Tucked away up in the hushed, rolling countryside of northeastern Mississippi not far from the Tennessee and Alabama borders lies one of the South’s most delightful travel destinations: Corinth, Mississippi. Once called the “Crossroads of the Confederacy” because of the strategic railroad lines that intersected there, it emerges in our own time as a new kind of crossroads. Here one finds a vibrant, diverse community offering a profusion of natural resources, abundant Civil War history, a thriving arts community, ample accommodations and shopping, unforgettable cuisine, and plenty of good old fashioned southern charm.
Founded in 1854 as “Cross City” and now the Alcorn County seat, Corinth is easily reached via Highway 45 and US Route 72. It is only a two hour drive from Memphis or Nashville and provides convenient, hub access to such regional attractions as the Natchez Trace Parkway, Florence and the Shoals, Shiloh National Military Park, Tupelo, the Pharr Indian Mounds, Colbert Ferry, and the Tennessee River Valley.
Lifelong Corinth resident Archie Harville plays a handcrafted dulcimer banjo of his own design. He is one of the musicians who regularly participate in Corinth's Thursday evening "Pickin' on the Square."
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The best place to begin any Corinth area visit is at the Crossroads Museum, located on Fillmore Street just behind the Corinth Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Here, you can view exhibits and artifacts explaining the area’s turbulent Civil War years, or learn about how industry brought prosperity to the region, and even examine the struggles that defined a generation during the Civil Rights movement.
A short drive west to West Linden Street brings visitors to the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center, located on the site of Battery Robinett, a Union fortification that was an important part of the bloody fighting during the Battle of Corinth. The center features interactive exhibits, videos, and information on visiting other Civil War sites. In the center of town on Childs Street is the Verandah/Curlee House. Built in 1857, it was here that Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston signed Order No. 8, launching the counter offensive against advancing Union forces that climaxed in the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862.
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The Verahdah-Curlee House. Here Confederate General Albert Sudney Johnston signed Order No. 8, launching the counter offensive against advancing Union forces under a still unknown General Ulysses Grant . Johnstons action culminated in the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862.
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Shiloh National Military Park is only a forty minute drive north of Corinth on state Route 22 into Tennessee. Located at Pittsburgh Landing on the Tennessee River, Shiloh still bears the unmistakable scars of the violence that raged there 147 years ago. The battlefield tour starts at the visitor center, where original artifacts are displayed and a 25-minute film introduces the battle and the war. Next to the visitor center, b eyond heavy iron gates of black and gold is Shiloh National Cemetery. Here beneath the sprawling oaks and quiet magnolias rest 3,584 soldiers killed in the battle, of which 2,359 are still unknown.
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Shiloh National Cemetery overlooks the tranquil Tennessee River at Pittsburgh Landing. Here rest 3,584 Union and Confederate soldiers killed in the battle, of which 2,359 are still "unknown."
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Driving into the park down the quiet, oak-bemused roads is to journey back into time. Ghosts from long ago seem to emerge from amid rows of cannon that still point in the direction they once fired. Long ago voices may be heard to call out from along red-earthed byways with names like Sunken Road, and across the small, deadly spaces of open field between the lines of battle. Pull offs and historic markers are frequent and enable visitors to easily retrace the events of the conflict that took place there. Particularly sobering is the Hornet’s Nest, which was the scene of the fiercest fighting, and Bloody Pond, a shallow water source to which hundreds of shattered men crawled for relief before dying in its tranquil waters, staining it red with their blood. Today, the waters of Bloody Pond are still seen to periodically take on a reddish color for unknown reasons.
But Civil War history is only part of the story of Corinth and the region. The city also boasts a thriving arts community that rivals any big city art scene, offering original works at very affordable prices. Corinth Artist Gallery presents an outstanding collection of Southern regional art, with one-of-a-kind works in styles ranging from realism to impressionism to abstract, and from works of sculpture to stained glass, jewelry, and other decorative media.
Corinth has also produced its share of famous residents, including renowned early American aviator Roscoe Turner, a seven-time transcontinental speed record holder and pilot renowned for flying aloft with a lion named Gilmore. Cartoonist Russell Keaton, who ghost-drew the comic strip “Buck Rogers” and later gained fame with his own strip “Flyin’ Jenny,” also called Corinth home, as did American screenwriter and novelist Thomas Hal Phillips, noted Mississippi artist and poet J. E. Pitts, and Harvard educator Thomas Kincaid McCraw.
It is often said a city is judged on the quality of its cuisine. If that’s true, then Corinth excels. Get the day going with a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast at Abe’s Grill, where most mornings you can find Corinth Mayor Jerry Latch enjoying his own start to the day. Or try lunch at historic Borroum’s, Mississippi’s oldest operating drug store and soda fountain. For more traditional dinner fare, The Rib Shack offers the best dry rub barbecue ribs anywhere on Earth, and The General’s Quarters Bed and Breakfast Inn offers gourmet cuisine for more refined tastes. Afterward, sit back and relax to “Pickin’ on the Square,” a free bluegrass and gospel music show put on by local musicians every Thursday evening on the courthouse steps.
For more travel information on Corinth and area crossroads destinations in northeastern Mississippi, go to: http://www.corinth.net.
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Stephen Enzweiler is Contributing Editor to Y'all Magazine. Write to him c/o Yall Magazine, PO Box 1217, Oxford, MS 38655, or email: steve@yall.com.
"Corinth, MS: Still a Crossroads Destination " © 2010 Stephen Enzweiler. All Rights reserved.
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