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My wife and I made a recent trip to Biloxi, MS to visit relatives and to "get away" for a few well earned days of vacation for her, I am retired and every day is a vacation for me but she works hard at her job and needed to get away for a little while.

The last time we were in Biloxi was shortly before Katrina passed through and frankly we were not prepared for what we saw.  The amount of damage remaining from that storm has to be seen to fully understand the devastation that the storm brought to the area.  Everywhere you look there are reminders. 

To be honest there has been a great amount of work done in rebuilding the city and its historic buildings such as the Jefferson Davis museum.  Repairs to the main home have nearly been completed, but several of the out buildings are gone forever, and the beautiful gardens that once surrounded the buildings will probably never be restored.

When we visited Biloxi several years ago, I made a friend of an elderly artist, Bill Johnson and I was concerned for him so I made a point of trying to locate him again to see if he survived the storm.
 
We drove up to his studio on Croesus Street, and there he was, sitting on a stool, working on a terra cotta tile painting!  Bill is not a young man.  He is well into his 80's, and I asked him if he evacuated during the storm, he said "no", he rode it out as he has every storm since he moved here from Boston nearly 50 years ago!

Bill and his studio are not as well known as the Jefferson Davis Home and museum, nor is his studio as well known as the casinos that line the Gulfs shoreline, but he is a real treasure and if you go to Biloxi in the near future be sure to stop at his studio!  He is worth the time and effort to try to locate!