Escapes
F E B R U A RY 2 0 2 2 56
FINDING
REFUGE IN
THE
BIRTHPLACE OF THE
BLUES
B A B Y B LU E S
W
TRAILING THE BLUES
Standing at the Crossroads IN CLARKSDALE, THE DELTA BLUES MEET SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
Photo by Elizabeth Chubbuck Weinstein
S
teeped in history and the strains of steel-string guitars, Clarkshdale, hMississippi is a mecca for music lovers. Thousands of tourists flock each year to this birthplace of the blues. Located at the intersection of Highways 61 and 49, Clarksdale is the crossroads where—legend has it— Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil and disappeared, only to mysteriously re-emerge as a guitar virtuoso and “King of the Delta Blues”. When Hurricane Ida stormed through the Gulf Coast recently, my family and I rode out the storm in Clarksdale, only to find ourselves literally and figuratively at our own set of crossroads. We had departed quickly, bringing only our vehicles, our beloved dog Beatrix, clothes for three days, medications, computers, our children’s treasures, and those material goods that seemed important at the time. Neither my husband
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nor I had ever evacuated. Yet, Ida threatened to pass right over the Capitol City as a Category 4 upon landfall. Spurred by memories of the forty-foot water oak that fell into our house during Gustav in 2008, we anxiously looked for somewhere outside of Ida’s widespread path. Clarksdale seemed ideal, providing not only a haven but also an educational adventure. Plus, we could pay an overdue visit to see my brother-in-law, nephew, and the newest addition to our family. After the five-hour drive from Baton Rouge, we arrived in Downtown Clarksdale, eyeing its wide avenues and broad sidewalks, historic architecture, and an impressive number of former banks. The city is settled on the northern end of the Mississippi Delta and about seventy-five-miles southwest of Memphis on the Sunflower River, where Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto is said to have discovered the mighty Mississippi.
F E B 2 2 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M
By Elizabeth Chubbuck Weinstein
Originally named Clarksville, the city was settled by the English lumberman John Clark in 1848, near the intersection of the Chakchiuma Trade Trail and the Lower Creek Trade Paths. Though the Delta’s lowland soil was fertile, the land was difficult to cultivate. Thus, there were few plantations in the region until after the Civil War, when African American laborers were recruited to clear the area, build levees, and work on the new plantations as field hands. Many worked as sharecroppers. By the 1870s, most of these plantations and towns were connected by rail to New Orleans and Memphis, including Clarksville. Incorporated in 1882 and renamed Clarksdale, the city thrived and came to be known as “The Golden Buckle in the Cotton Belt.” Much has happened since those days, but our landing place at the Auberge Clarksdale Hostel, with its 1930s brick
edifice on Delta Avenue, hints at Clarksdale’s former grandeur. Once the home of Landry’s Menswear, the historic building last served as the Madidi Restaurant and is only a few blocks from Ground Zero Blues Club, both ventures of actor Morgan Freeman and his late business partner Bill Luckett. Their early-2000s revitalization efforts got the ball rolling to turn the music back on in the downtown district. Similarly inspired, my nephew Robert Weinstein and his wife Lucy recognized Clarksdale’s potential and reopened the building (In 2012, Madidi closed after ten years of operation.) as a hostel in 2019. The Auberge Clarksdale’s attractive
