Discovering Oxford, Mississippi: Events to Do, Sights to See and Places to Explore

Strolling around the historic square in Oxford, one can truly understand the meaning of quiet beauty. While small, the Square is a magnificent mixture of bohemian ambience and traditional southern culture. The shops are quaint, straight off the pages of an English romance. From Neilson’s department store (pronounced Nelson’s, don’t ask me why; although I did ask and was informed by the locals that that’s just how it was said), which is the oldest department store in the south, founded in 1839, to the elegant boutiques and eclectic shops, the Square today is still the cultural and economic hub of Oxford. On the creative corner around the bend from Neilson’s is Square Books, one of the nation’s most renowned independent bookstores. Just walk through the door and you can visualize Faulkner and Grisham exchanging creative tidbits. Impossible, you say. Or is it? After all, this is the south. And should you get hungry…well, oh my! There’s everything from down-home southern cooking to haute cuisine, whatever it takes to satisfy the appetite. And when sunlight fades into moonlight, the Square’s nightlife heats up. The local bars are small and intimate, but full of rip-roaring fun. All in all if you come to Oxford, you have to experience the Square.

The beauty that is Oxford is also apparent by the elegant style of the architecture depicted in some of the older homes of the city. One such gracious lady is Cedar Oaks. Built in 1859 by William Turner, architect of The University of Mississippi’s Lyceum, Cedar Oaks is a Greek revival antebellum that has survived a tumultuous past. In 1864 occupying union troops set the house aflame with the intent of turning it into smoldering ashes. Molly Turner Orr gathered a fire brigade to save the home. Thankfully it worked. Nearly a century later, Cedar Oaks was moved 2.2 miles from its original location to escape the wrecking ball. Business development demanded the move for the home’s survival. Presently, the home is maintained by the Oxford-Lafayette Historic Homes, Inc., and is available by reservation for civic clubs, teas, receptions, weddings and tours.

And speaking of magnificent homes, one could never forget the house that Faulkner called home, Rowan Oak. Built by a pioneer settler in 1844, William Faulkner purchased the house in 1930 for $6000.00. Christened “Rowan Oak” after the Celtic legend of the rowan tree, believed to harbor magic powers of safety and protection, the house is where he penned Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!, The Hamlet, Intruder In the Dust, and The Reivers, among others. He lived at Rowan Oak until his death in 1962. Acquired by The University of Mississippi in 1972, Rowan Oak appears much as it did at Faulkner’s death, with the outline of his novel A Fable, handwritten on the wall of his study. The house is now maintained for memorial and educational purposes.

Oxford is a town filled with a colorful and dramatic past. Freed slaves organized the Burns Methodist Episcopal Church in 1870 in an area of Oxford once known as “freedman’s town.” The current structure was built in 1910 and played a major role in the lives of many African-Americans in Oxford from 1910 to 1974, when a new Burns United Methodist Church was built several blocks away. In September of 2002, author John Grisham donated the church building to the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage Foundation, with the understanding that it was to be rehabilitated and administered by the Oxford Development Association.

Of course the arts play a big role in Oxford community functions. Being the home of William Faulkner, educating the likes of prolific writer John Grisham, who attended Ole Miss and who also maintains a home in the area, creativity seems to whisper on the soft winds that blow through Oxford. The Double Decker Arts Festival, which is held each year on the last Saturday in April, is a daylong festival that celebrates music, food and all kinds of arts and crafts. Held on the historic Courthouse Square, local food vendors, regional artists, and national music acts come together each year, along with over 50,000 visitors from all over, to make this day an enjoyable one for the whole family.

There is so much to experience and enjoy in Oxford that one can only accept the open invitation that the residents here offer to anyone looking for relaxation, pleasure and the slow-moving southern hospitality that soothes one’s body and mind. Food, music, arts and history, it’s all in Oxford. What more could you ask for?