Miniature art transforms an alley into a surrealist wonderland at
'Mississippi's Tiniest Museum'
[April 09, 2026]
By SOPHIE BATES
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — In the cramped backroom of a theater, Vicki
Taylor glues together tiny figurines that peer over electrical boxes,
canoe down drainage pipes and hide in nooks and crannies waiting to be
found by someone curious enough to get on their hands and knees to
search.
Taylor and her husband, Rick, opened the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum —
also known as “Mississippi’s Tiniest Museum” — in 2020, hoping to bring
joy and traffic to the city’s downtown during the COVID-19 shutdown. The
surreal scenes she creates have helped transform a gray, smelly alley
into a major community hub and tourist destination.
“You may come feeling down, but you’re going to leave excited,” said
Brianna Moore, who lives in Hattiesburg and routinely brings her two
sons to the free museum. “My boys love it.”
The museum started as a small window display facing into the alley
behind Hattiesburg's Saenger Theater. It has since grown to include a
tiny art gallery, a movie theater, colorful murals, a keychain and DVD
exchange, a rainbow bridge for the collars of departed pets, and a
motion-activated dance spot that plays music along with disco lighting.
“It is the average alley that is in everyone’s town,” Taylor said. “It
just took, like, looking at it in a different way to envision what it
could be.”
Taylor's husband is the executive director of the Hattiesburg Convention
Commission, which runs the museum and the theater. The organization
estimates more than 300,000 people have visited since the museum opened,
coinciding with a more than 40% increase in Hattiesburg’s tourism
economy, according to Visit Hattiesburg CEO Marlo Dorsey.
Dorsey credited the growth to a concerted effort by city leaders to
develop and promote the city’s culture, recreational activities and art
scene, including an initiative to paint 100 murals across the city.
Unique attractions like the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum and the nearby
Lucky Rabbit, a massive vintage store known for its creative displays,
also attract visitors, Dorsey said.
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A concealed display shows a cat typing on a computer at the
Hattiesburg Pocket Museum, in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Wednesday,
March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)
 Tony Lymon, who has lived in
Hattiesburg since 1990, said he has watched a “monumental rebirth”
in the city's downtown over the past decade. He recently opened
eYrthBeat Coffee Company a short walk from the museum, and believes
the downtown attractions help bring customers to his shop.
The pocket museum has also served as a proving
ground for local artists. Gabby Smith, who has painted several
murals in the alley, said it helped her build confidence as she was
pivoting to pursue art as a full-time career. She now watches her
children run through the alley, pointing at various murals and
asking, “Mommy, did you paint that one too?"
“This is a city that believes in art and believes in artists," said
Shaw Ingram, who opened Wax Fantastic Records downtown in November.
“There’s nowhere else I would want to open this business."
Back in her workshop, Taylor marvels at how popular the museum has
become. She thought it would peter out after the pandemic. Now, she
spends much of her time curating the museum's constantly changing
exhibits. But her time and energy are well worth the effort, she
said, to help show more people the city she loves.
“Hattiesburg is not a beach town, and it doesn't have mountains,"
Taylor said. “There's got to be something to get people to come off
the highway.”
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