4 Jan 2019 - Sunshine!! Biloxi Lighthouse, Pier, Visitor Center, Maritime Industry & Seafood Museum

4 Jan 2019
Woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning but a bit chilly.  That's OK!  Better than rain and fog.  After a quick breakfast we headed down towards Highway 90 better known as Beach Blvd.  Yes, there actually is a Gulf out there!  First time we've seen the water now that the rain and fog have cleared.  We drove east and found the Biloxi Lighthouse. 

There is a large parking lot on the beach at the Biloxi Lighthouse Pier, and the lighthouse is actually right there in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 90.  The Visitor Center is on the north side of Highway 90 at the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was closed because it is apparently only open from 0900-0930 hrs daily, so after we parked and snapped a couple pictures of the lighthouse from a distance and then headed over to the visitor center.

Inside the visitor center is a small museum and a gift shop.  We toured the museum and thoroughly enjoyed it.  They have displays that reflect Biloxi's history, the lighthouse, the beach area, etc.  We also watched a video about how hurricane Katrina damaged the lighthouse.

A beautiful painting of the lighthouse

One of the museum displays

A picture of the lighthouse being repaired after Hurricane Katrina.  14 months and $400,000 later it was done!

One of the many markers visible along the Gulf Coast that shows the storm surge height from Katrina.  We are up here quite a ways from the beach, so the picture here does not do it justice.  The storm surge was 22 ft above mean sea level here with waves cresting at 34.1 ft.  

Holly bushes surround the visitor center.

We will get into more detail on the lighthouse in tomorrow's blog post when Doreen is able to get inside and climb it!

We finished up in the museum and visitor center, and then headed back across Highway 90 to check out the Biloxi Lighthouse Pier and beach areas. 

Looking through the end of the pier back towards the beach.  You can see the lighthouse with the visitor center behind it.

One of the locals checking us out.

Looking west from the pier onto Biloxi Beach.  Cool, windy day and no one was here.

Looking east from the pier.  A couple folks with metal detectors out there walking the beach and the casinos in the background.

It was too windy and cold to be out there too long so we hopped back in the truck and drove east on Highway 90 past the casino's.  The entire area just west of the Ocean Springs bridge is now casinos.  None of them were here when I was down here.  

Just past the casinos before we got to the Ocean Springs bridge we turned north to an area that used to be a Coast Guard Station.  It was wiped out by Katrina, but they built a Maritime Industry and Seafood Museum there. 

The massive three story building educational displays that provide history on Biloxi's maritime and seafood industries.  It was very interesting!!

A bell that was removed from a buoy.  I had no idea they were that large!

 

This is the fifth order Fresnel lens that had been hidden during the Civil War.  It was recovered in 1866.

Artifacts from the USS Biloxi

A wooden sailing vessel restored

1960 Sports-Craft Adventurer, also beautifully restored

A display on fishing charters, a big industry here.

Oyster dredging apparatus

Crabbing

Chief at the helm LOL!

Oystering industry

The knives they use to open the oysters and remove the meat

Oyster tongs - how they used to harvest oysters by hand

Canning machine 

Many ship displays.  This is a shrimp boat.

1979 Lapeyre shrimp peeling machine.  Can peel 1000 lbs of shrimp per hour.

Boat building, another large industry in the area.

A shrimp net, lowered into the water by the long arms on the shrimp boats

The Golden Fisherman memorial - 'casting his net into eternity'.  A tribute to those who dedicated their lives to the maritime and seafood industries in the Biloxi area.

The museum also had a room dedicated to the history of hurricanes that have impacted the Biloxi areas.  One of them, Hurricane Camille, struck in August 1969, a few years before I attended Air Force electronics school down here.  The damage was still very visible in 1973.  Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005 and wreaked havoc all they way along the Gulf Coast including New Orleans and Biloxi areas.

We watched a movie about Katrina for over 30 minutes and then left the museum and headed back west towards the FamCamp. 

We stopped at a souvenir shop Doreen had read about.     

Notice how all of these structures are built high off the ground.  Most have elevators, ramps or stairs for the customers to access them.

It was, without a doubt, one of the largest souvenir shops I have ever seen!

Doreen was amazed at the selection of lighthouse souvenirs!

This one caught my eye!

Next door there was a seafood restaurant so we had a late lunch there.  Back to the RV for a while and then Doreen had a hair appointment at the Base Exchange on Keesler.

That's it for today (that was enough!).  Tomorrow we visit the lighthouse at 0900 hrs and then back to Charlie and Elaine's for lunch!