Riverside Hotel
Formerly a hospital for Black patients, where blues queen Bessie Smith died after a car crash in 1937. It later became a hotel that hosted countless blues musicians.
Before 1937, this plain brick building was the G.T. Thomas African American Hospital. Blues queen Bessie Smith was taken here and died after a car accident nearby. From 1944 it became the Riverside Hotel, where musicians such as Ike Turner and Sonny Boy Williamson II stayed for long periods. Turner's “Rocket 88” is said to have been rehearsed here. The hotel has been run by one family for many years, and a Mississippi Blues Trail marker stands at the entrance. It is now privately owned, so please respect the guests. Contact the hotel in advance, or photograph only from outside.
Opening hours
Exterior accessible all day; interior visits by arrangement with the owner
Nearby sights
- Red's Lounge
- Ground Zero Blues Club
- Downtown Clarksdale
- Delta Blues Museum
- The Crossroads
- Shack Up Inn
- Delta Cultural Center
- Dockery Farms