The concept of Southern hospitality is well known — warm smiling faces, genteel manners, a quick, easy laugh, and a smooth drawl. The South is a fabled, evocative land of warmth and generosity so it is no small designation that, in a region recognized for its kindness to strangers, Mississippi is known as the Hospitality State. We take that label pretty seriously down here. We’d like you to give us a chance to live up to it.
The rolling hills and deep, wooded bottoms of our lush Hills Region gave birth to a Nobel Prize-winning author and a king. William Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County was inspired by the unique society and geography of this area. Quaint towns such as Oxford are living examples of this literary realm. The King of Rock ‘n Roll Elvis Aaron Presley was born in the humblest of circumstances to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. By 1956, Elvis was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture. Oxford has been nicknamed the "Little Easy," and there’s good reason to compare it with its larger Louisiana cousin. "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" called Oxford "a cultural mecca in America." Oxford is also included in The Best 100 Small Towns in America and is featured in the new book Most Beautiful Cities in the South. In addition, publications from The New York Times to Bon Appetit have profiled the thriving Oxford/University community in recent years. Don’t miss Square Books on the historic Oxford Square or our beautiful campus.
Our doors are open so y’all come on down, up, or over. We’ll be looking for you. We’ll set a place at the table. Your bed is turned down, and we’ll leave the porch light on. Stay awhile. Be our guest.
". . .bookstores are dominant fixtures of Oxford's nostalgic,
all-American town square ("the Square"), a slice of Southern life
rarely seen in cities today. The palpable sense that this is the
prototypical Southern college town is never more ubiquitous than
during home football games at Ole Miss-late August to late
November-when marathon tailgating and good-natured mayhem abounds."
—Patricia Schultz, 1000 Places to
See in the U.S.A. and Canada Before You Die
FROM MEMPHIS, TN, VIA I-55:
From Memphis, Tennessee, take I-55 south for 63 miles.
Take the Batesville/Oxford exit off I-55. Merge onto MS-6 and proceed east toward Oxford, Mississippi, for 26 miles.
Once in Oxford, take the second exit, Coliseum Drive, onto campus.
FROM MEMPHIS, TN, VIA HWY 78:
From Memphis, Tennessee, take US-78 for 52 miles.
Exit US-78 at the Holly Springs/Oxford exit.
From Holly Springs, take MS-7 south for 31 miles.
Once in Oxford, take the 4th exit onto MS-6 and proceed west.
Take the 3rd exit, Coliseum Drive, onto campus.
FROM JACKSON, MS:
From Jackson, Mississippi, take I-55 north for 150 miles.
Take the Batesville/Oxford exit off I-55. Proceed east on MS-6 toward Oxford, Mississippi, for 26 miles.
Once in Oxford, take the second exit, Coliseum Drive, onto campus.
FROM TUPELO, MS:
From Tupelo, take MS-6 west for 53 miles.
Once in Oxford, take the 6th exit, Coliseum Drive, onto campus.