Folk Artist & 'Preacher' Dies at 96 in Mississippi

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Image courtesy of Dixie's Land Blog.

MISSISSIPPI---The Rev. Herman D. "Preacher" Dennis, who turned a Mississippi Delta grocery store into a folk-art castle that became a roadside attraction, has died. He was 96. Margaret's Grocery started as a modest store north of Vicksburg off U.S. 61, nicknamed the "blues highway." Margaret Rogers Dennis had owned the store nearly 40 years when she married "Preacher" in 1984, and he said he'd build a monument to her and their faith in God. The Vicksburg Post reports that during the 1980s and '90s, the couple used red, white, pink and yellow painted concrete blocks, scrap-iron columns, foam balls, cardboard tubes and other common items to turn the building into a castle. The building is still standing, though deteriorated. The inside has been closed to visitors for years. [link]