Rising

Our first stop in Biloxi, MS, followed our usual stepping off point when in a new city--the local Visitors Center. The RV park owner had told us to look for a house at the completion of our drive to the Visitor Center, but even that additional information did not prepare us for the magnificent structure that greeted us.

"The 24,000 square-foot center bears a striking resemblance to the Dantzler House, a two-story city-owned structure that stood on the site until Aug. 29, 2005, when it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Among the features inspired by the Dantzler: two-story porches, a grand staircase, and floor-to-ceiling windows.

"The Biloxi Visitors Center, which opened in July 2011 on U.S. 90, fuses the city’s architectural heritage with state-of-the-art technology and multi-media exhibits" (biloxi.ms.us/visitor-info/museums/visitors-center/).

At the end of the hallway in the photo below, were three tree sculptures.

"Biloxi’s Katrina sculpture project began in January 2007 when Mayor A.J. Holloway and Public Affairs Manager Vincent Creel spoke with Mississippi 'chainsaw artist' Dayton Scoggins about sculpting marine-related figures from the dozens of standing dead trees in the median of Beach Boulevard in Biloxi.

The Sculpture Garden, displaying Scoggins' creations

"The trees were victims of the saltwater storm surge of Hurricane Katrina 16 months earlier.

"In March 2007, after MDOT crews 'topped' the dead trees, Scoggins made the first of two sculpting visits to Biloxi, creating egrets, seagulls, pelicans and dolphins from a collection of trees just west of the Biloxi Lighthouse.

Scoggins’s initial five sculptures resulted from a $7,000 payment from the city (biloxi.ms.us/katrina-biloxi/sculptures/).

"According to the Galveston County Daily News, the median of US 90 through lower Mississippi now has 20 'marine-themed' sculptures carved from trees killed by Katrina. The News calls them “one of the state’s top tourist attractions,” and their popularity is spurring Galveston, Texas, to create a half-dozen of their own Catastrophe Trees, left over from the 2008 visit of Hurricane Ike" (roadsideamerica.com/blog/big-storm-bounty/).

After photographing this first group of tree sculptures, we returned to the Visitors Center. Across from the Center is the Biloxi Lighthouse.

"The Biloxi Lighthouse was erected in 1848 and was one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South. It is the city’s signature landmark and has become a post-Katrina symbol of the city’s resolve and resilience.

"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, which eventually opened it to public tours.

"The lighthouse has withstood many storms over the years. Katrina’s storm surge enveloped a third of the 64-foot tall lighthouse, and the constant pounding from the water and winds toppled many bricks that lined the interior of the cast iron tower. The storm’s winds also broke many of the windows in the light cupola and destroyed the structure’s electrical system.

"In March 2010, the city re-opened the lighthouse to public tours after a 14-month, $400,000 restoration (biloxi.ms.us/visitor-info/museums/visitors-center/).

All of our stops noted above spoke to the spirit of the residents and their resolve to rise again from the effects of Katrina's destruction.