Living Our Dream

Jefferson College

Vidalia, LA - Events of Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Jefferson College was incorporated by the first General Assembly of the Mississippi Territory in 1802 in the small town of Washington, which is about 5 miles east of Natchez. Washington is the same town we talked about in our last post when we wrote about the slave market at Forks of the Road. One of the roads at the intersection where the market was located led to Washington.

The historic college is open to the public for self-guided tours, so we decided to drive over to check the place out, especially since admission is free.

The college was named for Thomas Jefferson, who was President of the United States when the school was first chartered. After several years of financial difficulties, the college transformed itself into an a preparatory school in 1811.

Enrollment fluctuated over the years prior to the Civil War from only 11 students in 1811 to a high of 98 in 1830, but it usually ran around 50. Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederate States of America, lived in Mississippi for a time as a youth and attended Jefferson College in 1818 at age 10.

Jefferson Davis as a young man

The school was forced to close in 1863 because of the Civil War. It reopened in 1866, again as a prep school. In 1893, Jefferson College became a military prep school and changed its name to Jefferson Military School. Due to falling enrollment, mostly as a result of negative reaction to the Vietnam War, the school closed in 1964.

The historic college was restored by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History which maintains the building and grounds today. In addition to being open for tours, they have numerous special events such as a Civil War reenactment, vintage baseball games, summer camp, and various activities for school groups.

The East Wing (on the right in the photo below), which was built in 1819, is the oldest remaining building. It was a multi-purpose building that contained classrooms, offices, and housing for faculty and students. The West Wing was built in 1839 housed the dining hall and offices.

East Wing (right) and West Wing

Dining hall in the West Wing

Behind the East and West Wings are two kitchens that were built in 1839.

Two kitchen buildings provided space for cooking and storing food supplies

To the right of the East Wing is Raymond Hall. It is a dormitory built in 1915 as a result of increased enrollment due to the military program that was started around 1893.

Raymond Hall

The visitor center, which was also a dorm for cadets, was built in 1931. Today, it has photos and displays about the history of the college. There is one room set up as dorm room.

Cadets' dorm room

Jefferson College has been the site for the filming of several movies in its later years. The first was Horse Soldiers starring John Wayne filmed in 1959 while the school was still operating. There is a year book from the college on the table in the dorm room open to a page with pictures of John Wayne and other members of the movie cast. There is a photo of John Wayne with some of the students in the lower right and telegram containing a Christmas greeting from John Wayne to the students in the upper left.

Year book page with pictures of the making of the movie Horse Soldiers

There were several other movies made at Jefferson College after it closed including Huckleberry Finn (1973), North and South (1985 TV mini series), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1992). Proceeds from the movies helped fund restoration efforts.

Adjacent to the college grounds is the college president's house. It was built in 1835 and originally belonged to the town's physician. It was purchased by the school in 1842. Today, it is privately owned. If you look closely, you will see a window air conditioner and a TV satellite dish.

College President's house

We talked in our last post about slaves being brought down Natchez Trace from Virginia. Since the terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway lies between Natchez and Washington, we took a little detour on our way back to the motor home to drive up the parkway a short distance. Natchez Trace was a game trail, an Indian trail, and the trail used by keelboat and flatboat men in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The boatmen would float their boats loaded with cargo down the Mississippi River to Natchez or New Orleans where they would sell the cargo and sell the boats for lumber. They would then travel back up Natchez Trace on foot or on horseback to their homes in Kentucky and Ohio.

Construction of a two-lane parkway that follows the approximate route of the Old Natchez Trace was begun in the 1930s. The 444-mile long Natchez Trace Parkway runs from Natchez to just south of Nashville. It has gentle hills and curves, no traffic lights, no stop signs, and access is somewhat limited. Commercial traffic is not allowed (RVs are permitted), the speed limit is 50 mph, and there is usually little traffic. All that coupled with all the trees and grassy areas lining the road make for a very pleasant drive. On nice weekends, however, you may need to watch for bicycles.

Natchez Trace Parkway is a very pleasant drive.

There are numerous locations of historical interest along the parkway where you can pull off. These include many places where you can still see Old Natchez Trace.

