Holly Springs, MS Summary

The old tobacco and cotton-producing town of Holly Springs is steeped in Civil War heritage. Nestled at the junction of Hwy 7 and Hwy 78, its population of 7,261 is today focused on promoting the town’s traditions.

Every April, Holly Springs hosts a three-day Spring Pilgrimage, when the doors to a number of its 90 or so antebellum estates are opened to the public.

Start a visit here with a stroll around the tree-lined streets surrounding the town square, taking in the Marshall County Historical Society Museum, four pre-Civil War churches, and the antebellum houses showcased along Salem Avenue. Perhaps the most splendid structure in town is Montrose, built in 1858 by wealthy landowner and slave-holder Alfred Brooks and now home to the town’s Holly Springs Garden Club.

During the Civil War, Union General Ulysses S. Grant made Holly Springs his camp base during the preparation for his Vicksburg invasion of 1862. During his occupation, General Grant moved his family into Walter Place on Chulahoma Avenue, an address that later also became a refuge for Confederate spies. The town is believed to have changed hands more than 50 times during the Civil War. A more poignant attraction is Hillcrest Cemetery, which contains the graves of Confederate soldiers and victims of the town’s 1878 yellow fever epidemic.

The oddly fascinating Graceland Too, on East Gholson Avenue, is somewhat at odds with the rest of genteel Holly Springs. Here two local residents have turned their home into a shrine to the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, with all sorts of memorabilia on display.