Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Central Asia yurt night stars
Uzbekistan • 15 days, 14 nights
Central Asia Road Trip: Backroads & Bazaars
from
A view of Brașov’s Old Town.
Romania • 12 days, 11 nights
Legends of Romania: Castles, Ruins & Culinary Delights
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations Â»

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places Â»
Grotte de Glace
Sinquerim Beach Bastion
Port Tobacco Schoolhouse
Barracks / munitions storage.
Vloethemveld
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Names on the bartop.
The Dive
Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.
C'è Pasta... E Pasta!
Spaghetto taratatĂ  is named for the sound of rattling sabers.
Giano Restaurant
The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.
Cesare al Pellegrino
Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.
Flavio al Velavevodetto
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Green-Wood Cemetery, overlooking New York Harbor.
Where Our Team Looked for Joy During Pandemic Lockdowns
The 2,653-mile-long Pacific Crest Trail spans the entire West Coast from Canada to Mexico.
Meet the Volunteers Who Keep Thru-Hikers Moving
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House building on the U.S.-Canadian border.
Could New Border Restrictions Literally Tear the Haskell Free Library Apart?
A woman peering into the cave of Sarah Bishop c. 1900.
The Curious History of New England’s Hermit Tourism

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Mississippi Vicksburg Margaret's Grocery and Market
Margaret's Grocery and Market is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Margaret's Grocery and Market

A four-hour holy-rolling, Hallelujah-shouting, Southern gospel service, rendered as a country market where "All Is Welcome, Jews, and Gentiles."

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Added By
Keith Hendershot
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
Site in 2007 while the Reverend and his wife were still alive   Detour Art
The Reverend and his wife Margaret in 2007   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2013 after it fell into some disrepair   Detour Art
Margaret in 2007   Detour Art
The good Reverend in 2007   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2013 after it has started to come undone   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2013. It has fallen deeply into disrepair since the 2012 passing of the Reverend.There are calls for upkeep, perhaps creating a “Friends of Margaret’s Grocery” though it may be too far gone.   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2013 after it fell into some disrepair   Detour Art
Site in 2013, already in a state of some disrepair   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2013 after it has fallen into some disrepair   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2013 after it has fallen into some disrepair   Detour Art
The Grocery in 2007   Detour Art
This place is shut down and is not visitable   The Traveling Wizard / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Located smack-dab on Bob Dylan's famous Highway 61 just north of Vicksburg, Mississippi and her floating casinos, you will run across the ruins of an assemblage of Hallellujahdom that was Margaret's Grocery & Market.

Their novel approach to grocery took you through a rather Byzantine-looking archway with an ornamental two-headed eagle as its keystone. In the words of its late owner Rev. H.D. Dennis, the symbol refers to a time when "there wasn't but two empires ruling the world: Josephus in the West and Caesar Augustus in the East. Caesar declared war on Josephus and took all his parts in the West. The eagle sees the sun rise in the East and, when the sun sets in the West and the eagle is looking at the sun when it sets, one man will rule all the entire world." Biblical scholars, of course, will recognize that this refers to... actually nothing that's in the Bible. It is indeed a symbol from the Byzantine empire as well as a Masonic Symbol from the 32nd Degree of the Scottish Rite. You have just discovered a lodestone in the glorious and beatific insanity that is outsider art in the Mississippi Delta.

The story of this bizarre country-market-turned-ersatz-"voodoo-ish" -Christian cathedral is one of redemption risen from tragedy. Margaret's first husband was shot dead in the market during a robbery in the 1970s. After five years as a widow, she met the Reverend Dennis. Through their love, the grocery store was repurposed as a folk art ministry, and the Reverend began to decorate the store until something thoroughly unique began to emerge. Throughout the 1980s, the Reverend drew on his experience as a bricklayer in Word War II, and slowly transformed the market into his own vision of Heaven. This vision included a school bus retrofitted into a chapel crusted with ornamentation and a chintz-gilded Ark of the Covenant. The two-story high "praying tower" remained incomplete after local building code inspectors asked the Reverend to stop.

Unfortunately, since the Reverend's death in 2012, Margaret's Grocery was allowed to fall into disrepair and is a mere ruin of the fantastic Hallelujah-Praise-Jesus-Masonic-Candyland it was a decade ago. The state has been unable to maintain this rare jewel of a theological park and the kudzu vines and gravity are slowly pulling it back into the delta's midden.  The Mississippi Folk Art Foundation now owns the site and plans on restoring it.

Related Tags

Outsider Art Markets Churches Sacred Spaces

Know Before You Go

Please contact Suzi Altman at the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation for a tour or to learn more by email at Suzisnaps@aol.com.

Community Contributors

Added By

Joey Freshwater

Edited By

Blindcolour, Suzi Altman, The Traveling Wizard

  • Blindcolour
  • Suzi Altman
  • The Traveling Wizard

Published

October 22, 2015

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.amazon.com/Outsider-Art-South-Kathy-Moses/dp/0764307290
  • http://www.detourart.com/welcome-jews-and-gentiles-to-margarets-grocery/
  • www.SuziAltman.com
  • https://www.gofundme.com/SaveMargaretsGrocery
  • https://www.facebook.com/MargaretsGrocery/
Margaret's Grocery and Market
4535 N. Washington St.
Vicksburg, Mississippi, 39183
United States
32.410692, -90.842068
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

U.S.S. Cairo

Vicksburg, Mississippi

miles away

Grave of Douglas the Confederate Camel

Vicksburg, Mississippi

miles away

Lower Mississippi River Museum

Vicksburg, Mississippi

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Vicksburg

Vicksburg

Mississippi

Places 4

Nearby Places

U.S.S. Cairo

Vicksburg, Mississippi

miles away

Grave of Douglas the Confederate Camel

Vicksburg, Mississippi

miles away

Lower Mississippi River Museum

Vicksburg, Mississippi

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Vicksburg

Vicksburg

Mississippi

Places 4

Related Places

  • Tempe goreng and tahu bacem with urap sayur (vegetables sprinkled with coconut).

    Queens, New York

    Indonesian Food Bazaar at St. James Episcopal Church

    Once a month, an Indonesian feast appears inside an Elmhurst church hall.

  • Chiesetta di Piedigrotta.

    Pizzo, Italy

    Chiesetta di Piedigrotta (Church of Piedigrotta)

    This church carved into the rocks is full of enchanting stone statues.

  • Captain Cook, Hawaii

    The Painted Church

    A priest with no formal artistic training used basic house paint to create gorgeous religious scenes inside this historic church.

  • Templo de San Antonio.

    Aguascalientes, Mexico

    Templo de San Antonio

    This ornate church designed by a self-taught architect is an eclectic masterpiece in the heart of Central Mexico.

  • It contains museums, a market, and a number of exhibits celebrating Russian art.

    Moscow, Russia

    Izmailovo Kremlin

    Moscow's other, lesser known kremlin is a fairytale-like cultural complex modeled after Old Russia.

  • The windows from inside.

    Apt, France

    Chapelle de la Santonne

    One man's desire to transcend art led to the construction of this outsider chapel.

  • The church interior

    Beit Jala, West Bank

    The Shrine of Saint George

    A historic chapel filled with colorful murals and a colorful past.

  • Bärnbach, Austria

    Church of St. Barbara

    Bizarrely-painted church designed by a controversial artist.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.