USS Cairo Museum - Vicksburg

Steve’s take

Vicksburg is about an hour north of I-10 via I-55, so this is for families connecting from Memphis or taking a deliberate Mississippi detour. The USS Cairo is the only Civil War gunboat ever recovered from a river, and it's sitting in a museum looking exactly like it did when it sank in 1862. Your kids will walk through it with their mouths open. The Vicksburg battlefield surrounding it is massive and free. If history is your family's thing, this is a top-tier detour.