Maritime Biloxi

Site of the landing of Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d'Iberville in February 1699 and the birthplace of the French colony la Louisiane, Biloxi has been nurtured by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico for more than three hundred years. Located almost due north of the mouth of the Mississippi, on a coast laced with small rivers, bays, and bayous, the historic peninsula city owes much of its fortune and growth to the bountiful waters and pleasant salt-air ambiance of the Mississippi Sound. Although Biloxi garnered its earliest fame as a seaside antebellum resort, the arrival of the railroad in 1870 led to the meteoric rise of a seafood industry which, by the end of the nineteenth century, had allowed the city to lay legitimate claim to the title ,Seafood Capital of the World., Since the 1880s, a large Biloxi fishing fleet has harvested the Mississippi Sound and adjacent Gulf waters, keeping the city's seafood among the most highly prized in the nation. Today, a bustling new casino gaming industry, resort hotels, and myriad outdoor recreational activities have promoted the city to a world class tourist and retirement destination.

Maritime Biloxi traces the history of the city's colorful seafood industry and numerous ancillary maritime activities. It is this combination which provides Biloxi with a cultural raison d'ªtre, and serves as a foundation for its three-century heritage. Using many never-before-published images from the collection of Biloxi's Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, author and historian Val Husley chronicles the history of the city that still looks seaward for its future while celebrating a storied and vibrant past.