Mud Island River Museum

Riverwalk: the Arkansas joins the Mississippi

We had planned to stop at an historic house in New Madrid, Missouri, but it was closed for restoration, so we headed to Memphis and Mud Island. Unique to this museum is the river walk, an exact scale model of the Mississippi river from Cairo, Illinois to the mouth of the Mississippi. Plaques explained many of the details about the history of the river. I was surprised how often the river cut new channels and left river towns suddenly high and dry – like Natchez, Mississippi. We also learned a lot about the civil war along the Mississippi, how the Union army took control of the river to stop supplies from reaching the South. It was also clear how dangerous it was to travel by steamboat – running aground, exploding boilers, and colliding with other boats were all common occurrences.

Parlor of a Steamboat

The museum furthered our learning about the river’s history. Inside they explained about the early explorers of the river as well as the forts that were built by the English, French, Spanish, and Americans to claim and hold the river. We learned about the various boats used to traverse the river from rafts and keel boats to steamboats and eventually diesel driven barges. I never knew that iron clad ships were built by both sides during the civil war nor that a river barge carries the equivalent of over 300 truckloads of cargo. They had rooms designed to feel like we were aboard a steamboat from the parlors to the wheelhouse and another that was the interior of an ironclad and finally, the pilot room of a diesel barge going down the river. The museum finished with the music of the city from the blues to rock and roll. Definitely worth a stop! 

Ironclad Cannons