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Back To Basics, Shotgun Style: Inside The Tallahatchie Flats

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 58458 County Road 518 [map], Greenwood, MS, United States, 38930-7324
August 21, 2009 at 3:59 PM | by | Comments (0)

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. Not only can it make you think fondly of the bad times (Wham! reunion, anyone?), it can also make spending the night in a little shotgun house off a cornfield in the Mississippi Delta sound like a good idea. So when we found out about the Tallahatchie Flats - a collection of six original plantation cottages, transported to a field outside Greenwood, Mississippi - we had to go straight there.

Room Reaction:
We asked for the cheapest cottage – which costs $65 – but the manager/all-round man about the flats, Les, upgraded us to the bigger Red House, worth $85, because he’d already turned the air con on in that one. Nice! So we ended up with a choice of four beds (a king in the master bedroom, two singles in the second bedroom, and a sofa-bed in the living room) and a living room, dining room and kitchen as well – plus two porches to sit on and chew tobacco.

It was big, but don’t expect luxury – it’s as you’d expect a shotgun house to be, with plain wooden floors and walls, old pictures of JFK and Martin Luther King on the walls, and a seriously teeny bathroom. But the bed was comfy and we slept like logs – the only noise out here is from the frogs outside (don’t underestimate them, though, they’re loud little buggers).

What We Liked:
The set up – how cool is it to visit blues country and stay in a shack? Being British probably had something to do with it, but staying here felt like staying on a film set, and we loved it. We loved Les, too – he went out of his way to look after us, and even accompanied us to a juke joint 30 miles away so we didn’t have to go it alone. Most of his guests seem to end up Facebook-friending him – this is a good sign. Also, although there’s no food on site, guests get 10 per cent off at Veronica’s, a cafe in town, where they have the best Eggs Benedict ever - promise.

What We Didn’t Like:
Because they’re out in the sticks here, internet access is via satellite and a little dicey – we managed to send a few emails ok, but large files won’t make it across. Also, obviously it’s an old one, so we expected stains and stuff, but our bathroom sink could have been a bit cleaner. Although if you’re up for staying somewhere like this in the first place, you probably could care less about things like that.

Bottom Line:
Probably not for everyone because it’s out of the way (five minutes drive out of town) and basic (if you want luxury, you need the Alluvian, in Greenwood itself). But if you like the concept, you’ll love it here. It’s definitely one of the coolest places we’ve stayed – we’d be back in a shot(gun) (sorry).

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