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.