Retail Guide

West End District	Central District	East End District

Museums & Attractions

Biloxi has a rich 300 year history and the art, architecture, and culture that helped shape this community are highlighted in several area museums and attractions – many of which are located in the Main Street District. Whether you are here for a weekend getaway or a family vacation, you are sure to find an activity to fit each person’s interests!

Biloxi Lighthouse

Hwy 90 at Porter Avenue
Erected in 1848, the BiloxiLighthouse is reportedly the first cast metal lighthouse in the south. The light was civilian operated from 1848 to 1939, and is notable for its several female lightkeepers, including Maria Younghans, who tended the light for 53 years. In 1939, the U.S. Coast Guard assumed responsibility for the light’s operation. After being declared surplus property in 1968, the Biloxi Lighthouse was deeded to the City of Biloxi.

Phone: 228-435-6308; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: museums@biloxi.ms.us; Hours: Tours have been suspended due to on-going repair work for damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina.

Saenger Theatre

170 Reynoir Street
When constructed in 1929, the Biloxi Saenger Theatre was hailed as “gem of the Gulf Coast”. Originally host to early sound films, traveling shows and vaudeville, the Saenger Theatre is now a performing arts center for the Gulf Coast.

Phone: 228-435-6291; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: saenger@biloxi.ms.us; Please call for information on upcoming performances.

Beauvoir

Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, is the nation’s most comprehensive site dealing with Mississippi’s favorite son and confederate, Jefferson Davis. A National Historic Landmark, the complex includes the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, the restored antebellum home, the Confederate Museum and veterans cemetery on 51 landscaped acres fronting the Gulf of Mexico.

Because of extensive damages from Hurricane Katrina, Beauvoir is undergoing a major restoration and re-building effort.  All tours are suspended until repair work is completed.

Phone: 228-388-1313

Maritime And Seafood Industry Museum

The Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum which was located at 115 First Street was totally destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  Re-building plans are in the finalization process.  The Museum’s two Schooners, The Mike Sekul and The Glenn L. Swetman were not damaged and are operating daily from the Biloxi Schooner Pier facility on East Beach Blvd. (just west of Kuhn Street).  Please see the Museum’s website for the sailing schedules for the Schooners.

Phone: 228-435-6320; Web Site: www.maritimemuseum.org
E mail: schooner@maritimemuseum.org

Gift shop (Schooner Pier).

Old Brick House
622 Bayview Avenue

Overlooking the Back Bay, the Old Brick House is an example of the mingling of French colonial and American building traditions in Biloxi. The house sits on property once owned by Jean Baptiste Carquotte, who received a land grant from the Spanish government in 1784. Saved from neglect by Biloxi's garden clubs in the 1950s, the house is now owned by the City of Biloxi and operated as a historic house museum and community gathering place. Due to extensive damage received from Hurricane Katrina, the Old Brick House is undergoing restoration. All tours are suspended pending the completion of the restoration.

Phone: 228-435-6121; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail:
museums@biloxi.ms.us

The Ohr - O’keefe Museum Of Art

1596 Glenn L. Swetman Drive
The Ohr Gallery of this exciting visual arts museum houses the largest permanent collection of the works of George E. Ohr (1857-1917), the self-proclaimed “Mad Potter of Biloxi.” He claimed to be “unrivaled” and “unequaled” and was, by his own estimation, the “world’s greatest potter.” Despite his reputation for eccentricity, Ohr produced art pottery that will be appreciated for centuries. Ohr’s claim that there were “NO TWO ALIKE” is true. The thinness of the walls of his twisted clay forms illustrate George Ohr’s unrivaled technical skill.
Exhibits by regional and national artists rotate in the Lila Wallace and Jambalaya Galleries. Ohriginals Museum Store features books, educational toys, gifts and one-of-a-kind pottery and jewelry. Experience the “No Two Alike” phenomenon with Frank Gehry’s design for the new museum campus opening in early 2006.


Hours: Call 228-374-5547
For more information visit www.georgeohr.org or email infor@georgeohr.org

Mardi Gras Museum

119 Rue Magnolia
Come catch the Mardi Gras spirit! Located in the historic Magnolia Hotel, Biloxi’s Mardi Gras Museum traces the three hundred year history of the celebration of Mardi Gras on the Gulf Coast. On display are costumes, photographs and memorabilia of carnival celebrations along the coast. Due to heavy damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina, all tours have been suspended pending repair.

Phone: 228-435-6245; Web Site: www.biloxi.ms.us; E mail: museums@biloxi.ms.us