Plan Your Visit

Address: 256 West Beacon Street Philadelphia, MS 39350

Hours:
Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm
Saturday – Sunday 9am – 4pm

CLOSED:
New Years day, Independence day, Veterans day, thanksgiving, christmas

Limited free parking is available at the Congress of Country Music. First come first serve. (256 W. Beacon Street Philadelphia, Mississippi)
Street parking is also available in the surrounding neighborhood. Subject to standard meter fair.

Shopping, Dining, and Things to do/see

Six White Horses
What was once Marty Stuart’s grandpa Elry Johnson’s cotton farm is now a tranquil, 49-acre national park-quality retreat. Six White Horses is a setting designated to the solitude of songwriting, book writing, and family gatherings. Marty Stuart calls it home. Though ten miles from downtown Philadelphia, Six White Horses is considered to be the heart and soul of the Congress of Country Music campus.
The Peets Building
When music industry super manager, John Peets, first bought this property, it had the distinction of being known as the second ugliest building in town. One million dollars later, the Peets Building and its surrounding grounds have been transformed and beautified into one of the most notable places in the city. The Peets Building now serves the Congress of Country Music as its temporary community hall, a gathering place for intimate musical events, as well as local Arts Council-sponsored theatrical productions. The Peets Building is also equipped to be a recording and broadcast facility with space available for theme-related retail offerings.
The Busy Bee
The legendary Busy Bee Café building was purchased by Florida entrepreneur, Doug Hudson. Mr. Hudson revised the storied building into a retail environment on the first floor and created four loft/suite residences on the second floor. The Busy Bee Suites were instantly booked and are the first loft spaces to be built into existing buildings in downtown Philadelphia.
Congress of Country Music Warehouse
The most notable private collection of country music-related artifacts in the world is currently housed at 431 Center Avenue in Philadelphia, Mississippi. For many years, the building at that address was home to the local Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The building was scheduled for demolition; however, in 2013, an appeal was made, and the county gifted the building to the Congress of Country Music. $1.2 million in State bond money helped to transform the building into what Marty Stuart calls the "coolest temporary board room, press conference site, and working warehouse in America."
WHOC Radio Station
Radio station WHOC went on the air in 1948. "The ultimate hometown radio station" is how WHOC has been described. In 2017, the FCC offered a select number of small market, hometown-styled AM stations the opportunity for a license on the FM band. WHOC applied and was awarded the destination of 93.7 on the radio dial. To help reinforce the mission statement of the Congress of Country Music’s role as the spiritual home of country music, station owner, Joe Vines, has programmed his new FM band, as well as his long-running AM signal, to broadcast only classic country music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Marty Stuart Drive
Designed by local Philadelphia architect Kyle Stribling, the Marty Stuart Drive marker commemorates the road in Neshoba County, Mississippi, that was named in honor of Stuart. Marty Stuart Drive leads to Six White Horses, Stuart’s homeplace, as well as to the birthplaces of Stuart’s parents, John and Hilda Stuart, and to the Old Pearl Valley Baptist Church, the Stuart family’s home church in Arlington, Mississippi. The marker showcases symbols that are meaningful to Marty Stuart’s musical journey, such as the outline of the state of Mississippi, the words to Stuart’s song, The Pilgrim, a cross, and railroad ties that celebrate Stuart’s lifelong love of trains and railroads. Eighteen pieces of rebar are to be found at the top of the marker. Four pieces are in honor of grandfather Levi Stuart’s four fiddle strings, eight pieces represent Stuart’s mandolin strings and the remaining six for the strings on his guitar.
Historical Markers
In 2011, Marty Stuart approached then Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and asked if a historical Country Music Trail marker system could be developed to co-exist with the 206, and counting, historical Blues Trail markers that can be found in the state. Mississippi now hosts 40 historical Country Music Trail markers, and counting, that run throughout the Magnolia State. Those markers greatly contribute to the overall themes of education and tourism in the land known as the Birthplace of America’s Music. The city of Philadelphia has five such markers in and around town. In 2019, Governor Phil Bryant appointed the Congress of Country Music ground zero for the entire Mississippi Historical Country Music Trail Marker Society.

Staying Here