West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center

Just off I-40, Exit 56, (behind McDonald's) in Brownsville, Tennessee, is the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center. Opened in 1999, the center offers visitors a taste of what West Tennessee has to offer — a staging area for your West Tennessee adventure.  Learn more about Brownsville's Historic Homes, the famous "Mind Field," Dunbar Carver Museum, the Felsenthal Lincoln Collection, Willow Oaks Flower Farm, Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge, Hatchie Scenic River and other area attractions such as the Tennessee Safari Park, Green Frog Village, Casey Jones Village, Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee River Pearl Farm, Graceland and much more.  The Center also features 3 museums that explore the early history of cotton production, area music greats who call West Tennessee home (and, yes, Elvis is in the house) and the scenic Hatchie River, the last "WILD" river of the lower Mississippi system.  You can also tour the home of legendary blues pioneer "Sleepy" John Adam Estes and shop in a unique gift shop filled with local and regional made items. Estes made his debut as a recording artist in Memphis in 1929, later recording for Decca and Bluebirds labels. His style was a unique "crying" vocal one, and many of his songs were based on events in his own life or about people he knew from Brownsville, such as the local lawyer ("Lawyer Clark Blues"), local auto mechanic ("Vassie Williams Blues"), or a romantically inclined teenage girl ("Little Laura Blues"). In his music, he gave advice on agriculture ("Working Man Blues"), his lyrics combining keen observation with his talent for turning an effective phrase.