Old Natchez Trace

As we mentioned, Natchez Trace has been used by wildlife, Indians, boatmen, and slaves. The Trace was also designated a postal road by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801 for the delivery of mail between Nashville and Natchez, and the Trace was used as a military road following the War of 1812. With the advent of steam power for both steamboats and railroads in the 1820 and 1830s, use of the Trace declined. An old photograph at one of the roadside stops shows how parts of the road had become sunken after so many years of use.

Old photo of Natchez Trace

We only went a few miles north on Natchez Trace Parkway before turning around. It was after 1:00 PM, and we were getting hungry, so we headed back to the motor home after a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few items.

On Friday, we pulled out of Riverside RV in Vidalia and headed north. We'll tell you all about where we went in our next post.

Rosalie Mansion

Vidalia, LA - Events of Monday, June 11, 2012

Rosalie Mansion is yet another of the homes in Natchez belonging to a wealthy planter. It was built by Peter Little, who was born in our old home town of Pittsburgh and came to Natchez in 1798 at age 17.

Peter Little was an entrepreneur. He found an old boat in the river, and from it built a steam-powered circular saw and opened the first sawmill in the area. He gathered enough wealth to purchase thousands of acres of land in Louisiana which he used to grow cotton.

Peter Little bought an entire block of land in the city of Natchez that included part of the site on the bluff above the Mississippi River where Fort Rosalie once stood. Fort Rosalie, from which Little took the name for his new home, was built by the French in 1716. The Fort was captured by the Natchez Indians in 1729, and the fort was left in ruins when the French finally ousted the Indians in 1731.

Construction of Rosalie Mansion was started in 1820. Like Melrose that we saw a couple of days prior, it is built in the Greek-revival style.

Rosalie Mansion

Front entrance

When Rosalie was completed in 1823, Peter Little and his wife, Eliza, moved in. Peter and Eliza never had any children of their own, but they did have foster children. They also raised Peter's niece after his sister died. Eliza died in 1853 of yellow fever. When Peter died two years later, he would have left Rosalie to his niece, but he died without a proper will forcing an auction of the estate.

Andrew Wilson and his wife acquired the house in 1857. All the furniture belonging to Peter and Eliza Little was dispersed at the time of the sale, so Rosalie is displayed with the furnishings that belonged to the Wilsons. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, photography is not permitted inside the home. However, there are good photos of the interior on the Rosalie web site. Click here to see those photos.

The primary "claim to fame" of Rosalie is that it has what is considered by many to be the largest and best collection of Belter furniture under one roof. John Henry Belter was a German immigrant who settled in New York City and became a furniture maker in the mid 1800s. Belter developed a process of laminating wood to make furniture, and his furniture is highly sought after today. There are 20 pieces of Belter furniture at Rosalie.

Shortly after Natchez surrendered to the Union forces, General Grant set up headquarters in Rosalie under the command of General Walter Gresham. General Gresham took the Belter furniture and other fragile pieces to the attic for protection, and he allowed the Wilsons to remain in the house in two of the upstairs bedrooms.

Like the Littles, the Wilsons never had children; but also like the Littles, the Wilsons had numerous foster children. They were especially close to one of the girls by the name of Fannie whom they considered to be their true daughter.

Fannie married, inherited Rosalie, and lived there with her husband and their 6 children. In the 1930s, two of Fannie's unmarried daughters were still living in Rosalie, but they were struggling to make ends meet. They were forced to sell some furniture and a couple of the chandeliers from the house to pay their taxes. In 1938, the sisters sold Rosalie to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) with the provision they would be allowed to live in the house until their deaths. Miss Annie, the second of the sisters, died in 1958 at age 101.

As was the case with most homes of the period, Rosalie had a separate kitchen to help prevent fires. The kitchen was located in the two-story brick building behind the house. Servants quarters were on the second floor. Meals prepared in the kitchen were carried through the lattice-covered walkway and handed through the dining room window to servants inside.

Rosalie kitchen with covered walkway to the dining room

Also behind the house are gardens that combine flowers and vegetables.

Gardens behind Rosalie Mansion

Some of the flowers at Rosalie (l to r: honeysuckle vine, thunbergia vine, daylily

The lawn to the west of the house overlooks the Mississippi River. There are also views of the river from the second floor of the home.

A gate beside the house leads to a large lawn.

