When you're traveling the back roads and passing through small towns, the most prominent landmarks you see are the water towers, courthouse domes, and church steeples, not necessarily in that order of prominence.
Today, I am featuring some of my pictures of steeples I've captured during my travels, ranging from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, to the Mississippi Delta, and to the hills of Tennessee.
Some of them are ornate architectural works of art, some are primitive, and some of them are falling down, but I think they are all beautiful, and I'm so glad I was able to preserve them in my pictures — especially the ones that have been abandoned and are fading away with time.
This first picture is one of my favorites. It is the steeple of the First United Methodist Church of Biloxi, Mississippi. Although it was battered and bent as it stood directly in the path of Katrina, one of the most destructive hurricanes in history, the cross is still holding on ... a symbol of hope and inspiration to the people of the Gulf Coast.

My favorite steeple in Vicksburg, and one of the most prominent landmarks you can see for miles, is the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church steeple.

St. Marks Episcopal Church, ca 1854
Raymond, Mississippi
St. Paul Catholic Church, Vicksburg
First Presbyterian Church, Vicksburg
Old Church at Grand Gulf, Mississippi
Presbyterian Church, Port Gibson, Mississippi
Mississippi Delta, near Anguilla, Mississippi
St. Mary Basilica Catholic Church, Natchez, Mississippi
Satartia Methodist Church, Mississippi Delta
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Canton, Mississippi
Grace Episcopal Church, CA 1853, Canton
Presbyterian Church, Edwards, Mississippi
If you are ever near one of the towns mentioned above, I hope you will take the time to see these churches and steeples for yourself.