Parchman Farm is the maximum security Mississippi State Penitentiary for men. It is located on Highway 49W between Tutwiler and Drew. Also see our web page for Parchman Farm Blues.
The Mississippi Blues Trail marker for Parchman Farm Blues is located directly across the highway from the main entrance gate of the Mississippi State Peniteniary. There is an unpaved parking lot immediately adjacent to the marker so you can pull off the highway to see it.
The GPS location of the Mississippi Blues Trail‘s Parchman Farm marker is: N 33° 55.123′ W 90° 29.815’
The front side of the Parchman Farm marker reads:
The Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman has inspired many songs, including ‘Parchman Farm Blues‘ by singer-guitarist Booker ‘Bukka’ White, who was once an inmate here, and ‘Parchman Farm‘ by jazz singer-pianist Mose Allison. Folklorists from the Library of Congress and other institutions also came to Parchman beginning in the 1930s to document the pre-blues musical forms of field hollers and work songs, which survived due to the prison’s relative isolation from modern cultural influences.” Continue reading Some Recordings About Parchman Farm