Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

The Five-Point Weekend Escape Plan

Shop for Southern Style in Oxford, Mississippi

With an influx of design-driven shops, innovative artisans, and imaginative chefs, it’s easy to see why this town is fast becoming a cultural hub.











1. Where to Stay


Though its exterior looks straight out of Gone With the Wind, the 5 Twelve is understated and contemporary inside.  

Explore 33 acres of working farmland at the Barn Loft Bed & Breakfast at Willowdale Farm. Farmer and woodworker Robert Wilson built the two-bedroom suite (from $78) by hand and filled it with furniture designs of his own creation. Check out the Scandinavian-style bar stools in the kitchen area made by Wilson’s friend Bill Hamric, and a dining table made by an aunt from found cedar timber and salvaged lumber. Give old John Brown, the adopted basset hound, a pat on the head, then cluck around with the speckled Barred Rock hens penned in the yard.

Forget the Old South’s frills at the 5 Twelve, where simple elegance and graphic prints spice up a building that once housed a clinic and, later, a teahouse for Oxford ladies who lunch. The inn doesn't totally abandon tradition: There are claw-foot tubs in most rooms and rocking chairs on the wraparound porch perfect for an afternoon iced-tea break. Two of the six rooms (from $140) have balconies and all are outfitted in high-thread-count sheets and goose-down comforters.

Take in woodsy quietude from the porch of the Inn at Ravine’s single guest room (from $135). Joel Miller opened his hyperpopular farm-to-table restaurant in a converted bed and breakfast and offers the remaining room to out-of-towners. The space itself is simply dressed—just a big comfy bed and some armchairs. But the oak and cedar trees that surround the log-cabin-style house are decoration enough. Schedule your outbound flight late enough to fully enjoy the badass Sunday brunch of thin orange crêpes and pork chops with eggs and cheese grits.


Published on Feb 5, 2015 as a web exclusive.