Our story
One wild lifetime.
How a collector's lifetime became Columbia's museum.
Meet Mickey & Beverly Webb Meet Mickey & Beverly Webb
The collector and the collection.
Mickey Webb has spent his working life in Mississippi's forests — decades in the forestry business — and just as long collecting what the natural world leaves behind: fossils, tracks, skulls, tusks and specimens from all over the globe, gathered since he was a boy.
In 2021, Mickey and his wife Beverly — partners in everything for more than 48 years — opened that lifetime collection to the public as the Southern Museum of Natural History, a nonprofit on Second Street. Ask Mickey about any specimen in the building and you'll get the story behind it — visitors regularly say he's the best exhibit in the place.
Downtown, on purpose Downtown, on purpose
Part of Columbia's Main Street story.
The museum didn't land on Second Street by accident. Mickey is a long-standing member of Main Street Columbia, and putting the collection downtown was part of the point — one more reason for families to spend an evening on the square. The building wears it on the outside, too: a hand-painted Southern Wildlife mural runs the length of the wall, from cypress swamp to piney woods, gator to black bear.
Our mission
Why the museum exists
To bring the wonder of the Natural World that surrounds us and the science that seeks to understand it to children and young people of all ages throughout our rural communities. To bring unique hands-on opportunities to explore and learn to people without easy access to the museums of big cities. The museum keeps its wonders close, its prices low, and its door open to every curious kid in Marion County — of any age.
Come say hello