Rosalie overlooks the Mississippi River

Heading back toward the house from the overlook

After touring Rosalie, we headed to the William Johnson House, which is a few blocks away. William Johnson was born a slave, but was freed by his owner in 1820 at age 11. Upon gaining his freedom, he took the name of his former owner, who was also probably his father. Today, the house Johnson built in downtown Natchez is owned and operated by the National Park service. Admission is free.

William Johnson House

Downstairs, there are information panels detailing Johnson's life. Johnson kept a diary from about 1835 until his death in 1851, so much is known about him and about how he prospered as a free black man in the pre-Civil War South.

The young Johnson learned the barber trade from his brother-in-law and opened his own business in Port Gibson, MS north of Natchez. In 1830, he returned to Natchez and bought his brother-in-law's business for $300. In 1840, Johnson built a brick structure in downtown Natchez using bricks salvaged from buildings destroyed by a tornado in Natchez that same year. He lived on the upper story.

William Johnson became a very successful business man. He became a prominent member of the black community and was even well respected by whites. He owned several buildings in Natchez, 2,000 acres of land south of town, and 16 slaves.

William Johnson was shot to death in 1851 by a neighbor in a land dispute.

The largest slave market in the South was in New Orleans, and the second largest was in Natchez. The Natchez market, which was called Forks of the Road, was located at the intersection of Washington and Liberty Roads about a mile east of town. After leaving the Johnson House, we drove out to Forks of the Road to have a look around.

There is a grassy strip with several plaques describing the slave trade.

Forks of the Road used to be the second largest slave market.

Washington Road linked Natchez with the town of Washington and with Natchez Trace. We'll have more about Washington and about Natchez Trace in our next post. Slave traders used to march groups of slaves all the way from Virginia. They traveled down Natchez Trace to the city of Natchez. There was a great demand for slaves in the South, especially around Natchez with its proliferation of cotton plantations.

The life of slaves was hard to say the least. They were worked from sunrise to sunset 6 days a week. If they didn't perform up to expectations (which were usually set very high), they were often beaten. Family members could be sold or hired out ripping families apart. Margery just read the book, Twelve Years a Slave, by Solomon Northrup. An educated free man living in New York, he was tricked, drugged, and abducted only to be sold as a slave and transported to the Red River area of Louisiana. His first-person narrative gives unique and articulate insight into the life of slaves during the antebellum era. It's a worthy read.

When Natchez fell to Union forces in 1863, slaves ran away and congregated at Forks of the Road looking to the Union for protection. Many able-bodied males were forced to join the Union Army.

After the war, the slaves were free; but they had no education, no money, and no jobs. As we learned when we visited Frogmore Plantation, many former slaves turned to sharecropping.

From Forks of the Road, we headed back toward town where we stopped for a late lunch a second time at Pig Out Inn. This time, we split a pulled pork and a beef brisket combo dinner. The brisket was as smokey and as juicy as the pork, but we liked the pork just slightly better. Paul tried the corn and black bean salad for one of his sides. It was excellent.

Pulled pork and beef brisket combo dinners at Pig Out Inn

With our bellies full, we headed back to the motor home to relax. In other words, we both took a nap. There is still more in the Vidalia and Natchez area, so stay tuned.

Longwood

Vidalia, LA - Events of Thursday, June 7, 2012

Longwood is the suburban estate near Natchez that once belonged to the Haller Nutt family. The most interesting feature of Longwood is its octagonal shape and its Oriental-style design. It is topped by an onion-shaped, byzantine-style dome.

Longwood

Haller Nutt was another wealthy planter who had cotton plantations in the lowlands in Louisiana. Haller and his wife, Julia, already owned a nice Federal-style home on the 80-acre site where Longwood now stands, but Haller wanted to build his wife her dream home. In 1859, Nutt contracted with Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan to design and build the new house. The house would have had 30,000 square feet of living space and over 30 rooms, but the architect and his workmen fled back to Philadelphia when the Civil War broke out in 1861 leaving only the exterior shell completed.

Nutt used local workers to complete the basement floor of the house so he and his family could move in. Haller Nutt died of pneumonia in 1864, and the financial pressures brought on by the Civil War prevented Julia from ever completing the upper floors even after the war was over.

