Vicksburg, Mississippi -
Grocery Store Covered in Folk Art

We were SO disappointed that the store/church was locked up -- and looked like it had been for quite some time. The once-colorful decorations and signs are crumbling and falling apart. We did not learn what has become of Margaret and her husband. It's still worth a look-see as a tribute to love, faith and folk art. [Sibyl, Marc and Moo, 04/15/2010]

I attended a film festival at UNC-Chapel Hill where a grad student screened a documentary on this church and the people that live there. They are an elderly, elderly African-American couple. The husband is a preacher and is the one who built the church, apparently over a span of about thirty years. He is a mason, and therefore has dubbed the church "The Home of the Double Eagle". The actual chapel is the pink bus parked around back, the interior of which is entirely covered in small toys, flowers, buttons, rhinestones, Christian iconography, and other bric-a-brac).

The preacher is half-deaf and his speech is fairly unintelligible, but he remains surprisingly spunky; his wife is also friendly and they are receptive to visitors. The inside of their house is another treat; like the inside of the bus-chapel, the walls are completely covered in a three-dimensional collage of colorful junk that incorporates everything from mardi gras beads to personal photos and clippings about the church. [Alicia Gurley, 05/20/2007]

A man built a church and a tower on US-61 north of Vicksburg. Actually, the sign says that this was the only church that Christ built. It's also the home of the "Double Headed Eagle," whatever that is. And all Christians and Jews are welcome to worship here. Put another way (on another of his road-side signs): God have no white church and he dont have no black church." There's also a pink school bus parked behind the church. Overall, it has a...busy... appearance, but then, that's obviously what The Lord intended. [Bill Reid, 08/25/2002]