippi’s secession from the Union in 1861, and the crafting of the 1868 and 1890 state constitutions. The building is a National Historic Landmark, and one of the country’s premier examples of Greek Revival public architecture. When it was built in 1839, the massive limestone exterior, copper dome, and grand interior spaces made the Old Capitol the most distinguished building in Mississippi.
Reviewed By ianmantel
So much history packed into just 200 years. Great staff, well informed, happy to help Brits understand the way the Capitol worked and the set up of US politics, state and federal.
7. Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 314 reviews
Meet over 200 living species in our 100,000 gallon aquarium network. See native reptiles, fishes, and amphibians! Explore an entire wall of fossil specimens, Zygorhiza, Mosasaurus, and a giant Sloth. Check out deer, waterfowl, and Mississippi's endangered species exhibits. The Preschool Discovery Room features colorful murals and an iconic, giant treehouse with a slide. Plus, two miles of outdoor walking trails that wind through natural habitats. The museum was named the "2014 Escape to the Southeast Travel Attraction of the Year" by the Southeast Tourism Society.
Reviewed By cherylmG1601HW - Jackson, United States
Great place to take the family. Kids love it, and the dinosaur exhibit is wonderful. Lots of exhibits showing the ecology of Mississippi along with the history.
8. Mississippi Museum of Art
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 144 reviews
The Mississippi Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the state and has been a community-supported institution for more than 100 years. Come enjoy our exhibitions, events, and The Art Garden year round. Admission to the Museum is free, with the exception of some special ticketed exhibitions. Art is the story. Find it here.
Reviewed By 866TaylorB - Chicago, United States
We were too late to view the special exhibition at the Mississippi Museum of Art that closed in January featuring 74 masterworks by former French artists of the 19th and 20 centuries, including Degas, Manet, Monet, Picasso, van Gogh, Delacroix, Rousseau and Morisot. But we were more than impressed with what we were able to see. Located at 380 South Lamar Street in Jackson, at the corner of South Lamar and East Pascagoula, the Mississippi Museum of Art was founded in 1978. With a permanent collection that includes paintings by American, Mississippi and British painters as well as photographs, collage artworks and sculptures, it was located in the Arts Center of Mississippi until 2007 when it was moved to his current location, which features a beautiful entry hall, extensive galleries and a 1.2-acre sculpture and flower garden which translates into a wonderful picnic area for visitors. Among the American painters whose artwork is on display are James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Georgia O'Keefe, Robert Henri, Thomas Sully, Reginald Marsh and Jacob Lawrence. Locals embrace the works of several Mississippi and Southern artists, including Eudora Welty, Gaines Ruger Donoho, Ken Marlow, Edgar Parker, Walter Inglis Anderson, Tom Rankin, Birney Imes and George Ohr. Also photography and sculpture by Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Mose Tolliver, Sarah Mary Taylor, Reuben Nakian, John Marin, Walker Evans and Elizabeth Catlett. You don't have to be an artist or be knowledgable about art to appreciate it for what it is.
9. Mississippi Children's Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 356 reviews
The Mississippi Children's Museum is your Destination for Imagination. The mission of the Mississippi Children's Museum is to create unparalleled experiences to inspire excellence and a lifelong joy of learning. Visit the Mississippi Children's Museum and get inspired! Open Tuesday through Saturday 9a-Noon, 1-5p and Sunday 1p-6p. Admission is $10 per person; children under the age of 1 year are free.
Reviewed By 279meganc - Cascilla, United States
This museum is amazing! I cannot day enough about how much we all enjoyed the exhibits. The whole museum is interactive and encourages play and learning. There was an Eric Carle exhibit there when we visited, along with a slide down the huge staircase. They have art rooms, a rock climbing wall, a giant scrabble board, a puppet theatre, a tug boat that children can climb through, water works where you race boats you make, tunnels, construction equipment the kids can use, legos, a car to fuel up and check the tires, renewable energy games, derby races, a rock query, human digestive play area, muscle man, skeleton they can move, and so much more.
10. The Jackson Zoo
Overall Ratings
3.0 based on 246 reviews
Temporarily Closed
Reviewed By SplashMLS - Aledo, United States
During COVID times, this zoo is only open on the weekends. It’s a low key zoo that’s relatively small with some pretty neat animals, such as a Sumatran tiger, playful cougars and Pygmy hippos. As always, zoo’s depend on customers attendance to feed and take care of their animals. So why not learn something new, get some exercise and support a local zoo?