Julia raised her children in the finished basement of Longwood and lived there herself until her death in 1897. Descendants of the Nutt family lived in the house until the 1960s. A foundation bought the house in the 1960s and presented it to the Pilgrimage Garden Club of Natchez two years later with the stipulation it was never to be finished.

The tour of Longwood starts in the basement. In the photo below, the basement level of the home is the level with the brown stucco walls, and the level with the white railing is the main floor. The basement is partly above ground (as indicated by the dark retaining wall in the background to the left in the photo below), so there are windows that brought in a good bit of light. The 10,000-square foot basement was originally intended to be the location of Mr. Nutt's office, his billiard room, his smoking room, and Mrs. Nutt's sewing room. Instead, it became the location of their parlor, dining room, and bedrooms.

The basement level is partly above ground.

The basement of the house contains many pieces of furniture, artwork and household items original to the house. Photography isn't permitted on the first floor. Suffice to say the house is comfortably furnished, but it not as opulent as Melrose that we saw the day before. Many pieces of furniture that were ordered for the house by the Nutts never arrived because of the war. The first floor of Longwood is furnished with pieces that came from some of the plantation houses over in Louisiana owned by the Nutts and from the home of Julia's parents.

Fortunately, photography is permitted in the upper, unfinished portion of the house. That was the part of the tour that was most fascinating because you can see construction details that are normally hidden, and you can use your imagination to envision how the house would have looked had it been completed.

The upper stories have an opening in the center that goes all the way up to the onion-shaped dome. There were to have been mirrors near the windows below the dome to direct sunlight down into the home to provide light during the day. An observatory was planned for the top floor. Parlors, drawing rooms and the dining room would have been on the main floor, and bedrooms would have been on the second and third floors.

The center of the home is open all the way up to the dome.

Bricks for the walls were all made on site. All the walls are load-bearing and the ones on the lower floors are 1½ to 2 feet thick. The interior walls would have been plastered.

On the main floor, there are recesses in the brickwork where statues would have been displayed. A temporary stairway (left) stands where the grand staircase would have been.

Recesses in the walls would have been used to display statues.

There are a number of items left behind by the workers like nail kegs, miter boxes, drill templates, a hod carrier used to carry bricks, and cans that probably once held turpentine.

Items left at Longwood by the builders

The upstairs portion of the house became a repository for unwanted household items. The boxes to the left are old packing crates, and the round object at the bottom of the photo is an old bathtub. The bather would have sat on the seat on the rim with his or her feet in the recess in the bottom. Servants would have poured water over the bather. A soap holder is on the rim to the right.

Unwanted items stored in the unfinished upstairs area

The crate from the piano that we saw during our tour of the finished basement is still there after over 150 years.

150-year old piano crate

The onion dome is topped by a tall spire. The original spire was made from pine and had started to deteriorate. The old spire was replaced in the not too distant past by one made from fiberglass. The old, pine spire along with the parts of the mold that were used to make the new spire are on display in what was to have been a family parlor.

Old roof-top spire and parts of the mold used to make new spire

New fiberglass spire

Behind the house are the servants quarters. Since Longwood was located near the city, the servants quarters were much nicer in appearance than the rough-sawn wood houses we saw at Frogmore.

Servants quarters

Our tour of Longwood was fascinating. Paul couldn't help trying to imagine how spectacular Longwood would have been had it been completed.

On our way back to the motor home after our tour of Longwood, we stopped in downtown Natchez at a barbecue joint called the Pig Out Inn for lunch. 

Pig Out Inn

You can tell from the name of the restaurant they don't take themselves too seriously. The statue of the pig outside is further confirmation of that.

Pig Out Inn mascot

The Pig Out Inn has pork, beef brisket, chicken, turkey, hot sausage and sloppy joe sandwiches that range in price from $4 for the sloppy joe to $5.75 for the brisket. Sides are $1.75, and there is a sandwich combo that includes two sides and a drink for $10. However, we decided to have pulled pork dinner plates that included two sides without a drink for $10.50.

Paul with his pulled pork dinner

We mentioned the Pig Out Inn doesn't take themselves too seriously, but they do take their barbecue seriously. It was excellent. The pork was nice and smokey, moist, and tender. The barbecue sauce was outstanding - thick, rich, and a perfect blend of sweet and tart. It was the first time we encountered the squeeze bottle of barbecue sauce being served hot.

