Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Home of
The blues
Politics
Traditionally conservative, but has voted for third-party candidates more
than any other state since WWII
Famous for
Cotton fields
Kitschiest souvenir
Elvis lunchbox in Tupelo
Driving distances
Jackson to Clarksdale 187 miles, Jackson to Ocean Springs 176
miles
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Tupelo
Unless you want to pick up the Natchez Trace Pkwy, you probably won't plan to spend a
long time here. But an afternoon pop-in is rewarding indeed for devotees of the King.
Elvis Presley's Birthplace
( 662-841-1245;
www.elvispresleybirthplace.com
;
306 Elvis
Presley Blvd; adult/senior/child $15/12/6; 9am-5:30pm Mon-Sat, 1-5pm Sun)
is east of down-
town off Hwy 78. The 15-acre complex contains the two-room shack Elvis lived in as a
boy, a museum displaying personal items, the modest chapel where a very young Elvis
attended church with his mother, got bit by the music bug and danced in the aisles, and a
massive gift shop.
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Oxford
Oxford is one of those rare towns that seeps into your bones and never leaves. Local cul-
ture revolves around the quaint-yet-hip
Square
, where you'll find inviting bars, wonder-
aka Ole Miss. All around and in between are quiet residential streets, sprinkled with ante-
bellum homes, shaded by majestic oaks, including William Faulkner's old lair. Oxford
has just 10,000 year-round residents, but the 18,000 students infuse the town with youth
and life.
Oxford is best reached via Hwy 6, which runs between Clarksdale and Tupelo in
Northern Mississippi.
