Getting There
By Plane
Closest commercial airport is Jackson, MS, 50 miles to the east.
By Car
Location, Directions to Vicksburg
From the East, Take Interstate 20 west to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Use
exit ramp 4B. Follow Clay Street (US-80) west 1/4 mile to the park entrance.
From the North,
Take Interstate 55 south to Jackson, Mississippi. (To save
time you can use the Interstate
220 bypass on the west side of
Jackson). Take Interstate 20
west to Vicksburg, approximately 40 miles. Use exit ramp 4B. Follow Clay Street (US-80) west 1/4 mile to the park entrance.
From the South,
Take Interstate 55 or US Highway 49 to Jackson, Mississippi. Take Interstate 20 west to Vicksburg, Mississippi, approximately 42 miles. Use exit ramp 4B. Follow Clay Street (US-80) west 1/4 mile to the park entrance.
From the West,
Take Interstate 20 east to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Use exit ramp 4B. Follow Clay Street (US-80)
west 1/4 mile to the park entrance.
By Public Transportation
Taxi Cabs, Charter Buses (see your travel agent).
Getting Around the Park
Private Automobile, Taxi Cab, Tour Bus, Bicycle, or Walking.
Orientation to the park begins at the park visitor center with an 18 minute film. Visitors can then
drive the historic 16 mile tour road through Union and Confederate siege lines.
Halfway through the park, visitors get a close-up view of the Union gunboat, the USS Cairo. The 175 foot long ironclad was sunk on December 12, 1862, by underwater Confederate mines just North of Vicksburg in the Yazoo River. Raised in 1964, the restored city class gunboat offers visitors a unique opportunity to view original cannons, cannon carriages, engines, boilers and pilot house, via a reconstructed gundeck. The nearby USS Cairo Museum houses a variety of military and personal artifacts, which were recovered with the Cairo during its salvage operation.
Adjacent to the USS Cairo is the Vicksburg National Cemetery. Established in 1866, it contains
in excess of 18,000 graves, of which over 12,000 are unknown. Soldiers from the Civil War, the
Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War are interred here.
Intro
