Back to Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Yep, it’s still there after the tornado. And still mighty fun.
On February 10 a powerful F-4 tornado ripped through Hattiesburg. Miraculously, no one was killed. But hundreds of homes were seriously damaged, as were parts of the University of Southern Mississippi campus. Also badly damaged was the African American Military History Museum, the only museum of its kind in America.
It took 40,000 donated volunteer hours from the community to originally restore the building which housed that museum—constructed in 1941 as part of the federal program that sponsored three-hundred-some USO clubs for military personnel during World War II. It provided a place for the African American soldiers to gather during the segregation era. After the war and the building’s decommission, it became a center of social activity for the local African American community.
“We were heartbroken to see all the damage to that building,” says Betsy Rowell from the Historic Downtown Hattiesburg Association. “But it can be saved. So that’s the good news.”
Now volunteers are working tirelessly to restore it once again. While damage to the building is repaired, recovered artifacts are also being restored. Meanwhile visitors can learn of this amazing museum’s history with a rotating exhibit of salvaged artifacts at the Hattiesburg Visitor’s Center.
Which should be your first stop when you visit Hattiesburg. Put it on your calendar now because—tornado be damned—this city, that I’ve come to love on many trips over the last few years, is still vibrant and has a full weekend of delights in store. Here are some of my favorites:
After you’ve had a look at the artifacts from the African American History Museum, truck down the road to another repository of military history not found anywhere else—at the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby. Only there will you find the impressive trophy won by Vera Anderson from nearby Sumrall, Mississippi as winner of the National Women’s Welding title during World War II. Only there will you find the last remaining of the only 237 built of America’s first tank, the M2A2. And only there will you find the Medal of Honor bestowed on Jack Lucas, who lied about his age to get into the service and is that medal’s youngest recipient at age sixteen.
Then while you’re out circling Hattiesburg head a bit north for a side trip to Laurel. Laurel’s beautiful historic district is listed on the National Register and has Mississippi’s largest and most intact ensemble of early twentieth-century architectural styles—including classical and colonial revivals, Queen Anne, bungalow and craftsman. Nearby is the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art with its extensive collections of European and American art, Native American baskets, British Georgian silver, and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as an extensive art history library in impressive architectural surroundings.
Back to Hattiesburg proper
Despite the tornado, the renaissance marches on in Hattiesburg’s historic downtown. Once empty storefronts now house artist’s galleries and studios. Into that mix add a cozy independent bookstore, an organic food store, and several terrific gift shops.
Jason LeVierre and his partner Adam Myrick operate Click Boutique and the adjoining Twelve Oaks shoe boutique on Front Street. Step inside either and you feel like you’ve been teleported to Manhattan. There’s a very good reason for that.
“Adam and I met and worked together in New York City,” notes LaVierre, explaining that he worked at the corporate level for Kate Spade and Myrick for Restoration Hardware. But then Myrick became an uncle when his brother started having kids back in his hometown of Hattiesburg—and the partners began to rethink their life choices.
“It was time to step away and do something for ourselves,” LaVierre explains. So they moved to Mississippi, and brought a bit of New York with them. And it turns out that downtown Hattiesburg was a perfect fit for what they had in mind.
“The store is very fifties and sixties,” Lavierre continues, noting how the historic storefronts had just the right aesthetic.
“We really see Front Street as kind of the Magazine Street of Hattiesburg,” he says of the address they chose. A claim well supported by the shops that surround them. Next door is Southern Fried Comics, perhaps the airiest, most spacious comic book store I’ve ever been in. Their comic book print lampshades are worth a stop all by themselves. Every time I’m in town I stop by the A Gallery a couple doors down to buy greeting cards from lines I’ve not seen carried anywhere else. Their gift lines are equally eclectic. Across the street the owners of the much-beloved Southbound Bagel and Coffee Shop have opened the Skylight Lounge, a new upscale bar that also has a fifties aesthetic.
Round the corner and head past the tracks and Hattiesburg’s handsomely restored historic train depot, and you run into another of downtown’s most interesting shopping spots—Blooms. Eighty percent of the beautifully displayed giftware and original art is from Mississippi artisans, including four brilliant potters, in this shop that shares a stunningly renovated bakery building with an advertising agency, an events venue and the Depot Coffee Shop and Bistro. Stop for a bite of lunch while you ponder what you’re going to buy next door.
Downtown Hattiesburg also boasts one of the seven Saenger Theatres built and operated throughout the South by the Saenger brothers, Abe and Julian. Stunningly renovated in 2000 the theatre blends the Neo-Classical Revival Style and Art Deco Style, including Mayan-inspired elements.
