Mississippi... Only Missed a Couple Things

 Our first stop in Mississippi was the Hattiesburg Elk lodge.

Our Welcome Party

Our view from the patio. The Elk lodge owns about 2,500 acres, with an 80 acre lake. This side of the property is home to the approximately 100 RV sites, and the boat launches. The other side of the property is used for a summer camp they sponsor. This was a short stay on the way to Biloxi.

We have arrived at Davis Bayou, in Ocean Springs, just outside Biloxi.

The purpose of our visit to Biloxi was to see more friends that left San Diego a few years ago. While in Biloxi area we did some sightseeing.

Davis Bayou is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, stretching from Florida to Mississippi.

 The bayou area is the mixing point for the salt water of the gulf, and the fresh water from the rivers. There were opportunities to hike the bayou, however, some of them were closed due to some of the storms that passed through.

For the coast of Mississippi, Ship Island played a minor role in our history. Before we got our hands on it, the British and French had been there. The British used the island as a temporary base during the War of 1812. 

In 1816 Ship Island was not a part of the Corp of Engineers design for the protection of our coastal ports. It wasn't until after the annexation of Texas, in 1845, that a proposal was submitted to Congress regarding protection of the Mississippi coastline. In 1855, then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, remembered that the British used the island in 1814, when they made their attempt to attack New Orleans, he advocated for the building of a fortification. It wasn't until 1857 that a bill was signed to build the requested fortifications.

The building of the fort on Ship Island did not go smoothly, partially because of the winter storms during the winter of 1860. The second reason that slowed down construction... the Civil War. When Mississippi seceded, Confederate militia were sent to take over the island. While they were trying to fortify the island with cannons, they continued construction on the fort. The Confederates only held the island for a couple of months, before giving it over to the Union forces. The fort was completed in 1866, and only partially armed.

Model of Fort Massachusetts

Beginning in 1879-80, Ship Island was a quarantine station for ships known passengers known to have infectious diseases. At one time it was called Ellis Island of the South. The station remained active for 36 years, going into reserve status in 1916. Station workers were responsible for inspecting the ship and passengers for disease, and fumigating all incoming ships.

That is not the end of the story for the island. Originally the island was called chat sauvages, or wild cats, dubbed that by the French, because of the resident raccoons. For the longest time the island was known as Cat Island. During WWII the U.S. government trained dogs on the island.

Unfortunately the island is temporarily closed to visitors, maybe next time.

Our starting point in Biloxi, was the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is in one of the old mansions. Before entering the mansion, there is a sign talking about two hurricanes that ravaged the area, one of course was Katrina, the other was Camille.

Some of may you may not remember hurricane Camille, it happened in the late evening hours, 17 August 1969, and did considerable damage for its day... $1.5 billion, 131 dead, and missing. Compare that with hurricane Katrina, which hit on 29 August 2005, racking up $125 billion in damages, leaving 236 people dead, and 67 missing.

Model of the mansion, now Visitor Center.

Notice the pole on the right of the signs. The BLUE line represents the storm surge for hurricane Camille. That surge came in at 19 feet 5 inches. Hurricane Katrina is represented by the RED line, coming in at 22 feet; there were reports of waves that reached 34 feet.

Unfortunately this mansion sustained damage during hurricane Katrina, but was salvageable. Walking through the center provides lots of history of the area... so let's start at the beginning.

 Obviously, the Indians were here first. The first Europeans stopped at Ship Island in February of 1699, three day journey landed them on the mainland around what is now known as Biloxi. The French built a rapport and alliance with the Native Americans. With a variety of issues, causing difficulties, moving about the Gulf Coast in the beginning of the 18th century, the French moved their garrison back to Mobile.

With any new territory filled with soldiers and single settlers, there were few available women. So, in 1704 the French government sent 21 respectable girls, ranging from the ages of 14 to 18 (the peak marriageable age at the time), arriving on the ship Pelican. The girls were later known as the "Pelican Girls". Fear not, the French knew that 21 girls were not going to be enough to satisfy the guys. In 1721 they sent the ship Boleine, which contained 82 mademoiselles passengers. These ladies brought with them small trunks with their belongings; they were known as filles a la cassette (cassette girls), many were actually orphans.

