Mississippi gulf coast communities

Friday, January 11 to Tuesday, January 15
There are six towns along the Gulf coast that we visited. Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian, Bay St Louis and Waveland. There are more to be sure and we visited only those along the coast but of course if we saw everything there would be no reason to make a return visit someday.

Friday we headed East to the large town of Biloxi. Scenic Hwy 90 took us through Long Beach (appropriately named), Gulfport and into Biloxi.

Scenic Hwy 90 along the Gulf Coast

There are over 100 restaurants along the 20 miles or so of gulf coast. 

The Biloxi lighthouse is the only one in the US that is located between the lanes of a major highway. OK, so it may never come up in a game of Trivia, but if it does......you win!

Only about 60 feet tall and not really operationally required.

The Lighthouse Pier

Not a busy beach when the temps are in the low 50's F.

Nice views of the lighthouse and visitor center behind it.

This guy likes the view from the end of the pier.

The Biloxi Visitor Center

Chainsaw carving. Very nice.

This is the nicest visitor center we have ever been in. Nicely decorated for Mardi Gras.

Sample stained glass.

Lighthouse from the second floor of the visitor center.

The grand staircase of the visitor center.

They had a great museum here too. All free!

We must have spent two hours at the Visitor Center and its museums and displays. By far the nicest visitor center I have ever seen. But there is more to Biloxi than just the visitor center. They have some impressive architecture in the downtown. They are actively rejuvenating the old main street and hopefully it will soon be active with new shops. So far though it's only tenants are lawyers. (I have no further comment on this!)

Biloxi City Hall

Some impressive mansions.

Craftsman style house

Huge Oak tree in the garden of the Mary Mahoney Hotel

Rejuvenated downtown. They just finished the new street and sidewalks. Most of the buildings are being renovated but still unoccupied.

Cupolas box-end the street.

The Whitehouse Hotel

This house and one below could be brothers. Very similar but different!

The weather took a turn for wet and cold so we didn't venture far on the weekend. We did some laundry and a few chores around the trailer. We had been out nearly every day for a while now and we could use the break. Monday we headed out again to Gulfport for lunch and a look around. Another cold day and certainly not beach weather.

The port of Gulfport.

Container cranes. Not a very busy port though.

Gulfport Marina lighthouse.

Nice houses in Gulfport too.

Tuesday, our last full day in Mississippi, we wanted to head back to Bay St Louis and Pass Christian. We liked this area the best along the Mississippi coast. It is quieter and prettier than the bigger towns like Biloxi and Gulfport.

We stopped here for lunch. They made a great sandwich.

Tree carvings in the graveyard. 

We stopped at a cool gallery with some very eclectic items. Nope, didn't buy this one!

Lots of tiny shops but most were not open. Not a lot of business in January.

County Courthouse

The old City Hall

Lots of these chainsaw carvings along the coast. These are Oak trees that were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. The art made something beautiful from destruction.

The railway across St Louis Bay.

Back in Pass Christian we stopped at this gift store. It was pretty nice. High quality items and actually reasonable prices.

Dorothy Roberts is the owner and designs some very nice jewelry. You may know her sister......

The Roberts sisters. Sally Ann on the left is a news reporter in New Orleans. Robin in the center is a regular on Good Morning America. Dorothy is on the right.

Dorothy was on her way out but stopped to chat and have her photo taken with us. Such a classy lady. Yes, we bought one of her pieces of jewelry. 

We took the long road home and past some incredible homes.

This is known as the Dixie Whitehouse. In 1935 President Woodrow Wilson spent the winter here as guests of the owner.

Eight pillars on this Antebellum style house.

Thanks Mississippi for being such a gracious host for the past week. We'd love to return to this area again. Wednesday we head further west to Louisiana and more of that famous southern hospitality.

.....and that was Our View From Here!