Ocean Springs
Heritage District · Ocean Springs, Mississippi
A small arts town across the bay from Biloxi, under a continuous canopy of live oaks, and the most pleasant place to walk on the Mississippi coast. The French landed here in 1699 and built Fort Maurepas, which makes it the first European settlement on the Gulf Coast and the first capital of French Louisiana — before Mobile, and nineteen years before New Orleans. Its modern identity comes from Walter Anderson, who painted the town's community centre walls in secret and whose family pottery still operates, and from a downtown of galleries and restaurants that has stayed independent.
Washington Avenue, Ocean Springs, Mississippi, 39564, United States
A town, accessible at all times. Shops and galleries on Washington Avenue generally keep daytime hours Tuesday to Saturday with limited Sunday opening, and MANY CLOSE ON MONDAYS. Restaurants run into the evening and book up at weekends. The Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival in early November fills the town for a weekend.