My big sister, Lucy, in 1949 at Biloxi lighthouse
The Mississippi Gulf Coast figures prominently in my family’s history since my father’s relatives are in southern Mississippi and Alabama. Also, as a poor Methodist preacher’s family in Illinois, about the only vacation we could afford when I was a kid was to head south in our old Buick, camp out with relatives, and then spend a week at the campgrounds the Methodist church maintained on the coast.
The original Biloxi seawall, now hidden beneath sand
In those days, there was no beach in Biloxi. There was simply an enormous seawall consisting of steps that one could walk down to be closer to the water to fish. Which step one chose depended on the tides. As a child of 4 and 5 I remember that close, black water as frightening, but my father managed to coax me down the steps by showing me how to use crab-nets baited with bacon. Here is a post card from that era showing the wall; the bit of sand you see in that card was the Gulf floor and was seldom visible.
Huge manmade beach covering the original seawall
These days, that magnificent seawall is covered by countless tons of white sand as seen above. I suppose I prefer the beach, but it seems a shame that that seawall is history. The sand was pumped onto the seawall in 1951 (see MS History for background on this and other Mississippi public works).
Famous Biloxi lighthouse
An indelible memory of that childhood time is the famous Biloxi lighthouse. Here are several good links on it. I’ll let you read about it for yourself.
- Biloxi Lighthouse
- Web Lighthouses
- Through the years
- Drawing
- early photo
- good vintage MS vintage postcards
- Lighthouses of the United States: Mississippi
The OTHER Biloxi lighthouse
West of the historical lighthouse, on a small promontory jutting out from the shore, there is another lighthouse, pictured above. I can find no mention of it anywhere! It appears to be a functional lighthouse, but it’s not listed among the three lighthouses in Mississippi. If anyone knows something about this one, I would enjoy learning about it.
Shrimp boat (singular!) heads out for the day
In those days, shrimping was huge on the Gulf Coast. It still exists, but not like it used to exist. It was already in serious decline because of all the cheap shrimp shipped in from Asian shrimp farms, then the catastrophic BP oil spill damned near dealt it a death blow. I hope it recovers.
A considerable distance out from Biloxi are a series of barrier islands (see Barrier Islands of Mississippi). One of our family treats in those days was to take a commercial boat out to Ship Island–one of those islands. Halfway out, the boat would stop and haul up nets of live oysters. (Vegans hold your ears!) The shells were cracked open for us and we downed them while they were, literally, still quivering.
Piers that once reached far out into the Gulf remain demolished
The Mississippi Gulf Coast has a long history of recovering from assaults from nature. It’s always bounced back, although sometimes it takes longer than others. The trauma of Hurricane Katrina is still evident. These pictures were taken just this past year. Notice the devastation that still exists both on the coast and inland.
Scarred landscape of Biloxi remains–buildings once stood where those blank squares are
But they’re slowly rebuilding.
One rebuilt pier
Part of the economic engine for that rebuilding is casino money; they were rebuilt first, of course. I don’t know what I think about the casinos. The Biloxi of my youth was poor, poor, poor, poor, poor–a sleepy little town on the water. Now there are jobs. And, people should be allowed to gamble if they wish. I don’t believe in legislating “morality,” ever! But, I, myself, don’t enjoy the casinos in Biloxi. (Vegas is another matter! That can be fun…if one doesn’t gamble.) The Biloxi casinos are full of people my age (old) obsessively frittering away their social security checks. Few are smiling. Mainly, I see grim futility. Here are a couple of links that speak to the issue of casinos on the Gulf Coast: here and here).
One of many casinos
Whether you’re into the casinos or just a new place to visit that’s a (long) day’s drive, Biloxi is only 9 hours away from Tampa. That’s really not that far. The casinos make for cheaper rooms, so that’s good. I highly recommend the trip and the experience.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Hilton
Thanks for the nice picture of Biloxi. Judy and I have wanted to drive up to New Orleans (where neither of us has ever been), and will make it a point to see Biloxi. I am not a gambler, but am most happy to take advantage of the amenities that gambling towns offer. And I am a big oyster-eater, which is another reason for the trip. Maybe mid-winter at the peak of the season. Keep up the fine work.
Newt
That’s an enjoyable road trip, Newt. In New Orleans, be sure to take the trolley (see this picture) out to the Garden District from downtown (still only a quarter I think…best deal in town!). While you’re out there, grab lunch at Joey K’s (http://www.joeyksrestaurant.com/. That’s a place locals eat. Affordable and extremely good. Their gumbo is my favorite.
The “other” lighthouse is the Broadwater Marina lighthouse. The marina and hotel were destroyed by Katrina. I think the hotel and marina were built in the late 1930′s. The marina had about 150 slips for mostly larger charter boats and yachts. The concrete scalloped slip covers were fairly picturesque. I was impressed how the hurricane wiped it all out and washedthe resident President Casino barge westward past the Coliseum and crushed the Holiday Inn.
The trolley down St Charles from Canal Street through the Garden district (it ends right in front of the Camelia Grill, a wonderful diner) is $1.50 and you have to have the right change! I grew up in Gulfport, so I loved reading your travelogue and looking at your photos! MANY thanks!
Claire, we currently have some family in Gulfport, too. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed reading about all that. I forgot to mention Florence and D’lo as towns I’ve got kin in. There’s several more Mississippi articles in the blog. One is http://inkwatu.com/2008/05/07/mississippi-greens/. Sadly, Cousin Don passed away this year.
Um, I just realized why your name sounds so familiar! My husband is the trombone teacher at USF – Tom Brantley! D’oh! Feeling a little stupid, but I came across your blog in reading about Brocato’s – never been and eager to try it.
Small world! Where in South Miss is your father’s family from?
Hi, Claire. Say hello to Tom for me! I think he would remember me. Not sure. He’d only been there a couple years before I retired. Hope you enjoyed Brocato’s! My dad’s family is from Laurel, Hurley, Star, Magee, Piney Woods, even some as far north as Jackson.
Hi Hilton, I recently took my family down to Biloxi this summer. We had a tight budget and with high gas prices, I simply chose Biloxi because it is the closest coastline to where we live. I had never been there and really had no idea what was there besides the ocean. We are beach go’ers and thats primarily what what we came to enjoy. The beaches are very nice, the water was very murky making swimming not so pleasant and snorkeling impossible. Is the water always like that? I did’nt know if it was due to the shallow waters throughout the sound, or the Mississippi river flooding that was occurring at that time, purhaps bringing muddy water into the sound. Anyways, My wife and kids were still happy to see the ocean and play. Me on the other hand, I fell in love with Biloxi, I find the uncrowded beaches, and small town feel outstanding. What I loved most was the fishing! I have never caught so many fish in my life. I fished early morning & evening on the new pier by the lighthouse and had a blast. I like the fact that the pier isn’t 35 feet from the surface of the water. You don’t need a lot of equipment. The people I met and fished by were very friendly, especially after I started offering them my catches. I never ran into any unfriendly people, even the goofy peddler that tried to sell me an old dirty watch (which he probably found on the beach) was nice when I told him no repeatedly. lol
I’m glad you enjoyed Biloxi. I love it, too. My gues is the water was murky because it’s so shallow where you were, or maybe there’d been a strong rain recently. That’ll do it too.