There is still more to see and do in the Vidalia-Natchez area, so look for our next post.

Melrose Estate

Vidalia, MS - Events of Wednesday, June 6, 2012

In our last post, we explained that most of the plantations in this area were located in the lowlands on the Louisiana side on the Mississippi and that most of the land owners had their permanent homes in and around the city of Natchez, which was on high ground and protected from flooding. Melrose Estate is one of the many homes in the Natchez area that belonged to a wealthy planter. It is located a little to the east of downtown Natchez and was built over the period of several years beginning in 1841 by John McMurran who was a lawyer, state senator and plantation owner.

Melrose was a 132-acre suburban estate. It is built in the Greek Revival-style, and it was considered by many to be the finest home in the Natchez area.

Melrose Estate

Melrose is owned and operated by the National Park Service. Admission to the grounds is free, and tours of the home are $10 ($5 for seniors). Since there is already a 50% senior discount on the Melrose tour, there is no further discount with the America the Beautiful Pass.

There are two similar outbuildings behind the main house. The one that used to be the kitchen is now the visitor center. The tour started in the other outbuilding that used to be the laundry.

The outbuilding that was the kitchen is now the visitor center.

Our tour was conducted by a Gulf War veteran by the name of Steve who has two masters degrees - one in history and one in education. Needless to say, the tour was outstanding. Although Steve is originally from Michigan, he has lived in the South most of his life. He has only been at Melrose for about 18 months, but Steve already has such a mastery and understanding of the facts about Melrose and about Natchez that it almost seems like he has lived there all his life.

Margery and Steve Don, our excellent tour guide

We started out learning about the history of the area, including events of the Civil War as it relates to the Natchez area. Natchez surrendered with little struggle to Union forces fairly early in the war after the fall of New Orleans in 1862. Therefore, all but one of the many homes of the wealthy planters survived the war.

McMurran, who was from Pennsylvania, furnished Melrose with fine furniture from Philadelphia and Boston. Many of the pieces in the home today were donated by McMurran heirs and are original to the house. Photography is permitted providing you do not use a flash.

The first floor of the house is extravagantly decorated and lavishly furnished because that's where the McMurrans would have entertained guests, and they wanted their guests to be impressed. 

Melrose Estate parlor

An interesting piece of furniture on display in the parlor was a game table with chairs that swivel 360º called a 'revolving sofa.' The table itself is also removable.

Revolving sofa with game table.

Melrose Estate dining room

The carved, wooden fan hanging over the table is called a punkah. It was made in India. A slave would have stood off in the corner pulling a rope to keep the fan moving to help keep diners cool and to shoo flies away from the food.

The second floor of the house where the bedrooms are located is not quite as ornately decorated as the first floor, but it is still fairly lavish even by today's standards.

Master bedroom at Melrose Estate

There were intended to be additional bedrooms on the third floor of the house, but they were never needed. The third floor remains unfinished and was only used for storage.

Melrose is currently undergoing a renovation project that has been in progress for three years. There is scaffolding here and there, and a few of the rooms in the house are closed to visitors. The project ran over budget and has been at a standstill for the last 8 months awaiting approval of additional funds. That may reportedly happen soon.

After we finished the tour, we roamed the grounds. Behind the house are a stable, a carriage house, a few smaller outbuildings, and slave quarters.

Slave quarters at Melrose

Several slaves also lived above the kitchen and above the laundry. Slaves who lived at Melrose would have been domestic slaves who tended to the needs of the McMurran family by taking care of the gardens, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the horses, and doing laundry.

The brochure for Melrose talks about the garden, but it looks like the garden may have fallen victim to budget shortages. Even though there were only a few flowers blooming, the garden was very serene under the welcome shade of the magnolias.

The garden at Melrose

The garden at Melrose

Gardenias and hydrangeas were blooming at Melrose

Our tour of Melrose was very interesting. We learned a lot about the estate, about the Civil War and about slavery. There is a lot more to come from the Vidalia-Natchez area. Stay tuned.

