Blending the past with the present, Biloxi, Mississippi is one of the premier destinations in the Deep South. With the recent addition of another quality RV resort, this Gulf Coast city should be on your list of places to visit in 2018.
Biloxi Lighthouse. Photo by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, Flickr
Set a few hundred yards from the Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Beach RV Resort is one of the newest additions to the area. Featuring fabulous sunrises and sunsets, the 44-site Gulf Beach RV Resort also offers plenty of modern amenities, like concrete pads, full hookups, free Wi-Fi and DirecTV, a heated pool, clubhouse, and party deck. Right next door is a Waffle House that offers discounts to resort visitors.
Step outside of Gulf Beach RV Resort and you’ll discover there’s so much to see and do. In fact, the city of Biloxi appears to be much larger than its population of 50,000 would indicate. In addition to terrific weather year round, you can golf at 10 different courses, experience 24-hour gaming at a dozen casinos, eat fresh seafood or authentic Cajun and Creole cuisine until your heart’s content, or be entertained by some of the best blues musicians in the country.
Gulf Beach RV Resort is a chip shot to the beach!
About 20 minutes from the RV park is one of Biloxi’s best-kept secrets: Dogwood Hills Golf Club. This par 72 measures 6,003 yards from the tips and is surrounded by gentle rolling hills. The course was designed by Brent Williams and opened in 1991.
Sunkist Country Club is another quality golf course in Biloxi. Featuring five sets of tee boxes, the par 72 course measures 6,285 yards from the back tees.
Sand and water come in to play on several holes at venerable Sunkist Country Club. Designed by Roland Robby Robertson, the course opened in 1953, making it one of the original golf destinations on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
When the 20th century arrived, Biloxi had become the Seafood Capital of the World. In fact, during the 1920s, there were more than 40 seafood factories occupying the two cannery districts. Visitors can learn about the history by visiting the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum.
Dogwood Hills Golf Club
Opened in 1986, the museum helps preserve and interpret the maritime history and heritage of Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The exhibits on display at the museum are richly curated and diverse in nature, covering topics such as shell fishing and accompanying pursuits like net repair, shrimp peeling, recreational fishing, and marine protection and conservation.
If learning about the seafood industry made you a little hungry, there are numerous opportunities to experience fresh seafood on a daily basis. Try a visit to Wentzel’s Seafood, Taranto’s Crawfish, Shaggy’s Biloxi Beach, or the Half Shell Oyster House.
According to the City of Biloxi website, the first Mardi Gras parade took place in Biloxi in 1908. A tribute to the annual Fat Tuesday celebration can be explored at a small museum inside the historic Magnolia Hotel. The Mardi Gras Museum offers an impressive costume display along with historical information and other interesting facts about the Mardi Gras holiday and its celebration.
Most recall the devastation Hurricane Katrina inflicted back in 2005. The Hurricane Katrina Memorial is certainly worth a reflective moment. A total of 52 residents of Biloxi perished during Katrina, which unleashed 130 mph sustained winds and leveling a portion of the city.
The memorial on Biloxi’s main street features a 12-foot-high slab of black granite which is the same height as the water from the storm surge on Aug. 29, 2005.
Hurricane Katrina Memorial, Photo by Tim Burkitt/FEMA
Tim Burkitt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Built in 1848, the Biloxi Lighthouse stands 61-feet high and offers panoramic views of the surrounding area. It too was devastated by Hurricane Katrina but was restored and reopened to the public in 2010. Biloxi Lighthouse is also well-known for having had the most female lighthouse keepers than any other lighthouse in the country!
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art and Jefferson Davis Presidential Library are also worth a visit if time permits. There is simply so much to see and do in Biloxi!
For more information on Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, visit GulfCoast.org. You can also find more scenic places to camp on the Gulf Coast in this article.
Rick Stedman is an avid golfer, RVer, and writer who lives in Olympia, Washington. Rick writes a weekly golf blog, The 19th Hole, for RV Life. You can reach him at rstedman@gmail.com.
Rick Stedman is an avid golfer, RVer, and writer who lives in Olympia, Washington. Rick writes a golf column, “The RV Golfer,” which is published every month in rvlife.com. He can be reached at rstedman@gmail.com.
I’m not a golfer, but I LOVE your posts regarding different locales, and the history —and “flavor “ of the different locales you visit.
THANK YOU
We stayed here in March 2019. We have a class A motor coach and had plenty of room. The resort was clean everyone was friendly. Will definitely return.