[5][6] Strategically situated at a bend in the Mississippi River, Friars Point flourished before the Civil War as the largest shipping center for cotton south of Memphis.

[8] General William Tecumseh Sherman and Admiral David Dixon Porter used Friars Point as a rendezvous for 45 transport ships in December 1862, prior to attacking Vicksburg.

[9] Friars Point was also home to Confederate Brigadier General James L. Alcorn, whose grave and former plantation, Eagles Nest, are located a short distance east of the town.

[10] Alcorn turned from Whig to Republican after the war, and went on to become governor with the support of the large number of “carpetbaggers” who had settled in Friars Point.

[7] In 1875 towards the end of Reconstruction, violence from the Democrats (Mississippi Plan) included James L. Alcorn leading a whites against black Republicans at Friar's Point.

The battle led to a number of people being killed, and served to suppress the black vote, allowing conservative Democrats to regain political power.

[8] Charles Lindbergh ran out of gas while flying his plane over Friars Point in 1924, and landed at a place he later called "The Haunted House".

Time magazine wrote in 2013: Once a thriving port town and the county seat, economic decline has left Friars Point with a lone elementary school, a few churches, a city hall, a post office, a small general store, a museum that opens only sporadically, a nightclub called Show T Boat where a man was shot to death in 2011, and a bank.

The town no longer has a doctor or health clinic, a drug store, a sit-down restaurant, a recreational center, a library, or any businesses to speak of.

[13]Muddy Waters said the only time he saw Robert Johnson play was on the front porch of Hirsberg's Drugstore in Friars Point.

"[16] In Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues" he sang, "I got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee, but my Friar's Point rider, now, hops all over me.

"[16][18] When dedicating the marker, Governor Haley Barbour proclaimed:This talented Mississippian made a huge contribution to development of that unique genre of music, the Mississippi blues.

[citation needed]"Friar's Point" is a song on blues musician Susan Tedeschi's 1998 album Just Won't Burn.