Muddy
Waters said that the only time he actually saw
Robert Johnson was on the front porch of Hirsberg's
Drugstore in Friars Point, Mississippi. A crowd of people had
gathered around Johnson, who was playing ferociously. Waters became intimidated
by the older man's musicianship and quickly left. 
Tutwiler
train station is where W.C.
Handy first heard a man play the blues on a slide guitar. A historical
marker identifies the spot - only the foundation remains
In
the graveyard of Whitfield Church, off of Highway 49, is the final resting
place of harmonica legend Aleck "Rice" Miller, better known as
Sonny Boy Williamson.
Aleck Miller's grave looks out across the hot and dusty Delta
cotton fields. 
Parchman
Farm is the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a large work farm
where convicts formerly raised cotton and staples. Once notorious for squalid
conditions and inhumane treatment by gun-toting trustees, it housed
Son House, Bukka White, and
several other bluesmen that had been incarcerated by the state of Mississippi.
In 1939, folklorist Alan Lomax recorded White and others at Parchman Farm
for the Library of Congress. 
On
Drew's town square, Charley
Patton, Tommy Johnson (who
lived on the nearby Webb Jennings Plantation), and Willie Brown played for
tips from farmers who had come to town. A young
Howlin' Wolf, who was heavily influenced by these men, did the same
during the late 1920s and early 1930s. 
Howlin'
Wolf moved to the Young & Myers Plantation near Ruleville when he
was thirteen. During the late 1920s and early 1930s Wolf played the streets
of Ruleville for tips. The town still has juke joints, some of which are
pictured here on 4th Street, also known locally as Greasy
Street. 
The
Dockery Plantation was home to
Charley Patton for many years, and it was here that he learned from
bluesman Henry Sloan. Patton's friends Willie Brown,
Son House, and Tommy Johnson played
parties, picnics, and fish fries in the tenant quarters at Dockery. Howlin'
Wolf moved to Dockery Plantation in 1929 to work and soak up Patton's
music. 
Charley
Patton's grave is in Holly Ridge, Mississippi. The graveyard
is surrounded by cotton fields and next to a large cotton gin. The New Jerusalem
Missionary Baptist Church, where Charley
Patton performed his religious songs, is nearby. 
In
Indianola, Mississippi, south of the railroad tracks, sits the venerable
Club Ebony (formerly Jones Night Spot) where a young B.B.
King saw Sonny Boy Williamson,
Robert Jr. Lockwood, Robert Nighthawk,
and other great performers. 
In
the small town of Moorehead, the Southern
Railway line crossed the tracks of the Yazoo Delta Railway, or Yellow Dog
in local parlance. A sign commemorates the spot
"Where the Southern Crosses the Dog", a site often
referred to in blues lyrics and made famous by W.C.
Handy in his song "Yellow Dog Blues." 
Robert
Johnson's grave is behind the Payne Chapel Missionary Baptist
Church in Quito, Mississippi. The stone was erected in 1991, though there
is some dispute whether Johnson is buried here or in Morgan City. 
The
Three Forks Store, where a jealous husband
reportedly poisoned Robert Johnson,
has been moved to this location beside Highway 7. 
The
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church near Morgan City maintains the Robert
Johnson Memorial, which was donated by Columbia Records. According
to Johnson's death certificate, he's buried in the Mt. Zion graveyard. However,
bluesman David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who was with Johnson when he
died, claims that Johnson's sister moved his remains to Payne Chapel Missionary
Baptist Church in nearby Quito. 
This
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Greenwood, Mississippi, depicts the shotgun
house at 109 Young Street where Honeyboy
Edwards claimed Robert Johnson
died. That house has been torn down and another currently occupies its
place.