Secret Facts Page Two
- Founded in 1928 by Peter Anderson, Shearwater Pottery has produced art pottery, utilitarian ware, figurines, decorative tiles and other pottery pieces.
- The self-proclaimed “Mad Potter” of Biloxi, George Ohr is considered an early leader in the modernist movement.
- The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry pays homage to the thin-walled, metallic glazed pieces of Ohr’s 19th century work.
- Located in the renovated Mississippi City Elementary School, constructed in 1915, Lynn Meadows Discovery Center coffers 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space and seven and a half acres of outdoor play space.
- In 2016, Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the highest honor a museum can receive.
- The Peter Anderson Festival, founded over 40 years ago in honor of Ocean Springs potter Peter Anderson, attracts over 150,000 people annually and has earned accolades including “Top 20 Events” by the Southeast Tourism Society.
- The 2017 Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Classic saw the swordfish state record broken with a 242.54 pound, 82.5” catch.
- Cruisin’ the Coast, “America’s Largest Block Party,” is a festival to celebrate antique, classic and hot rod vehicles. In 2018, the festival had 8,444 registrants from 44 states, Canada, Germany, and Australia.
- Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre was born in Gulfport.
- ABC news anchor Robin Roberts was raised in Pass Christian, graduating salutatorian from Pass Christian High in 1979.
- Jimmy Buffett, the original Parrothead, was born in Pascagoula.
- The 1966 cinematic classic “This Property is Condemned” was filmed in Coastal Mississippi, starring Natalie Wood and Robert Redford.
- Mary Mahoney’s Old French House opened its New Orleans style dining location on May 7, 1964. The French House was built in 1737 and served as headquarters for the Louisiana Territory.
- The Charnley-Norwood House in Ocean Springs is a Louis Sullivan/Frank Lloyd Wright original design, heralded as the first Modernist home.
- Built in 1757, the oldest standing confirmed structure in the Mississippi Valley is the La-Pointe-Krebs House in Pascagoula.
- Beauvoir, also known as the Jefferson Davis Home, is an expansive 51-acre estate on Biloxi Beach, also housing a museum, nature trail, cemetery, monument, and gift shop.
- Built in the 1890s as a Biloxi residence, the home of Walter & Cora White transitioned into the White House Hotel, a popular destination for visitors to “America’s Riviera” in the 1920s.
- Once known as Logtown, Hancock County held America’s largest lumber company during the 19th century until resources began to decline in the 1930’s.
- Located at the mouth of the Pearl River, Logtown was once the site of several sawmills.
- Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi with a population of nearly 70,000 residents.
- Gulfport’s Trinity Yachts builds custom superyachts and is known as being among the world’s elite builders.
- Now a world-class maritime terminal and major economic driver, the Port of Gulfport became a working seaport in 1902.
- Built in 1922 by the “One Hundred Members Debating Benevolent Association,” the 100 Men Hall DBA has acted as a center of social life and entertainment for the African-American community in Coastal Mississippi. The Hall has played host to major Blues performers including Big Joe Turner, Etta James, and Guitar Slim.
- The giant Native American Crooked Feather Sculpture in Ocean Springs was sculpted in 1999, a replica of a 1975 sculpture by Peter Wolf Toth, a tribute to North American Natives.
- French explorer Pierre Le Moyne D’Iberville first colonized Coastal Mississippi in 1699, somewhere around Ocean Springs.
- After its colonization in 1699, Fort Maurepas, now established in Ocean Springs, was the capital of French Louisiana.