This "Blues Tour" was a great experience for me and my son, Alex. Since this was my first trip to the Delta, I planned to visit as many historical places as time and distance would allow. Many blues fans are interested in seeing the graves of the great blues artists, so we were fortunate that this part of Mississippi includes the resting places of Charley Patton, Asie Payton, Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson II and perhaps the greatest Mississippi bluesman of all time, Robert Johnson.
No one knows exactly where Robert Johnson was buried. There are three markers laid for him. Two are fairly close together in the now-defunct town of Quito, not far south of B.B. King's hometown of Itta Bena. The one found in front of the Mount Zion Church is actually a memorial, while the other is a grave marker in the cemetery behind the Payne M.B. Church a couple of miles down the road. We were not able to locate the third marker on this trip. It's located further east in Greenwood, in the cemetery behind the Little Zion Church. I found it on my next Delta trip in 2004, so I've included photos of it in this gallery so that they may be seen together. Most blues scholars agree that Johnson was buried somewhere in a black cemetery in Greenwood, but the precise location is lost to history. The Greenwood marker is again more of a memorial than a headstone intended to mark the exact spot of Johnson's remains.
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