Biloxi is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated population was 46,212. The area's first European settlers were French colonists.
Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland areas and parts of seven islands. Some islands along the Alabama coast were originally considered for inclusion, but none are part of the National Seashore.
Horn Island is a long, thin barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, south of Ocean Springs. It is one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands and part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Horn Island is several miles long, but less than a mile wide at its widest point. It occupies about 4.2 square miles (11 km2).
Hurricane Ethel was one of two major hurricanes in the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season. The sixth known tropical cyclone, fifth named storm, and fourth hurricane of the season, Ethel developed from a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico on September 14. After becoming a tropical storm, Ethel rapidly intensified and became a hurricane six hours later. By early on September 15, the storm reached major hurricane intensity when it became a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale. However, shortly thereafter, Ethel rapidly weakened back to a Category 1 hurricane while brushing eastern Louisiana. Later on September 15, Ethel weakened to a tropical storm. Early on the following day, Ethel made landfall in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The storm gradually weakened inland, before eventually dissipating over southern Kentucky on September 17.
The Mississippi Sound is a sound along the Gulf Coast of the United States. It runs east-west along the southern coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, from Waveland, Mississippi, to the Dauphin Island Bridge, a distance of about 90 miles (145 km). The sound is separated from the Gulf on its southern side by the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands: Cat, Ship, Horn, West Petit Bois, Petit Bois, and Dauphin. Ship, Horn, West Petit Bois and Petit Bois Islands are part of the National Park Service's Gulf Islands National Seashore. Those islands separate the sound from the Gulf of Mexico. The sediment of the islands was created partly by the ancient Mississippi River when the St. Bernard Lobe of the Mississippi Delta was active over two thousand years ago. The expansion of the St. Bernard subdelta slowly isolated the Mississippi Sound from ocean dynamics of the open Gulf of Mexico.
Round Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Mississippi Sound, 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) south of Pascagoula, Mississippi, U.S.A. The island is a coastal preserve, situated in Jackson County and managed by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. The relatively isolated terrain—consisting of slash pine forest, interior marsh, and sandy beach—provides feeding, resting, and wintering habitat for migratory birds, including the brown pelican, white pelican, and cormorants. A number of rare or endangered species, including the Ruellia noctiflora, are found there.
Ship Island is a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands. Hurricane Camille split the island into two separate islands in 1969. In early 2019, the US Army Corps of Engineers completed the first stage of a project rejoining the two islands and recreating one Ship Island. Ship Island is the site of Fort Massachusetts, as a Third System fortification. Part of the island is included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Petit Bois Island is a barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, south of Pascagoula, and one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands. It is part of Jackson County, Mississippi. Since 1971 it has been a part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, administered by the U.S. National Park Service.
Biloxi Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Biloxi, Mississippi, adjacent to the Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico. The lighthouse has been kept by female keepers for more years than any other lighthouse in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1987.
The Round Island Light, also known as the "Old Round Island Point Lighthouse" is a lighthouse located on the west shore of Round Island in the shipping lanes of the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. It was deemed necessary because the island is a significant hazard to navigation in the straits, and was seen as an effective complement to the other lights in the area. Because of its color scheme and form — red stone base and wood tower — it has been likened to an old-fashioned schoolhouse. Ferries regularly pass it on their way to Mackinac Island, and it is a recognizable icon of the upper Great Lakes.
Sambro Island Lighthouse is a landfall lighthouse located at the entrance to Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia, on an island near the community of Sambro in the Halifax Regional Municipality. It is the oldest surviving lighthouse in North America and its construction is a National Historic Event.
Poe Reef is a lighthouse located at the east end of South Channel between Bois Blanc Island and the mainland of the Lower Peninsula, about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Cheboygan, Michigan.
The Cat Island Light was a lighthouse located on Cat Island off the coast of Mississippi. Originally built to guide shipping through the Mississippi Sound, it was discontinued as traffic moved further south.
The Green Island Light is a lighthouse located on Green Island in Lake Erie, U.S. state of Ohio, to the west of the Bass Islands. Abandoned since its deactivation in 1939, it survives as a hollow shell near the existing skeleton tower.
Round Island Lighthouse stood from 1859 to 1998 on the southwest end of Round Island in the Mississippi Sound, 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Pascagoula, Mississippi. In September 1998, the lighthouse was toppled by Hurricane Georges. In 2010, the base of the structure and other lighthouse remnants were removed from Round Island and relocated within the City of Pascagoula for restoration.
The East Pascagoula River Light was a lighthouse in Pascagoula, Mississippi. A house with a lantern on top, it was first lit in 1854 but was extinguished in the Civil War and was not relit until 1868. It was destroyed in the 1906 Mississippi hurricane and was never rebuilt.
The South Pass Light, also known as the Port Eads LighthouseSouth Point Light, or Gordon's Island Light, are a pair of lighthouses located on Gordon's Island at South Pass, in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana (USA), one of the primary entrances to the Mississippi River Delta from the Gulf of Mexico. The light station was established in 1831 and is still active.
The Frank's Island Light was an early lighthouse in Louisiana, marking the entrance channel to the Mississippi River from the delta. Conceived of as a grand monument, it suffered from construction issues and was eventually abandoned as the channel it marked was supplanted by other routes.
The Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands are a chain of barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama enclosing the Mississippi Sound. The major islands are Cat Island, Ship Island, Horn Island, Petit Bois Island, and Dauphin Island; in the early 20th century the chain also included the Isle of Caprice, which has since been submerged. The islands are separated by wide inlets, several of which have been channelized to form the shipping channels for Gulf coast ports. The shapes and sizes of the islands have changed significantly since the 1800s, with the islands generally shrinking and shifting westward, especially after major tropical cyclones. Most of the islands are uninhabited. Much of the Mississippi portion of the chain is included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
