The five days here have really gone by fast! We have had a mixture of relaxing and exploring the Ocean Springs Mississippi area. Some hikes in the park and most evenings we walk down to the bayou to watch the sunset.
It has been an enjoyable stay at Davis Bayou National Seashore Park. We continue to feel blessed at our opportunity to see this beautiful country together in our RV.
Ocean Springs, MS
This small town of 17,000 people is just 2 miles east of Biloxi, MS, on the gulf coast, and we had no idea of what to expect. It is a coastal town with a barrier island between it and the gulf. It was severely damaged by hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the main bridge to Biloxi was destroyed. Today, the bridge has been rebuilt and the very walkable historic downtown district is first class!
The buildings are in great shape, all occupied, and host a very vibrant and active downtown. All of this is very walkable from the many residential areas just a block away. There are many restaurants, bars, and art galleries.
An excerpt from Coastal Living Magazine: “This city of 17,500 supports more than 150 independent shops and art galleries. Housing—from small cottages in the historic district to upscale homes along the waterfront—is on the upswing (but still affordable), and with low crime and great schools, the town is a magnet for families.
“When I cross into downtown Ocean Springs, I told my husband I had found the town we needed to move to,” says Roxanne Condrey, who purchased a historic cottage here and opened The Inn at Ocean Springs.”
Is this a possible retirement location for us? Possibly. Although very hot during the summer months. Walk to the harbor and buy fresh shrimp off the boats and walk to downtown for shopping and entertainment. I’ll just need to convince Trish the summer heat is not too bad…
A Veterans Day parade began as soon as we arrived downtown on Saturday afternoon! How nice to see the locals turn out to honor the veterans. No one here was taking a knee for sure! Most of the parade cars and floats were throwing beads out to the crowd. Think it is a southern coastal thing. After all, we are only a couple of hours from New Orleans.
We toured a couple of art displays, a museum, and walked all of the Washington St. and Government St. downtown. Stopped in one place for a beer and then later on had a coffee at another shop. On Saturday afternoon, there were 3-4 places with live music. My kind of town.
I will cover our current park, the Davis Bayou Campground in the National Seashore Park, in my next post. This park is recovering from hurricane Nate just 3-4 weeks ago. There is still some damage the park service is working toward repairing.
Take care and God Bless!
I hope you went to “The Shed” for BBQ. It is a BBQ and Blues Joint. The Orrison’s have competed in Galax several years in Smoke on the Mountain and have won as Grand Champion.
Terry,
Terry, good to hear from you and I hate that we missed “the shed.” There were so many good choices there and so little time. 🙂 Are you getting closer to your retirement date? Randy
Loved that town!
Yes, it was quite a gem and glad we found it.
Nice Pics (again). My sister lived in Hattiesburg, MS. She said the summers were sweltering, although they liked living there. I plan to pass through that area in January so I’ll have to check out Ocean Springs.
The Ocean Springs area did impress us for the cleanliness, a healthy walkable downtown, low crime rate, and a reasonable cost lifestyle.