During your visit to this Mississippi museum, visit the Heritage Center to discover the story of Mississippi farmers and foresters through the medium of transportation. Explore railroading in the late 1960s and early 1970s through model railroad layouts. In the Natural Agricultural Aviation Museum, take a comprehensive and fascinating look at an industry that literally reshaped the history of agriculture. Behind the Heritage Center, you will find the prized treasures of the Fitzgerald’s of Inverness, Mississippi. Take a step back in time in Small Town Mississippi and experience what life would have been like during the 1920s. The Environmental Trail will provide you with insight into how the environment plays an important role in Mississippi agriculture. Let chickens, goats and even peacocks entertain you in the museum’s Barnyard and Livestock exhibits. The General Store offers a unique Mississippi shopping experience.
Attractions at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum
Heritage Center
Start your visit to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in the Heritage Center where you will learn about how farmers and foresters have used water, railroad and road as a means to transport their goods over the years and how these mediums of transport have greatly influenced their lifestyles. Of particular importance is the rail section, represented by four model railroad layouts that represent railroading in the late 1960s and early 1970s when steam locomotives were almost replaced with modern diesel-electrics.
Natural Agricultural Aviation Museum
At the end of the Heritage Center, is a section dedicated to tracing crop dusting from early biplanes to the aircraft of modern times. Covering over 5,000 square feet, the Natural Agricultural Aviation Museum’s floor and air space takes a fascinating look at an industry that reshaped the history of agriculture. On display, you can see planes that once flew over Southern farms and plantations, an informative video and colorful photographs and panels.
The Fitzgerald Collection
Behind the Heritage Center you will find the Fitzgerald Collection, one of the most enchanting exhibits at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. The collection was accumulated by Frank Stanley Fitzgerald and his wife, Erva Mae who collected memorabilia related to the Mississippi Delta for many years. Soon after the death of Mrs Fitzgerald in 1978, Mr Fitzgerald donated the collection to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum, stipulating that nothing would be removed or added and that everything would be displayed in one building and available to the public. Today those who visit the building discover Mississippi-style Americana treasures from an artistic arrangement of wrenches of every shape and size, to childhood toys such as a wind-up train, tinker toys, a B.B. gun and a piggy bank. At the core of the collection is an assortment of over 17,500 Indian artifacts from the Mississippi Delta area.
Small Town Mississippi
Learn about Mississippi’s proud agricultural legacy through a history of Mississippi’s small towns. Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum’s Small Town Mississippi interprets the history of a Mississippi crossroads town through a print shop, blacksmith shop, an old-fashioned filling station, doctor’s office, schoolhouse and church. Other significant landmarks that interpret Mississippi’s agricultural history include cotton, grist, saw and sugarcane mills. Additionally Small Town Mississippi features a rose garden comprised of 75 varieties of flowering plants ranging from tea, to old-fashioned, to hybrid.
The Nature Trail
Visitors who wish to discover the vital connection between the environment and industry that gives us our food and clothing can wander along the wood/trestle trail that runs through some 10 acres of trees. Inviting picnic tables and pavilions placed along the trail offer a place to enjoy the sights and sounds of the forest.
Barnyard and Livestock Exhibit
Barnyard and Livestock exhibits at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum will allow you to experience what a barn’s purpose once was on a farm and how animals played a vital role in the farmer’s survival. Delight in chickens as they peck at the ground for bugs and seeds, colorful peacocks, ponies with personalities and a beef cow.
Shopping at the General Store
Be sure to stop by Small Town Mississippi’s General Store, a replica of a typical 1920’s store. Souvenirs, t-shirts, cookbooks, Mississippi educational resources, old-fashioned toys, locally made products and many other items unique to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum are available to purchase. The General Store also sells sweets and goodies including coca cola, root beer and orange crush in glass bottles as well as rock candy, candy sticks and other old time candy.
- Climb aboard the museum train and take a ride through Small Town Mississippi. Train rides run Monday to Saturday from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. An additional fee will apply to visitors who wish to ride the train.
- Start or end your visit at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum Café boasting southern favorites such as fried chicken, fried green tomatoes and bread pudding.