Visiting Oxford, MS

Oxford is a blend of small-town life and big-city sophistication. City Grocery is a perfect example of that balance. A restaurant that occupies an old grocery store, City Grocery serves truly gourmet cuisine, has a good wine selection, and is well worth the trip and the price. Be sure to have the shrimp grits.

Taylor Grocery has the best catfish in Lafayette County, hands down. There is simply no comparison. BYOB. Open Thursday – Saturday 5pm – 10pm, Sunday 5pm – 9pm, and Monday – Friday 11am – 1:30pm for the lunch buffet.

This art gallery is a prime example of what makes Oxford an eclectic, cultured town and why it’s rapidly growing in popularity. Southside Gallery features local and regional artists, but doesn’t limit showings to artists from the South; artists from around the world have exhibited here. It’s possible to get lost for hours rambling through the gallery looking at the two featured artists of the month, then going upstairs to the Outsider Art room. The gallery is non-smoking and can be rented out for events after 5:30 PM on weekdays and all day on Sundays. The Southside Gallery is some of the best Oxford has to offer. Open Monday – Saturday 10AM to 6PM, Sunday noon to 5PM. 662-234-9090. http://www.southsideartgallery.com

The best bookstore there is, period. Square Books overlooks the Oxford square and has everything literary you can imagine, with a particular emphasis on local and regional authors. Be sure to check out Square Books, Jr., also on the square, for your childrens’ book needs.

This is Oxford’s premier night spot. Proud Larry’s is the place to go for local music. With a kitchen open until 10PM, it’s easy to grab a burger and beer and enjoy the show. Proud Larry’s has a non-smoking dining area. Check http://www.proudlarrys.com for the music schedule. 211 South Lamar, just off the square. 662-236-0050

This is the church where I grew up. The church was founded in 1836 by a group of Scottish settlers. The building was completed in 1846 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the oldest church building in Oxford. If you go to the church now and look up as you approach from the front, you will see two sets of doors leading from and to nowhere. These are the doors to the former slave balcony. The balcony is long gone and the doors are plastered over from the inside, but the outside doors remain. The pews, pew doors, and pulpit are original furnishings. There is a case in the hallway behind the sanctuary that usually contains historical photographs, records, and sometimes Civil War-era ammunition and artifacts found on the grounds. Since Generals Grant and Sherman occupied the church during the Civil War, it’s not unusual to find such things.

Behind the church is the graveyard, and behind that graveyard is the slave cemetery. The Union soldiers buried on the grounds lie adjacent and intermingled with the slave graves. The slaves buried at College Hill were slaves at the Buford Plantation, one of four major plantation holders in the area during the heyday of slavery. Recently the slave cemetery has been restored and the graves marked with white crosses, which is good; it was a tangled mess before and wasn’t easy to find out where people were even buried.