In 1719, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Bienville, the French governor of Louisiana, and founder of New Orleans, moved the garrison to Fort Maurepas; in late 1720 he moved them to the Biloxi peninsula. The French Minister of Marine ordered the construction of a fort called Fort St. Louis, which was never completed, and by 1723 the French government was moved permanently to New Orleans. With the permanent move to New Orleans, more women were shipped to the anxious bachelors.

Seafood has been a mainstay of the residents of the Gulf area for thousands of years. During the Civil War it really became a necessity to live off the sea creatures, fishing close to the shores and bays, because the Union pretty much cut off everything else. Mullet was a mainstay, and has been, and still is referred to as Biloxi Bacon. You would have thunk that there was a great fishing industry blazing away at the coast, but it didn't really get going until around 1870, when the railroad linked Biloxi to other communities. With the new technologies in canning and ice making, product could be shipped long distances. By 1904 Biloxi was known as Seafood capitol of the World.

Before the seafood industry came into being, there was logging... who thinks of logging along the coast. From the early days of colonization, logs where sent downstream to ships in the bay, anchored at Ship Island, where they were shipped to points everywhere. This industry didn't fully develop until the 1830s, but by 1866 there were 30 sawmills operating near Biloxi.

The Mississippi long leaf pine was desirable for building wooden ships, from the masts to the decks. The forest yielded other valuable products such as: pitch, tar, rosin, pine gum, camphene, and turpentine, all derived from the sap or resin of the trees. By 1900 Mississippi lumber industry was booming, thanks to the railroad. The 20th century saw Mississippi rank third in the lumber industry, behind Washington and Louisiana.

It has always been intriguing to me how towns were named. An example here in Mississippi, is the town of Kiln. The town got its name through the kilns used to create huge piles of charcoal.

The area is proud of their military heritage. 

Lt. Samuel Keesler is was a Silver Medal Award recipient during WWI. He and his pilot were on a reconnaissance mission when they were attacked by the Germans. Lt. Keesler did manager to shoot down the leader of the German attack. He and Lt. Harold Riley were shot down, Lt. Keesler sustained fatal injuries. The duo was cited for "their resistance all the way to the ground." 

In 1941 the War Department announced that the Army Air Corps was going to establish a technical school in Biloxi. In June of 1941 Army Air Corps Station #8, Aviation Mechanics School, Biloxi Mississippi was activated. In August of '41, Army Air Corps Station #8 was re-designated as Keesler Army Airfield. 

Sgt. John Levitow is recognized as the lowest ranking airman to receive the Medal of Honor. He was the loadmaster on an AC-47 Spooky gunship. On a night mission, they were providing lighting, via flares, for the Army during a night assault. The plane sustained damage from anti-aircraft fire: a three foot hole in a wing, and 3,500 holes in the fuselage. The crew was shook up from the explosion.

During the explosion personnel were tossed around, one of them being a crewmember that was tossing flares out the back of the plane. Sgt. Levitow sustained 40 wounds to his back and legs, which did not stop him when he saw an active flare rolling around. With partial loss of feeling in his legs, he covered the flare and drug himself to the back of the plane, where he tossed out the flare, there by saving the plane and crew. One of the Air Force technical schools has a building named for him, as well as a healthcare facility in Connecticut.

Right outside the Visitor Center is the Biloxi Lighthouse. 

There is no visitor access to the lighthouse these days.

The lighthouse began operation in 1848, with the first lighthouse keeper, Marcellus Howard, earning $400.00 a year. The lighthouse had six keepers between 1848 and 1939. During the Civil War, the Confederate Lighthouse Commission continued to pay the keeper her salary while the lighthouse was dark. The third lighthouse keeper was appointed in 1866, moving from New York. In 1867 he died, and his wife took over, and remained as the keeper for 53 years; due to her advanced age, their daughter took her place. In 1926 the lighthouse was switched to electricity, replacing the kerosene lamps. By 1929 the last keeper was appointed to man the lighthouse. 1938 saw automation, and the retirement of the last Biloxi Lighthouse keeper; 1941, the lighthouse was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard, who decommissioned it inn 1967.

