Second floor of County Courthouse Annex. Housed in a nationally listed landmark building, the museum offers more free programming than any other museum in the state, with over thirty exhibitions annually. These range from traditionally decorative arts to ethnographic and tribal materials, photography, crafts and artworks by contemporary Mississippi and Alabama artists. These regional artists are also featured in the growing permanent collection, along with a fine collection of 18th and 19th century English portraits, 20th century American photography, sculpture, works on paper and contemporary decorative arts. Special classes and programs encourage participation by the Meridian Community College , as well as city and county schools in Lauderdale County and the entire bi-state area.
Admission is free.
Turn left on 8th Street to 25th Avenue. This stately 20-room Victorian mansion features unusual woodwork, handsome columns, mantels and stairway. It is one of fewer than six buildings left standing after Gen. Tecumseh Sherman's campaign in February 1864. Turn left on 8th Street, then right on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The Hartley Peavey museum contains artifacts of the beginning of Peavey Electronics Corporation and its founder, Hartley Peavey.