Lauren Rogers Museum of Art

The museum grew out of a family tragedy. Lauren Eastman Rogers was the grandson of one of Laurel's leading lumber families, and when he died young, not long after marrying and with a promising life ahead, his grieving family resolved to honor his memory in a lasting way. They established a foundation and, in the 1920s, opened an art museum in his name on the site where his home was to have stood.

What began as a memorial became a genuine cultural institution. The family and foundation built it a fine home and steadily acquired art of real quality, so that a small Mississippi town came to possess a museum that would be a credit to a much larger city. It remains supported by that founding legacy and continues to welcome visitors from near and far.

The museum's holdings are notably broad for its size. There are European paintings, a strong collection of American art including landscapes and portraits, English Georgian silver, Japanese woodblock prints, and fine decorative arts, all displayed in richly appointed galleries. The quality and range regularly surprise visitors who did not expect to find such art in Laurel.

The most celebrated part of the collection is its Native American baskets, one of the finest such collections in the country, gathered from tribes across North America and prized for both its artistry and its scope. These baskets, woven by Native artists whose traditions continue today, are a highlight of any visit and give the museum a national reputation among students of Indigenous art.

The museum occupies a dignified Georgian Revival building of red brick with white columns, set on landscaped grounds in the heart of Laurel's historic district. Inside, the craftsmanship matches the art, with a splendid library, ornamental plasterwork, and warm wood, spaces that feel more like a gracious private institution than a public gallery.

The building is a period piece in its own right, a product of the same lumber-era prosperity that raised the grand homes all around it, and it complements the neighborhood beautifully. Walking from the tree-lined residential streets into the museum's columned entrance, you feel the continuity between the town's architecture and the art it chose to house.

The museum sits in the middle of Laurel's historic district, blocks of grand early-twentieth-century homes under arching oaks, near a revived downtown of shops and cafes made newly famous by a popular home-restoration television series. That setting makes the museum one stop in a rewarding day of strolling and history in a small, walkable Southern town.

Spring and fall are the loveliest seasons for a visit, mild and colorful, when the museum pairs perfectly with a walk through the surrounding district. Pine Belt summers are hot and humid, making the cool galleries especially welcome, and winters are quiet and mild. Any time of year, the Lauren Rogers offers a surprising dose of world-class art in the piney woods.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.