Biloxi, MS Part II: Shrimping Trip

Biloxi, MS

The Gulf Coast area around Biloxi and Gulfport has a long heritage in commercial fishing. This area is known for its shrimp, so when we found out about the Biloxi Shrimping Trip, we knew we had to go.

The boat is a small excursion boat rather than a real shrimp boat, but it is fitted with a winch and a small trawl net at the stern.

The shrimping cruise takes place in Misissippi Sound. The area off the coast of Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico has a string of relatively small, widely-spaced barrier islands that are located 7 to 12 miles offshore. Because the islands are so small and far away, we tend to think of Biloxi as being located directly on the Gulf of Mexico. However, the water behind the barrier islands is known as Mississippi Sound.

There is one barrier island that is located less than half a mile offshore at its closest point, and that is Deer Island. The shrimping trip takes place only a couple hundred yards offshore in the protected water between the marina and Deer Island, which is shown in the photo below.

As the name suggests, Deer Island was once home to numerous deer. The first inhabitants of the area, the Biloxi Indians, used to hunt on the island.

As we left the marina, the captain started to explain how trawl nets work. The nets are dragged along the bottom, which is where shrimp tend to live. As we got a little farther out into the sound, the captain began deploying the net. The two flat objects hanging under the winch in the photo below are the trawl boards. These are attached near the opening of the net, and when dragged through the water, the trawl boards are mounted in such a way that they keep the mouth of the net open as they plane through the water.

Because shrimp live on or near the bottom, the yield can be increased by dragging a chain along the bottom ahead of the opening of the net.

Each spring, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources determines the starting date of the shrimping season in Mississippi waters. Shrimp must reach the minimum legal size of 68 shrimp per pound for the season to start. The usual date for Mississippi is around June 1, but it can vary. The season usually lasts until the end of December.

After we trawled for about half an hour, the captain began reeling in the net. As soon as the net broke the surface, we began to attract gulls.

The black rope to the left in the photo below is called the lazy line. It is attached to the bottom of the net and makes it possible to pull up the catch and release it from the bottom of the net without having to reel the whole net in.

The next photo shows our catch. One of the problems with a trawl is it is not selective. It will catch anything near the bottom in it's path. The shrimp are relatively small and brown-colored. There also were numerous varieties of fish in our catch. The large, round fish is a sting ray.

The captain carefully held the tail where the stinger is located so it wouldn't whip around while he held the ray up for photos.

With the sting ray out of the way, we could better see the rest of the catch. The captain went through all the catch and held up an example of each type of fish we caught. The captain then did what many commercial fishermen do - he stood aside and let the gulls come aboard. Gulls prefer fish to shrimp, and they'll clean out the fish first and leave the shrimp behind.

There are three varieties of shrimp in this area - pink, brown and white. The pinks are the predominant variety in the waters off Florida, and there aren't that many here. Browns are by far the most common variety. However, we were lucky enough to have caught a white shrimp because they are bigger and it was easier to see as the captain described it. White shrimp are actually brown, and they are named for light areas on the tip of the tail.

As we headed back to the marina, we were overtaken by a real shrimp boat. Since the Mississippi season hadn't started yet, we're guessing he was either over to the west off Louisiana where the season usually starts earlier or farther out in the Gulf in international waters.

It was almost 3:00 PM when we got off the boat, and we were quite hungry. We had read about a restaurant in Ocean Springs, which is the next town to the east, that was supposed to have good seafood. We headed there for an early dinner.

Aunt Jenny's Catfish Restaurant is in an old house located on Old Fort Bayou.

We started off with cole slaw and biscuits. As you can see, we had a nice view of some old live oak trees outside and of the bayou.

Margery had fried catfish, the house specialty, and after our shrimping trip, Paul was hungry for shrimp. We both had baked sweet potatoes, and the dinners were served with a hush puppy.

The cole slaw was so-so, but everything else was quite good. Dinners range in price from $10 for fried catfish and $12 for the shrimp to $13 to $15 for shrimp Creole and a combination platter. Prices may be just a little high, but you do get a lot to eat. They also have all-you-can eat catfish, shrimp and chicken for $1 to $1.50 more, but there was plenty with the regular dinner. Margery got 5 big pieces of catfish and Paul got 18 medium-size shrimp.

After dinner we made our way back to the motor home. We found even more to do in Biloxi, so look for our next post.