ENGL 258 - Special Topic: Southern Meccas
SOST 258 - Special Topic: Southern Meccas

Course Description:
The South has long been a site of serious cultural production on the part of writers, artists, and musicians, from Flannery O’Connor to Alice Walker to Elvis. But where in particular did these folks come from? And what was it in their hometowns, their families, or their social circumstances that inspired them and their art? In this course, we will examine “sense of place” as rendered through their works, but we will also go to their former homes or hometowns to try to glimpse some of that sense of place firsthand.

Tentative Itinerary:
Day 1—Monday (Milledgeville, GA)
7:30 am Leave Clinton for Milledgeville (I-20 from Cola.)
Noon Lunch in Milledgeville
2 pm Tour Andalusia, Flannery O’Connor’s home
Visit Alice Walker’s childhood home
5 pm Depart for Atlanta
Check into hotel in Atlanta
7pm Dinner at Mary Mac’s Tea Room

Day 2—Tuesday (Atlanta/Birmingham)
Breakfast at hotel
10 am Tour the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site and visit MLK’s boyhood home
Noon Lunch at the Taqueria del Sol
2:30 pm Depart for Birmingham, AL
4:30 pm Visit to synagogue in Birmingham
7:00 BBQ

DAY 3—Wednesday (Birmingham, AL/Jackson, MS)
Breakfast at the hotel
9 am National Civil Rights Museum/16th Street Baptist Church
Noon Depart for Jackson, MS/Lunch on bus
4 pm Tour of Eudora Welty’s Home
5:30 pm Visit Lemuria Bookstore
7:00 pm Dinner TBA
8:00 pm Depart for Oxford, MS
10:00 pm Check into hotel in Oxford

DAY 4—Thursday (Oxford, MS)
Breakfast at hotel
9:00 am Visit to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture (presentations TBA)
11:30 am Lunch at Ajax Diner
2:00 pm Tour of Rowan Oak and Visit Faulkner’s gravesite
4-6 pm Free time on the square—must check out Square Books!!
6 pm Thacker Mountain Radio Show
7:30 pm Dinner at Taylor Grocery
9:00 pm Depart for Memphis
10:30pm Check into hotel

DAY 5—Friday (Memphis)
Breakfast at hotel
9:00 am Tour of the Lorraine Motel
11:30 am Lunch at Rendezvous BBQ
1:30 pm Stax Museum Tour
4:00 pm Graceland
6:30 pm Dinner on Beale Street on your own/ possible Red Birds game or music show

DAY 6—Saturday (Nashville, TN)
7: 30 am Departure
12:30 pm Lunch at Loveless Café
2:00 pm Visit to Broadway Street
5:00 pm Free Time or early dinner
7:00 pm Grand Old Opry with Tour

DAY 7—Sunday—Asheville, NC/ Home
8:00 am Breakfast at hotel and departure
Noon Lunch in Asheville
1:30 pm Visit to Thomas Wolfe Home
3:30 pm Visit to Carl Sandburg Home
5:00 pm Dinner at Flat Rock Bakery
6:00 pm Return to Clinton, SC