A growing and highly creative destination, Hattiesburg is redefining modern Mississippi. On track to become a City of 100 Murals, this cultural “Hub City” boasts a thriving arts and live music landscape, accessible outdoor adventure, niche cultural and historical attractions, an impressive food scene, and serves as home for two universities. Hattiesburg is a place that beckons to all, and a city where life happens.
Long before “rock ’n’ roll” had a name, its sound was alive and echoing from a small studio in downtown Hattiesburg in 1936, where brothers Blind Roosevelt and Uaroy Graves recorded music that would later be recognized as foundational to the genre. According to The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, Hattiesburg may very well have been the birthplace of rock and roll, laying the groundwork for a genre that would go on to move generations.
Nearly a century later, Hattiesburg continues to turn up the volume. When the weather is perfect in the spring and fall, visitors gather at Town Square Park for the Live at Five series, where renowned musicians perform free, family-friendly concerts. FestivalSouth, one of the largest music events in the state, fills May and June with dozens of arts and cultural performances. Live music brings rhythm to the city nearly every day of the week.
That musical legacy is marked today by a Mississippi Blues Trail marker on Mobile Street and the large-scale “Jam Session” mural, which honors the Graves brothers and other influential musicians tied to Hattiesburg’s role in shaping American sound.
Named a top city in the world for public art, Hattiesburg has become a gathering place for artists, from local creatives to nationally recognized masters. Art here is not confined to galleries. It lives on walls, in alleys, and along everyday routes through the city.
The Hattiesburg Public Art Trail features more than 68 murals and growing, along with painted utility boxes and large-scale sculptures that bring the total collection to more than 150 pieces of public art. Downtown, The Pocket Alley offers an immersive moment of discovery, home to Mississippi’s smallest museum, tiny hidden figurines, and free art galleries built around the idea of exchange. Add galleries, museums, and maker studios, and creativity feels less like a feature and more like a shared language across Hattiesburg.
With nearly 200 local dining options, Hattiesburg’s food scene reflects the same mix of tradition and reinvention found throughout the city. Acclaimed chefs such as Katie Dixon and Robert St. John, alongside rising talents like Jeremy Noffke and Nelson Haskin, are building their legacies here, shaping a culinary landscape that feels both rooted and forward-looking.
Menus range from fresh seafood and Cajun-inspired dishes to Southern classics, burgers, steaks, food trucks, vegan fare, and Thai cuisine. Neighborhood bakeries and coffee shops anchor daily routines, while gastropubs and locally crafted beer draw crowds to places like Southern Prohibition and The Porter Public House. In Hattiesburg, food is not an afterthought - it is part of how the city tells its story.
Perfectly situated in the Gulf South, Hattiesburg’s year-round mild climate and lush greenery means outdoor lovers can find an adventure anytime. Visitors from across the world travel to experience the state’s premier Rails to Trails conservancy trail, Longleaf Trace, a 44-mile paved path perfect for pedestrians, bikers, and horseback riders alike. Pinebelt Blueways is a rare gem, with gentle currents that welcome paddlers of all ages along the Leaf and Bouie Rivers. Friendly competition takes shape in rounds of disc or traditional golf at a variety of championship-designed courses. No matter the activity, Hattiesburg is a top destination for adventure lovers and offers options for amateurs to experts.
Founded on the timber and railroad industries, Hattiesburg grew into a regional center for commerce, culture, and connection. It became a place where people gathered, organized, and exchanged ideas. That same civic role placed Hattiesburg at the center of the Civil Rights Movement, where local leaders and national organizers confronted voter suppression and helped shape the course of Freedom Summer in 1964. This history is preserved today through the 1964 Freedom Summer Trail, which documents the people and places central to that movement.
Hattiesburg’s modern identity is also shaped by its long-standing relationship with military service, centered around Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, one of the nation’s largest state-owned training facilities, and the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum, which can be explored by a free walk through the world-class facility.
Today, that history finds expression in the everyday creativity of the city itself. Visitors wander through The Lucky Rabbit, a one-of-a-kind vintage marketplace spanning more than 60,000 square feet of eclectic finds, or create their own glass pieces at Mohawk Steel & Glass on a nearby Christmas tree farm. Through murals, historic markers, and hands-on experiences, Hattiesburg carries its past forward in ways that feel engaging and personal. This is a modern Mississippi city where creativity is not an accessory to history, but one of its most visible outcomes.
