Road Trip Issue 2024: Corinth, Miss.

One of the reasons I wanted to road trip back to Corinth, Miss., this summer was the food. The city doesn’t necessarily have foodie street cred, but it should. There were so many places I wanted to revisit that I was on a first-lunch/second-lunch kind of schedule.

Corinth is famous for the slugburger, a Depression-era invention in which hamburger meat is mixed with potato flakes or other starches to stretch a budget. It is so named because they were originally sold for a nickel (nicknamed a “slug”) — not because slugs were used in the recipes.

Pat Martin, owner of Martin’s Bar-B-Que and other Nashville restaurants, has Corinth roots. He put the slugburger on his menu at his burger spot Hugh Baby’s “as an homage to the barbecue and burger shops and roadside stands that pepper the mid-South area. I’m also proud of where I come from — both sides of my family are from Corinth — and I wanted to keep the tradition alive.” 

Some places mix pork with the beef in a slugburger, which limits where I personally can eat them. Other favorite area dishes include country ham and pork barbecue, so I asked Martin for some of his Corinth food picks — that way visitors aren’t limited by my dietary restrictions. Martin gave nods to Borroum’s Drug Store & Soda Fountain for their slugburger; that one was already at the top of my list because I believe everything tastes better while sitting at an old-fashioned soda fountain. There’s nothing like a fresh-made limeade, adjusted for your personal tartness preference. Martin also likes the Slugburger Cafe, though I’m partial to the White Trolley Cafe, which has a beef slugburger for $1.50. (It’s not a nickel, but still not much.) Martin also loves Abe’s Grill, which has some of the best hand-cut biscuits in the South (topped with ham or not). Breakfast starts at 4 a.m.

Moving on from the slugburger beat, another Southern gem in Corinth is the Mississippi Delta tamale (even though Corinth is about two-and-a-half hours from the Delta). The spicy Delta tamale is smaller than a Latin tamale, boiled instead of steamed, and a bit grittier due to the cornmeal. If you’ve never been to Dillworth’s Tamales, a drive-thru serving the classics since 1962, they’ll give you your first dozen free — though a dozen costs $5.80, so it is not a hardship to pay for them. Dillworth’s makes theirs with all beef (I am a fan) and conveniently is across the street from Lauren’s Cake Shop. I’m not saying I drove 180 miles (each way) for one of these cupcakes … but I’m also not saying I didn’t. Varieties change daily, and the cake-to-frosting ratio is just right.

Faithful readers will remember that while I loved my trip to Hattiesburg in last year’s Road Trip Issue, it was oppressively hot and I ate an obscene number of snowballs to cool off. Northern Mississippi was refreshingly temperate, but I did stop in Tepachelandia for a lemon-lime ice. For consistency’s sake. 

I was warmed up after getting caught in a rainstorm with grilled cheese and tomato soup at the Generals’ Quarters hotel. Russell’s Beef House is the resident steakhouse with a serious salad bar. 

Do

Not everyone comes to Corinth to eat. Most people come to Corinth because of Shiloh National Military Park. The great battlefield sites span the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. My interest in all things Civil War is fairly limited. I love Corinth Contraband Camp, a sculpture garden and bucolic walking trail with QR codes that tell the story of nearly 2,000 freed men who worked to rebuild their community and their lives after the war. 

Corinth was once known as the “Crossroads of the South” because two rail lines intersected there. That was one of the reasons Corinth was so crucial as a transportation hub during the war. The Crossroads Museum, which is housed in the train station, includes tons of artifacts about Corinth history, including an old Dillworth’s tamale-delivery bike. There’s a working train set where you can honk the horn on the trains, and outside is a raised platform for train watching and a car you can climb on. Transportation buffs will also like Dream Riderz Classic Cars, a private collection of vintage cars dating back to the 1920s. Speaking of quirky collections, downtown’s Corinth Coke Museum is a tiny, well-maintained museum that contains 110 years of Coca-Cola Bottling history. 

The Visit Corinth tourism office has a cool, self-guided walking tour. Grab a brochure, follow the painted footsteps on the sidewalk, and see 60 Sites in 60 Minutes, reading historical markers about some of the buildings and also visiting some of the sites mentioned here. Many are included in Corinth’s walkable downtown, which is dotted with fun boutiques interspersed with restaurants and historic sites. I like Anyware for women’s clothing, Love & a Dog Boutique for plus-size clothes and Sanctuary Antiques. 

Stay

Luxury boutique hotel Generals’ Quarters was built in 1869 as a church, built on the foundation of another church destroyed in the retreats from Shiloh. Since then it has had a number of different owners and identities as a bordello, a boarding house and a private home. It was named as an acknowledgment of the generals who occupied Corinth, but it did not serve as their quarters. New ownership has completely renovated and modernized the space, with big comfortable (air-conditioned) rooms, welcoming public spaces, a popular bar and restaurant, and a new spa, in addition to a lovely garden. You can hear the church bells from across the street ring on the hour. It’s fun to flip through the guest book and read about folks — from as far away as New Zealand — who have stayed here, as well as people who come for regular repeat visits. It’s in easy walking distance to all of downtown Corinth’s charming restaurants, shops and attractions. The space doesn’t glorify Civil War history, but there are photos from Confederate troops that may not feel appropriate to some guests. If you prefer a more traditional hotel, there are a number of reliable, convenient chain hotels. I’ve stayed at the Hampton Inn Corinth in the past. It has a pool, free breakfast and elevators.

The one quirk about road-tripping to Corinth is that the best businesses have odd hours. Some are open only Monday through Thursday. Some are Wednesday through Saturday, and others are weekends only. I plotted out a Venn diagram of all the overlapping hours of all the best places and landed on Wednesday night through Saturday night as the optimum Corinth timeline. Like many places in the South, most attractions — including the many delicious roadside Amish markets — are closed on Sundays. But all the national battlefield sites are open on Sundays, so those can be an easy visit on your way home after a weekend trip.

Corinth is a three-hour drive southwest of Nashville. If you want to add a detour or a second road trip, you can take the Natchez Trace Parkway for a portion of the route. More on that elsewhere in this issue.

Road Trip Issue 2024

Our recommendations for five weekend getaways — from Athens to Corinth and beyond