Some Biloxi background:
Biloxi, with a colorful history dating back more than 300 years, is the best-known city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and is the only city in the United States named Biloxi, after an Indian tribe explorers encountered when making landfall. Established in 1699 and one of the oldest settlements in the United States, Biloxi was the first permanent settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley and was the first capital of the Louisiana Territory. Biloxi, which was originally on a peninsula, is home to a multi-billion-dollar casino-resort industry where resorts offer ‘round-the-clock Las Vegas-style gaming, big-name entertainment, restaurants, shopping, first-class accommodations and top-flight golf courses. One of the resorts, the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, with 1,780 rooms, is the largest AAA Four Diamond resort on the Southeast coastline. Beauvoir, circa 1852, was the last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and is now a museum, Presidential Library and home to the Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier. The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, designed by word-renowned architect Frank Gehry, houses fabulous works of art by turn-of-the-century potter George E. Ohr, who billed himself as “the Mad Potter of Biloxi.”
Biloxi also hosts museums dedicated to Mardi Gras, the seafood industry as well as tours by land and sea. Biloxi is home to the world’s longest man-made sand beach, which stretches 26 miles along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Cities near Biloxi include Gulfport, Ocean Springs and D'Iberville. Biloxian Edward Barq Sr. invented the soft drink Barq’s Root B**r in Biloxi in 1898. Keesler Air Force Base was established in 1941 in Biloxi and today is the electronics training center for the Air Force, home to the second largest medical center in the Air Force and the world-famous Hurricane Hunters. Playwright Neil Simon chronicled his time as a young airman in Biloxi in “Biloxi Blues,” the award-winning Broadway play and movie. Biloxi also was the setting for John Grisham’s best-selling novel “The Runaway Jury.” Jimmy Buffett, who cut his musical teeth in Biloxi, immortalized the city in his rendition of the song “Biloxi.”
Edgewater Mall, the Mississippi Coast’s largest enclosed mall, pampers shoppers with more than one million square feet under its roof. The mall features more than 100 specialty stores, a food court, rock-climbing wall and four major department stores: Belk, Dillard’s JC Penny and Sears. Biloxi is the home to a deep-sea charter fishing fleet that offers half-day or multi-day fishing excursions into the Gulf of Mexico. Mary Mahoney’s Old French House Restaurant in Biloxi was once site of the Louisiana Territory headquarters. For more information about Biloxi, visit http://biloxi.ms.us.
