The Mississippi Gulf Coast
Biloxi, Gulfport, Longbeach, and Bay St. Lewis
January 28, February 2, 1998
Having pulled out of Vicksburg, we traveled south catching up with US 90 and then
east toward Biloxi. We stopped at the Casino Magic RV campground in Bay St. Lewis.
For the next several days we would travel up and down the coast checking out the Casinos, there are
13 of them, but more on that later.
The first and most interesting of all items in this
area is "Yes Virginia, there is a beach in Biloxi", Twenty eight miles of it, all man made
and perfect in every respect, complete with planted grasses, trees and birds,
with US 90 running the full 28 miles as a buffer
between the beach and the beautiful antebellum
and Greek revivalist pre-civil war summer homes, as this area was the place to be prior to the
war. Much of its wealth dissipated with the rest of the South during reconstruction.
But now with its pristine beach beckoning to the
masses of sun lovers, the tourist industry
is quickly surpassing everything else in the area; as is evident by the elegant restaurants
that populate the coast line such as Chimney's where the waitress' are so efficient, they
even take your picture on the balcony overlooking the Gulf.
The coast line at Biloxi, which is the largest and center of the Gulf coast region, is
marked by the famous Biloxi light house. This beauteous landmark is now locked in the median strip
between the east and west bound lanes of US 90. It is dominated by the Casinos, with each trying to
outdo the other in the continual competition for the gambling dollars that flow in from the locals and
tourists desiring the gaming life.
Supporting this activity, are a number of other activities such as amusement parks, golf courses
and the Marine Life Oceanarium, which maintains a large variety of marine life that is on display
along with a show in three parts, Dolphins, sea lion training, and a scuba diver in a reef tank
containing turtles and a saw nose shark.
Now, ask any died-in-the-wool Mississippian, "Who was Jefferson Davis", and you will most
assuredly get an instant answer that he was the "First President of the Confederacy", of
course he was also the last, and only President. Although born in Kentucky, he moved to
Mississippi when he was three.
He grew, married and practiced law in Natchez, (see the
web-pages for Natchez). At the creation of the Confederate States of America, he was elected
as the first president and held office until the demise of the Confederacy in 1865. Jefferson
Davis was incarcerated for many months after the war then released. He has the distinction
of being the only person denied citizenship back into the Union after the war, and died as
"a man without a country". His relationship to the Gulf coast, is that after the war, he and
his family were accepted as guests at the summer home known as Beauvior located just outside
Biloxi, on US 90.
With all his
children dying early, he lived
on at Beauvior to write The Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government"
which his wife, Varina, inscribed as he told it. He often would sit in the extended garden in the
rear of the property which is bordered by a bayou. After his death and with Beauvoir now owned by
Davis' his wife deeded the house and grounds as a retirement home for Confederate soldiers
and their wives,
for as long as was necessary and then to be converted into a shrine to her husband, for which
it stands today. A cemetery in the rear contains over 800 graves of those who spent their last
days at the home.