small quaint towns in upper Mississippi (Tupelo, Columbus: homes, university, pharmacy)

[billybob1050]

I will be traveling in the northern half of Mississippi in a few weeks and would very much appreciate some advice from knowledgeable viewers out there. I am interested in visiting small (15,000 or less), quaint, charming , high quality towns with old buildings, historic district, nice shops in downtown, old homes, etc. I will be visiting Oxford and Kosciusko, as I have been told these are nice small towns. Could anybody out there please suggest some others? Thank you so much.

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by billybob1050

I will be traveling in the northern half of Mississippi in a few weeks and would very much appreciate some advice from knowledgeable viewers out there. I am interested in visiting small (15,000 or less), quaint, charming , high quality towns with old buildings, historic district, nice shops in downtown, old homes, etc. I will be visiting Oxford and Kosciusko, as I have been told these are nice small towns. Could anybody out there please suggest some others? Thank you so much.

Columbus is a little bigger than you want (30,000), but it has the largest and most thriving downtown of any town in north Mississippi. It also has one of the state's largest collection of antebellum homes, second only to Natchez.

[mshomeinfo]

For old buildings, you might want to check out the courthouse in Senatobia. They decided to remodel it instead of demolish and build a new one. It is full of beautiful wood. I believe it won an award. I would not exactly call the downtown area "thriving" but there are several nice local-owned shops.

[aiangel_writer]

Holly Springs comes to mind, and New Albany's courthouse is very old and they have a museum right next to Faulkner's home. Tupelo has the auto museum that has cars from way back when.

[10scoachrick]

Corinth, MS is exactly what you describe. A friend moved back there after a couple of decades in Atlanta to open an antique shop. Very active downtown, full of charm. Very friendly folks.

It is way north MS...couple hours east of Memphis, couple hours northeast of Oxford.

[blueridgemama]

Oxford is bigger than 15K, if you include the University population. But a recent visit back to what I consider to be my home-town reminded me of how amazing and rare it is to see a thriving and beautiful town square. The university always has concerts and other activities going on and the square itself is a wonderful place to kill an afternoon shopping or having an ice tea on the balcony of Square Books. If you have time and are interested in a beautiful drive, Taylor (down Old Taylor Rd) has a lovely farmers market on the weekends and several nice art studios to visit. Continue on towards Water Valley and you'll get a glimse of a true small town in MS with a lovely main street that is struggling to survive in a post-agrarian society... that turned to factory work... that has now been out-sourced. Blue Heaven is a fantastic little vintage furniture and record shop. The old pharmacy on main (Turnage Drugs, I think its called) has been there for a century and has an old soda fountain-style counter that serves the best milkshakes anywhere I've been. All of these towns have many homes dating more than a century old.