The epitome of a Southern college town - Oxford, MS

Built in the 1840s, Rowan Oak had fallen into disrepair when William Faulkner bought it in the 1930s; now owned by the University of Mississippi, it was closed during my visit due to Covid

The Lyceum is the oldest building on campus and the only original building that still remains; built in 1848, it became famous in 1962 when riots erupted here following the attempted admission of James Meredith, an African-American, to the segregated campus

I saw several of these robots on campus which I guess have replaced couriers and/or interoffice mail; you put items inside them and program their delivery (I did see one having issues with a lost wheel)

The courthouse square is the geographical and cultural center of Oxford; the 1907 courthouse is surrounded by successful local shops, restaurants and services (a stark contrast to the typical dying downtown I've seen across the South)

One of the most successful independent book stores in America, they also have a kids store and a used store elsewhere on the square; John Grisham (he has a house in town) had autographed all of his books

William Faulkner won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature and twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; his most famous novel is probably The Sound and the Fury but I was never a fan and couldn't handle his stream of consciousness style

Nielson's is the South's oldest documented store having opened as a trading post in 1839; Neilson's has a framed letter from William Faulkner, who repeatedly refused to pay debts owed to the department store

One of the huge sorority houses; the college has produced 3 Miss America's as well as famous grads John Grisham, Archie and Eli Manning, Kate Jackson (Charlie's Angels) and Grand Slam doubles player Mahesh Bhupathi

More than 300 journalists converged on Oxford to cover the race riots in 1962; a French journalist was murdered on campus and his death is the only known case of a journalist being killed while covering the civil rights movement

The first presidential debate in 2008 was held here between Senators McCain and Obama; the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) is the state's largest university with 23,000 students(UT Austin has 51,000 and UNC Chapel Hill 30,000)

Faulkner's Rowan Oaks is separated from the Ole Miss campus by Bailey's Woods; trails now lead from the house to the university art museum and the rest of the Ole Miss campus

This 1931 house, very close to the center of town, belonged to Faulkner's parents; they spelled their name Falkner but a typesetting mistake on his first book prompted Faulkner to stick with the error