Visited Dec. 27-31, 2020
By Marty
Note: This is an "after the fact" post as we work our way backwards to catch you up on our previous destinations.
Leaving New Orleans we picked up the Beast from the RV storage facility and took a short drive, for us, of 81 miles east to Biloxi, Mississippi.
Biloxi was established in 1699 by a French fella who was sent from French Canada to locate the mouth of the Mississippi River (France wanted to control that riverway to facilitate the commerce of their colonial empire, which stretched from Hudson Bay to the Gulf Coast, and from the Appalachians to the Rockies.) Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville went ashore a little shy of the Mississippi (about 90 miles west on I-10) at the Biloxi River where he established Biloxi.
It would be another 19 years, in 1718, before New Orleans was founded and claimed for the French Crown. Without the benefit of an interstate highway you can see why it would take 19 years to make it 90 miles further west….
(To be fair to the French, take a look at a map showing how the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf. It’s a little confusing.)
There was a time when Biloxi’s economy was based on the seafood industry. By the turn of the last century Biloxi had become the Seafood Capital of the World. In the 1920s there were more than 40 seafood factories occupying two cannery districts.
Today Biloxi is all about tourism, thanks to its beaches and casinos.
The beaches, as shown in these photos, speak for themselves. The casino story is interesting: in 1990 Mississippi legalized “dockside” gaming. That is, casinos could ONLY be ON the water (either the Mississippi River or the Gulf of Mexico). That is to say the casinos had to float! I believe this requirement was a concession to the prudish element among Mississippi voters. The casinos provided a major boost for the Biloxi economy until Hurricane Katrina came along on August 30, 2005. Those floating casinos didn’t fare so well. Most were destroyed with some ending up on the other side of the highway. The silver lining was that this event led to the legalization of bricks and mortar casinos and a more robust and durable gaming industry in Biloxi. Google told me that the gaming industry in Mississippi generated $25 billion (that’s “billion” with a “b”) in tax revenue over the 25 years from legalization through 2017. The Biloxi city website states that there are currently eight first-class casino resorts in Biloxi.
Interesting side note: We have found the liquor laws to be more restrictive in the south than in other regions of the country (shocking, I know.) Prohibition was not abolished in Mississippi until 1966, the last state to do so.
Jimmy Buffett was born just up the road in Pascagoula, MS.
His first professional gig was at a nightclub in Biloxi. This is his song "Biloxi":
This is the Biloxi Bay Bridge spanning 1.9 miles east from Biloxi to Silver Springs, MS.
It was severely damaged by Katrina in 2005. Check out the extent of the damage here:
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/remembering-hurricane-katrina-photographs/
The rebuild, including expansion, was completed in 27 months. This compares favorably to the 24 years it took to replace the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after the Loma Prieta earthquake.
No, we don't have a drone. This is from the Biloxi Bay Bridge above.
Abandoned lighthouse
We took a short walk on a long pier...
There's gotta be a way off this island!
AND SHE STICKS IT!!!
(I expect Janell to ask me not to use this photo. If you are reading this it means that I exercised my editorial right to free speech. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me...)
We spent an afternoon wandering around Ocean Springs. Cute little town with a few shops and restaurants. Way more charming than "downtown" Biloxi to be honest with you. We found the Colonel in an awesome antique and curio shop (I only use the word "curio" once every 15 years) .
This is a double sided weather vane for pete's sake! How cool is that! Turns out that ALL of the original KFC's had one of these. Most were eventually blown off.... This one is from Nebraska, in great shape, and can be had for $1,900!
The rest of the story (thank you Paul Harvey) is this: Janell met my sister Mary when they both worked at KFC in Sacramento as teenagers. I later met Janell and the rest, as they say.... is HISTORY!
(A really romantic husband, who didn't appreciate the value of a buck, would have bought this for Janell at any price and figured out how to attach it to The Beast.)
A canvas mural on the wall in another nice shop (no curios in this one though - okay, twice...) Now THAT is a well trained dog! I may not know art but I know what I like...
When we get to a new town and I revisit my list of things to do there, and do a deeper dive so that we don't miss anything too interesting or cool, I always check for breweries (priorities?)
This was a decent one in Ocean Springs. Normally you'd get artfully posed IPA filled logo beer glasses and this sign in the background. At this brewery they gave us our beer in plain plastic cups because we said we were drinking outside. Next time.
You know you're in the deep south when the street is lined with a variety of confederate flags....
Biloxi is home to Beauvoir, the postwar home of Jeffferson Davis from 1876 until his death in 1889. The mansion has been restored and is open to visitors. It is a National Historic Landmark.
Adjacent to Beauvoir is the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library. The flags line the highway in front of the property. We did not visit either one.
"A strict compliance with the above is expected..."
Biloxi was REALLY ahead of it's time. This notice is from 1918!
Janell signed us up to donate blood while in Biloxi. She is so good about this; finding blood donation sites wherever we may be when eligible to donate again. This site was in a former Champs retail store in the Edgewater Mall.
Angry are we?
While packing up to move on to Orange Beach this fella seemingly wanted to come along. Janell heard a noise at the closed screen door and looked over to find him clinging to it by all four paws. He wasn't pleased when informed of our no pets policy.