There are lots of dining choices downtown, but this trip I’ve decided to hop back in the car and check out one of Hattiesburg’s newer dining options.
After making the rounds greeting every single one of the lunch patrons at his Cotton Blues restaurant, Chris Ortego pulls up a chair at my table and fills me in on how the classic southern fare—with just a bit of a spin—I was about to dine on came to be.
Ortego started out as so many culinary entrepreneurs have, as a busboy when he was fifteen. He moved to Hattiesburg eight years ago from Houston (his brother is the local television weatherman) and became general manager at the Canebrake Country Club. His years spent there gave him a chance to take the pulse of community when it comes to dining. Folks in Hattiesburg he discovered, loved their familiar favorites, but were open to a bit of experimentation as well.
And so that became his inspiration for what he’d create when the time came to have his own restaurant.
“I’m really proud of the rabbit and shrimp eggrolls,” he cites as an example, explaining that while folks might be reluctant to order rabbit as an entrée, they are willing to give it a try as appetizer.
And he adds another notable component of the fare here, “The rabbit farm is right down the road. Everything we can get local we do.”
My lunch special was an excellent illustration of that balance. Two perfectly seared scallops were accompanied by classic deviled eggs, but with a bit of crab meat added to their yolky centers. The salad came with a Mayhaw vinaigrette—a classic old South fruit given a life beyond jelly.
Cotton Blues’ popular shrimp and grits brings fresh gulf shrimp, pork belly, crushed tomato stew and boursin cheese together for a fresh take on a classic.
“We wanted fancy food that’s still familiar. High end, but still casual,” explains Ortego about what he’s trying to achieve here. Along with chefs Antoine Anthony and Zachary Walters, he seems to have perfected that balance.
The décor executes that idea as superbly as does the food. There’s a stark white faux deer head hanging along one wall against a stylized cotton-blossom background. Cotton bolls are stuffed behind the glass of a bold graphic at the entrance. The side porch (with live music on weekends) sports white Adirondack chairs for lounging.
And then it was time for dessert.
“He’s been working on his cheesecake since he was eleven,” notes my most knowledgeable server, Angie, about pastry chef Shaun Davis.
All I can say about his early dedication to his craft is: Thanks from the bottom of my fork.
And at the end of a very busy day you can lay your head in a perfectly preserved circa 1885 log cabin.
Dean Meador Smith gestures from her porch to a faint trail that runs through her property a few feet in front of her. “There was a tiny little footpath at the time, that the Indians planted cedar trees to mark. Then it became the only wagon trail from Hattiesburg up north.”
These days the route north is along Highway 49, a few hundred yards further from her porch. But folks lucky enough to discover the turn off that highway—between a Waffle House and a gas station—find themselves transported back to 1885 by the time they reach the end of the driveway.
“There have been seven generations of my family at this cabin,” Smith explains.
As a child she’d visit her grandparents here. And when her grandfather deeded the house to her she decided it was time to strip away the layers of remodeling that had accumulated to the house over the last century and restore it to its original form. What she found under all the layers was a perfectly preserved log cabin dog trot, and except for the addition of electricity and gas for lighting and heating, the cabin now looks as it did in 1885. Original furnishings in the two rooms provide a glimpse at the family’s daily life from 1885–1932, among them a beautiful rope bed built in 1856 by Smith’s grandfather as a gift to his bride. The walls are covered with letters, photos and memorabilia that tell not only the history of the cabin, but of Hattiesburg, because the two are inextricably intertwined.
Today the cabin serves as an historic bed and breakfast. There’s enough history to fill a book, which fortunately Smith has written. And this is definitely my kind of history book, because it’s also filled with Smith’s award-winning recipes, arranged so that they also tell a story of celebration. You can call Smith to get a copy directly from the author at (601) 268-3236. And while you’re at it make reservations for a chance to experience firsthand both her family’s history and her memorable cuisine.
Details. Details. Details.
Hattiesburg Visitor’s Center 5 Convention Center Plaza Hattiesburg, Ms. (601) 296-7475 www.hattiesburg.org More on the restoration of African American Military History Museum is at http://www.hattiesburguso.com. Mississippi Armed Forces Museum Building 850 Camp Shelby, Ms. (601) 558-2757 www.armedforcesmuseum.us Lauren Rogers Museum of Art 565 N 5th Avenue Laurel, Ms. (601) 649-6374 lrma.org www.downtownhattiesburg.com/ Cotton Blues 6116 Highway 98 Hattiesburg, Ms cottonblues.com Meador Homestead 6775 Highway 49 Hattiesburg, Ms. meadorhomestead.com