College towns always have a very special charm. The feeling of comradery that melds all the residents in a common purpose. Oxford is one of those cities. Home to the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss as it likes to be known, keeps this college town full of enthusiasm. Its charm is the old southern feeling that you get when you walk the streets, eat in the restaurants and shop in the stores.
Ole Miss
The Ole Miss campus is the center of the spirit of the city. It is a beautiful, stately campus with original buildings from the 1800’s. There are memorial plaques identifying the buildings that are original. The buildings were constructed by enslaved men and women who had been loaned and rented to the college for the construction; for me, a reminder of the struggles of the southern people not that long ago. Ole Miss was the location of a riot in 1962 to prevent a black man from attending school. He was allowed to register and attend classes after 3,000 federal soldiers broke up the protests. It seems that it continues to get a bad grade on its racial inclusivity. The campus is large and worth a drive through just to explore the area. The locals will regale you with stories of the epic tailgating parties in The Grove if you give them a chance.
The Square
The town square is the center of the city charm. It is several blocks on each side with the Lafayette Country courthouse in the center. Built in 1872, this regal building even houses a clock tower for that old town feel. The square is full of all kinds of shops, restaurants, and bars. We ate lunch at the Ajax Café, which offered a great variety of southern favorites. There was so much to choose from that we all ordered something different and shared. Later we found a bar that would normally have been filled with college students. Fortunately, we arrived just as the students were moving in, so it wasn’t as crowded as one would expect. Their $3 tequila sunrise was amazing, and we walked away down $20 and feeling good about the hour we sat there people watching with cocktails in our hands.
The shopping on the square consisted of boutique stores with higher priced clothing, shoes, and accessories. I would have needed to find the perfect thing to want to spend the money they required. My perfect thing turned out to be signed hard cover books at Square Books. There are three of these bookstores around the square and each one offered different types of books. We spent awhile shopping in two of the three stores, and I walked out with four autographed hard copies. There was no additional charge for the autograph and the number they had on the shelves was very impressive. They also had first edition signed copies that were more expensive. Two of my books were by John Grisham, a former local resident who often writes about the small cities of the south, including Oxford.
Writers
Oxford is located about an hour southeast of Memphis and four hours southwest of Nashville. One of the big draws to the area is a literary tour they offer. Oxford is or was home to many authors. The tour would include a visit to Rowan Oaks, the home of William Faulkner. Regrettably, it was closed when we were there so we missed touring the estate. I would recommend checking the calendar for open dates and times. We found in the south that things tend to be closed on Mondays.
And so…
This charming old city is worth a stop or even worth the trip from Memphis. Some of the best parts of this diversion is the journey. Seeing the cotton fields, talking with the people, stopping for BBQ in a little roadside restaurant, those things were a lot of the magic of our two-day trip. Rent a car and take a slow drive to Oxford, take the back roads when you can. Robert Frost was right, take the road less traveled, it will make all the difference.
You will find:
Great food, interesting shops, music, and dancing