Next to Visitor Center was a fenced off area, turned out to be one of the oldest known cemeteries.

Known as Moran Site, investigations have dated the French colonial cemetery to the founding New Biloxi, between 1717 and 1722.

It was lunchtime, so we went to McElroy's Harbor House for lunch. It was a beautiful day, so we had lunch out on the patio.

Our uninvited guest for lunch. The seagulls were very forward in their approach to sharing our lunches. After we finished all we wanted, I set our plate to the side... in swooped the gulls to snatch the fried okra I had leftover.

After lunch we took a short drive to one of the Biloxi Elk lodges, almost on the waterfront.

One day we had lunch with our friends at at place called Slap Your Mama BBQ, but I guess there were some complaints about the name, it was change to Fat Bottom BBQ.

It was a good time with friends, and the food was very good too. From lunch we headed back to Ocean Springs to visit a couple of museums.

The first museum we stopped at was the Walter Anderson Museum. Walter was a renowned painter born in New Orleans, and lived out his later years in Ocean Springs.

In 1934, the city of Ocean Springs commissioned Walter to paint murals representing the Native American culture prior to the arrival of Europeans, and contemporary culture of 1934.

Walter loved to paint the environment around him, spending a lot of time on Horn Island, painting the animals around him.

Even in death he treated the animals with respect.

The above photos are the Little Room from Walter's cottage, and moved to the museum in 1990. The murals represent a day on the gulf coast, from sunrise to sunset. The family didn't even know that he had painted murals on the walls. They were discovered when his widow, Sissy, broke the lock off the door. The flower on the ceiling is a zinnia, which he described as the most "explosive" of flowers.

Walter's form of transportation to Horn Island was via boat.

He found this boat washed ashore, in pieces, on Horn Island; he pieced it back together. At one time the family presented him a motor for the boat... eventually he tossed the motor into Mississippi Sound... he preferred to row the 12 miles to the island.

This is a one of a kind Chesty Horse. Walter Anderson found it tedious putting on the flaming mane and tail... so it was never done again. Shearwater Pottery still makes the Chesty Horse... without mane and tail.

The museum was well worth the trip and time. 

Visit: https://www.walterandersonmuseum.org.

Even nature had some art for us to enjoy... I don't think they're edible.

Our last stop for the day was back in Biloxi, to the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, which can be visited at: https://georgeohr.org.

Their exhibits ranged from an old home, to modern buildings.

The main pods are specific exhibits, by single artists. The lower hall contained a lot of Ohr's pottery. 

In the first exhibit hall, there were several other artists on exhibition as well.

Entitled Heaven, Earth, Hell, by Leroy Almon.

Entitled The Comfort of Moses and the Ten Commandments, by Richard Dial.

Imaginative minds at work. Let's head over to the pods for more imagination at work.

This is the work of an avid gardener and sculpture, Bradley Sabin, entitled Botanica.

This sculpture explores a metaphorical equation between the care and time needed to have a flourishing garden and that required for human relationships, they both require nurturing and protection to thrive.

The next pod was an exhibit by Hee Joo Yang, called The Caves.

Ms. Yang is from Seoul, South Korea, creating ceramic sculptures that explore time, space, and emotional expression. Through her abstract work, she tries to arouse curiosity and tell stories to audiences, through visualization of the invisible. 

This suspended ceramic sculpture emits sounds. She is partially deaf, and created this work to illustrate how she experiences sound through her deaf ear. What she does is record everyday sounds, and manipulate them using her non-deaf ear.

The old house that is part of the museum, was built back in 1887, it is now used to explain the cultural history of the black community during years of segregation to present.

It was fun in Biloxi, and there was more to see on another trip to the coast. From Mississippi, we head to through Alabama, to Tennessee.