Riverside Hotel

Mississippi Delta


A historic marker fronts the historic Riverside Hotel, a well-loved place soaked in blues history. Blues singer Bessie Smith died here in 1937 when it was a hospital, and a festival's worth of blues artists from Sonny Boy Williamson II to Robert Nighthawk have stayed here. It began operating as a hotel in 1944 and was 'the black hotel' in town.


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