USA Today is currently choosing the best attractions from each of the 50 states and the Vicksburg National Military Park is leading the “Best Mississippi Attraction” in the online voting contest.

“We appreciate the recognition,” Bill Justice, the VNMP superintendent, said. “We’ve always thought, and we’re not the only ones, who think that the Vicksburg National Military Park is one of the top attractions. People come from all over the country to learn abut the siege of Vicksburg, and so it is good to see someone like USA Today to have us in the running.”

The siege of Vicksburg was a critical turning point in the Civil War and today the Vicksburg National Military Park commemorates the battles fought here in 1863 with monuments, living history programs and the USS Cairo Museum.

Justice encourages folks to go online and cast their vote.

“It is one of those things people are voting for so people have a chance to weigh in on what Mississippi’s best attractions are,” Justice said.

Justice acknowledges Mississippi is full of rich history, incredible museums and other attractions that pose some stiff competition to the VNMP. 

“Mississippi is full of great attractions and history,” Justice said. “You have the Natchez Trace Parkway and the recently opened museums in Jackson. So yeah, there is some stiff competition and we’re glad to be considered in those attractions.”

The siege of Vicksburg was a critical turning point in the Civil War.

Currently in second place in the Mississippi contest is the B.B. King Museum in Indianola. Elvis Presley’s Birthplace in Tupelo is third, followed by the Rock and Blues Museum in Clarksdale and the Grammy Museum in Cleveland. The rest of the Top 10 includes the recently opened Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Tupelo Automobile Museum, Eudora Welty House and Garden in Jackson, Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale and the Gulf Islands National Seashore on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Voting for the online contest can be done by visiting www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-mississippi-attraction. Voting will end on Jan. 15.