We walked up to the Visitor Information to pick up a copy of the Oxford Walking Tour booklet which has a number of walks that cover the founding of Oxford and how it subsequently developed. The centre of Oxford is the town square and first walk we did was around the North of town which just so happened to be where our hotel is. The houses around this area were built by the first people to settle Oxford, it is interesting to note that they actually chose to call it Oxford after the English town in the hope that it would become home to the state university which it ultimately did. This area also contains Ammadelle which was built for planter Thomas Pagues as the costliest house in the county although I think that larger and more expensive ones have subsequently been built. The final stop on this tour was the former site of Cedar Oaks, this home became General McPherson’s headquarters during Grant’s occupation of Oxford in 1862, known locally as the house that wouldn’t die, it was rescued during the burning of Oxford in 1864 and from the wrecking ball in 1963 when it was moved to Murray Street. We walked back up to the square and had a frozen yogurt which was really nice then started on our second walk. Which was all around the square and focused on the buildings around the court house which is the centre of the Square and the geographic centre of the county. The courthouse was rebuilt in 1871 when all but one building in the square were destroyed by Union Troops on the orders of General Andrew Jackson Smith. We walked past the original bank, pharmacy and a shoe repair shop that was owned by African American community leaders for over 100 years, it was opened in 1893 which must have been difficult, sadly it is now a restaurant which seems to be the fate of most of the buildings in the area. We walked out towards the Depot which was destroyed during the Civil war but has been renovated although as it wasn’t open I am not sure what it now is! We walked past the old Baptist Church which was the legal office that John Grisham rented when he was a lawyer in the area. We walked back towards the square then started our final walk, this one took us around the south of the square. Because of where we were starting from we decided to do the walk in a slightly different order. We walked around a few of the houses then arrived at Rowan Oak. This was the home of William Faulkner and his family for over 40 years. There is a park next to the house that takes you through to the University campus so we took that as we walked to walk to the Lyceum which is both the oldest building on the University of Mississippi campus and also where James Meredith, the first black student to attend Ole Miss tried to enrol but was blocked by the sherif twice before Kennedy sent the National Guard to stop the protests and ensure that he could register. There is a statue of him walking towards the steps to commemorate the fact he both managed to register and graduate. After walking round the campus a little we headed back to town and the hotel to relax.
