Dockery Farms
Historic Site · Cleveland, Mississippi
A cotton plantation founded in 1895 on the Sunflower River that grew to twenty-five thousand acres and several hundred tenant families, and on which Charley Patton lived and played for most of his life. Son House, Willie Brown, Howlin' Wolf and by most accounts Robert Johnson all passed through it. B.B. King said that you might say it all started right here, and enough serious people agree that the claim is taken seriously rather than treated as tourism. What survives is a seed house, a service station, a cotton gin and a sign, on a road with nothing else on it.
229 Highway 8, Cleveland, Mississippi, 38732, United States
FREE and unstaffed, open during daylight hours year round. Self-guided, with interpretive panels, preserved buildings viewed from outside and an audio button that plays Charley Patton. No visitor centre, no restrooms and no water. Occasional live music events are announced by the Dockery Farms Foundation.