OT: Hattiesburg
- Thread starter AttalaDawg72
- Start date
Very good description of Hattiesburg. I have not spent a ton of time there but when I have, it seems like everything is on 49 or 98. I’m sure there is stuff im missing but I’ve always described it as a Lakeland drive.
Well it’s obviously bigger, but there’s a good bit of variety with the dining options. You’ve got all the Robert St. John restaurants, got Movie Star in Oak Grove, got Newt’s Fish House in Dixie just for example. They’ve still got the Stuckey’s on Hwy 49 too.
Jutamas has great Thai food…
I also want to try out Texas Pitmaster BBQ…
I also want to go back to Mack’s on the River just to see if it’s as good as I remember…
If you think midtown is a strip mall you haven’t been to it in the last 5 years. The problem is the two major hwys the run between all three named area. Hattiesburg is great. Like another person said. We have a great zoo, water park, 4 golf courses, two hospitals. Close to the coast, Pam Handel, N.O., and if for god sakes Jackson. I line downtown. My kids walk to school, we walk to church and have multiple events I can walk to with my family safely. It’s got everting I need without the bad that comes with bigger city’s. I’m close enough to a few of them that if I can’t get it here it’s pretty close. He’ll we have an airport that you can park for free and damn near be at the front door.
Sorry, Pat, but the top 5 cities in Mississippi are:
1. Ridgeland
2. Madison
3. Biloxi
4. Starkville
5. Oxford
One of the single best, most practical, and most POSSIBLE things that can be done for Jackson at the moment. This includes building JSU an on-campus stadium and expanding UMMC.
They've also got Rayner's by Mack's as well on Hwy 49. It's been there a long time as well. I remember eating at Rayner's when I was just a little feller and that was probably 30 years ago.
Exactly.
So how does the State get JSU to play ball?
Does the State bend over and submit to JSU’s desires for an on campus stadium considering that all the other IHLs have them?
Or does the State decide to pour Money at the Problem and give JSU several incentives so that there can be another stadium on state property closer to Downtown Jackson?
Oh I think it's easy. The state pays for some of the stadium, perhaps up to the value of the Vet. I mean that's really the situation we're in.
It’s more complicated than that.
The State is on record that if Memorial goes to UMMC that the State will have to pay for a JSU stadium.
But JSU has consistently wanted an on campus stadium while the State wants something on state property near Downtown Jackson.
I'm totally fine with the state footing the entire bill, just couldn't remember the specifics. It's a win/win for everyone.
You lost me at Ridgeland. Parts are very nice. But a lot of it is a sh*thole.
Same here.
The State just needs to go ahead and pay for an On Campus Stadium for JSU.
JSU has made good arguments for it.
Besides a Downtown Adjacent stadium is more likely to be a bigger boondoggle than the State wants.
I mean… how often are football stadiums used anyway? They’re generally an expensive waste of space in cities…
At my last company (Left last August), I spent a lot of time in Hattiesburg. I was down there at least once a week. They have some hidden food gems, in my opinion.
-Petra Cafe Greek & Mediterranean
-Fairley's Wings & More
-Murkey Waters BBQ (I think it started on coast)
-The Porter Public House
-Ed's
I had the option to pick where I wanted to settle when I was leaving my last company, and I picked Tupelo. I think it is one of the best up and coming cities, but the Coast or Hattiesburg were a close second and third.
-Petra Cafe Greek & Mediterranean
-Fairley's Wings & More
-Murkey Waters BBQ (I think it started on coast)
-The Porter Public House
-Ed's
I had the option to pick where I wanted to settle when I was leaving my last company, and I picked Tupelo. I think it is one of the best up and coming cities, but the Coast or Hattiesburg were a close second and third.
Never eaten at Fairley’s. I’m gonna have to try them out.
Murky Waters & Ed’s are good…
I miss Petra being in the Jackson area but Hattiesburg has worked out tremendously for them
I know folks who’ve worked for The Porter and it’s been my pre-concert spot for food— looking forward to being there before seeing James McMurtry and Jeff Tweedy perform this fall…
I honestly think Petra is one of the best hidden gems in the state.
You're right. Looking at Google Maps street view from February 2025, I had no clue how much it had changed into a thriving, walkable area.
But I'm not bashing Hattiesburg. It's fine and better than most places in Mississippi. It's typical of large towns or small cities (however you want to classify it) across the southeast. It's just unfortunate it has a lot of the pieces to make a really cool town (university, medical community, decent industry presence, what should be great neighborhoods between downtown, midtown, belle grass and cane brake and the country club, great access as far as road infrastructure if not a decent airport) but they're arranged in a way that prevent it from being a cohesive whole. If you could put those assets in roughly a circle instead of spread out in lines and separated by highways, an interstate, and stroads, and it would be one of the best places in the southeast to live.
