Travel writers in town this week to tour Vicksburg, Port Gibson and Raymond’s rich past say they can’t wait to explore the Civil War history and recommend tourists to visit the South.

“It’s almost unbelievable to be in a place where all those things happened,” Keith Stelter, a writer for the Houston Chronicle and many travel guides, said Sunday night while standing on the top floor of the Old Court House Museum. “You really have to think hard that 150 years ago, this was the courthouse… the same building… and all those folks were here. It’s mind-boggling.”

He and about three dozen travel writers and photographers arrived Sunday for the three-day, three-city media conference hosted by the City of Vicksburg.