by Meredith Biesinger, Magnolia Tribune
(Photo by Suzi Altman)
Along Old Highway 61, just north of Vicksburg, stands a place unlike anything else in Mississippi. With its brightly painted walls, colorful towers, handmade signs, and unusual architecture, Margaret’s Grocery has become an iconic roadside folk art environment, drawing visitors from around the world for decades.
But behind the remarkable artwork is an even more remarkable story. One of love, faith, friendship, and promises made and kept.
The story began in the mid-1980s when Reverend H.D. “Preacher” Dennis asked Margaret Rogers to marry him. He promised that if she agreed, he would build her a castle celebrating their love, transforming her modest grocery store into a place people would travel from around the world to see.
Margaret said yes, and Preacher got to work.
Using cinder blocks, salvaged materials, bright paint, and an imagination that apparently knew no limits, he transformed the little grocery into an extraordinary expression of his love for Margaret and his faith in God.
There were towers, religious messages, colorful decorations, and even an old school bus transformed into a chapel. Preacher continued adding to his creation over the years, painting, building, and finding new ways to share his message.
Nothing about Margaret’s Grocery was ordinary, and that was precisely its charm.
For years, the couple welcomed visitors with open arms, sharing their faith, their stories, and their little corner of Mississippi. Their message was simple: Everyone was welcome.
One of those visitors was photographer and filmmaker Suzi Altman.
Altman moved to Mississippi from New York City in 2001 after spending 15 years working in Manhattan’s photography world, including experience with Rolling Stone, renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and the Associated Press.
While volunteering on a movie set near Vicksburg, someone suggested she visit Margaret’s Grocery. They drew her a map, and she headed down Old Highway 61.
The moment she spotted it, she reached for her camera.
“I had never seen anything like Margaret’s Grocery,” Altman recalled.
She pulled over and met Preacher Dennis, who was wearing seersucker pants, Mardi Gras beads, and red paint splattered across his clothing. Margaret soon appeared, and Altman photographed them both.
“I just fell in love with them,” she said.
What began as a photography excursion became a lasting friendship. Altman returned frequently, bringing family and friends to experience the unusual landmark and the extraordinary people behind it.
Each visit revealed something new. Preacher was constantly changing and adding to his creation, and the couple always had another story to share.
Altman also discovered that Margaret had quite a story of her own.
Long before the colorful towers attracted international attention, Margaret’s Grocery had served the Kings community outside Vicksburg since the 1950s. It was a neighborhood gathering place and a source of everyday necessities for local families.
Margaret was deeply involved in her church, where she taught Sunday school for decades. She also helped women learn to read and cared for expectant mothers during a time when such kindness and community support made a tremendous difference.
“She was a remarkable woman herself,” Altman said.
As the years passed, Altman’s friendship with the couple grew. She helped them with everyday needs, including transportation to medical appointments, and became someone they trusted.
When Margaret became seriously ill, she asked Altman to look after Preacher. Altman made that promise. Before Preacher died, she made another.
“Reverend Dennis promised Margaret that if she married him, he would build her a castle to celebrate their love, and he did,” Altman explained. “I promised Margaret on her deathbed that I would look after Reverend Dennis. And I promised Dennis on his deathbed that I would look after the castle he built for Margaret.”
Margaret died in 2009, and Preacher followed in 2012.
Without their loving attention, the grocery began to deteriorate. Vandals stole treasured pieces, weather damaged the structures, and the colorful landmark that had once welcomed visitors from across the globe began losing its brilliance.
But Altman had made a promise, and she intended to keep it.
Through the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation, established in 2013, she began the long, complicated process of preserving the site. Progress was often slow, particularly before the foundation was able to acquire the property.
In recent years, however, that determination has begun paying off.
The foundation now owns the property and has made remarkable progress. Workers have stabilized the grounds, addressed serious erosion, installed a new roof, restored utilities, and returned the famous chapel bus to the property. A new accessible porch has also been added.
More than 85 percent of the site’s original artifacts and decorative materials have been preserved in storage, including many of Preacher’s handmade signs.
The restoration is being guided by photographs documenting the property’s appearance in 2008, when Margaret and Preacher were still alive and caring for their beloved creation.
Altman hopes to restore the property as closely as possible to that period, using original materials whenever practical and recreating damaged elements with the same techniques Preacher used.
The ultimate goal is to reopen Margaret’s Grocery as a free roadside attraction, complete with a small gallery, historical information, and a community garden.
And the importance of preserving the site reaches far beyond Vicksburg.
Margaret’s Grocery is recognized as one of the country’s significant folk art environments. Its colorful architecture and deeply personal religious artwork have attracted photographers, historians, artists, and travelers from across the United States and abroad.
Altman recalls visitors arriving from countries such as Japan and Germany, sometimes carrying nothing more than a piece of paper with the words “Margaret’s Grocery” written on it.
They had traveled thousands of miles to see the grocery on a Mississippi highway.
For Altman, however, the restoration is about much more than preserving an unusual building or attracting tourists.
“It’s not really about me,” she explained. “It’s about the community, and it’s about saving this folk art site for generations to appreciate their message of all is welcome.”
That message was central to Preacher Dennis’s ministry. He believed God’s love was for everyone, regardless of race or background, and his colorful creation reflected that belief.
Today, Altman continues making the drive from Jackson to Vicksburg, working with volunteers, preservation professionals, and supporters who share her commitment to the project.
It has required years of persistence, fundraising, and countless hours of work. But for Altman, the reason has never changed.
“I am as determined to save the castle that love built as Reverend Dennis was to build it,” she said.
What began as one Mississippi man’s promise to the woman he loved became a place that welcomed the world. Decades later, another person who loved them both is making certain their story continues.
Some promises are simply too important to break.
And this Mississippi love story isn’t finished yet.
To learn more about the restoration or support the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation’s efforts, visit the Margaret’s Grocery Facebook page or its Save Margaret’s Grocery GoFundMe campaign.