No question. Bowl games (or the type Jackson could ever attract) are not the play. We need a new stadium like we need a second assshole (well, I guess some of us like @paindonthurt may could....well, nevermind).
MS was formerly a basketball state and now more of a baseball state, so if we're ever going to do a venue like that, it should be a nice arena or a downtown baseball stadium. Always thought Flowood would be a good location for an arena.
If they had one, I might just have been a mustard buzzard
She's a huge POS that is mobbed-up more than any Mississippi politician since the Depression. She's managed to keep "apartments" out, so that keeps the local flight population happy. She's also stifled major business and industrial growth for 30 years in thrall to her all-brick commercial fantasy alive.
It already has and I was there to see them, not the game so much.
These are all good things. Let Ridgeland build the commercial growth that draws in undesirables into their city. I don't want a bunch of strip malls and Top Golf's in Madison. Hell, we have too many already.
I visited Hattiesburg for work once and the sales guy took me to a two story house that was a restaurant. The meal was great and the waitress was one of the most beautiful girls I've seen. I think the family was Greek and she was a daughter. I told her she should be a model. Anybody know the restaurant? This was about 20 years ago.
The only reason she's been able to have a "city" while avoiding all of those critical elements is because of the proximity to Jackson, where she can house everyone who sh*ts on it and its local governance, crime, infrastructure while directly benefiting from the economy it provides the people who don't pay into its tax base. Hell of a leader you got there. If Jackson wasn't the seat of state government, that would lead to the exodus of healthcare and its total irrelevance. Madison and Rankin Counties would go down the drain pretty fast.
In Mississippi, she's done what was necessary to keep property values high. It's sort of a cutthroat game and it puts you against everybody else around you.
ETA: You're correct in the post above this. But again, unfortunately, that's the reality. She didn't cause the situation in Jackson or the state of Mississippi.
Exactly. She’s done a great job at being mayor of Madison. Which is all she’s asked to do.
Grew up in Jones County so I was in Hattiesburg quite often In the 2000’s and 2010’s. Strongly considered moving to that area a year or two ago, ultimately moved to Rankin County instead. I think there’s a lot to like about Hattiesburg area if you are looking for a Mississippi town to live in, especially if Jackson isn’t your cup of tea. Petal and Oak Grove have been very good schools for a long time, and some other surrounding public schools are on the rise in recent years, too.
I think that Hattiesburg is an absolute bright spot in Mississippi. I lived in Laurel for a few years as a kid in the 80's and we would have to go to Hattiesburg for certain things, and it was pretty grim then. I had a chance to spend a good bit of time there in the last few years and it seems vibrant. I would think that the combo of USM, Tyson, Duff Brother companies, Hood Industries and healthcare will keep Hattiesburg on the come up for a while.
I've lived within about 45 minutes of Hattiesburg for about 40 years now. I avoid it as much as possible. Almost everything is on Hardy Street, and it's always a parking lot because they have the traffic lights set so you have to stop at every one for some reason. Someone mentioned the zoo. lol. YIKES. People mention the restaurants, and yes, there are a few decent ones, but there are also a whole lot of chains and really bad and overpriced ones as well (looking at you Big Trouble). The older part has a few pretty cool places (The Lucky Rabbit used to be cool, but it's so commercialized and fake now), and it's not as bad driving there, but again, most of the places you would need or want to go require you to use Hardy Street and that's a no-go for me. I don't want to catch 18 red lights in a row and sit in my car for 25 minutes to go 2.3 miles.
I'm a sucker for a good restaurant, so I'll go to H-burg if someone can tell me some worth trying. It's been a lot of "miss" for me the last 5 years or so in the ole Burg.
I'm a sucker for a good restaurant, so I'll go to H-burg if someone can tell me some worth trying. It's been a lot of "miss" for me the last 5 years or so in the ole Burg.
It’s because we drive everywhere, we don’t walk.
People complaining about traffic are crazy. The traffic in Hattiesburg isn't terrible except where there's construction and they've started expanding the Lincoln Rd extension now. Hattiesburg is a nice small city. Lots of things going on with updating the Broadway Dr area and a new bypass there too. The difference in Hattiesburg 30 yrs ago to today is a blueprint for other MS locales IMO. Hattiesburg benefits from 49/59 traffic in a big way! I'm there a couple days a week and I love it! Local eats are great and you can find things to do. Lots of new business projects going on too. If Hattiesburg can get a Costco it's as good as it gets in MS.