Old Biloxi Cemetery

The oldest section of this cemetery was likely the burying ground for French settlers in the early 1700s — the oldest surviving tombstone is French-inscribed with an 1811 death date. It sits west of the former site of Fort Louis, adjacent to the Gulf between Beach Boulevard and Irish Hill Drive. George Ohr, the Mad Potter, is buried here. So is Edward Barq, the root beer inventor; Juan de Cuevas, the Hero of Cat Island who fired on the British fleet in the War of 1812; Brigadier General Joseph Robert Davis, nephew of Jefferson Davis; and Lazaro Lopez, the Croatian seafood pioneer who built Biloxi's cannery industry. Katrina's surge ravaged the beachfront section in 2005, scattering headstones and unearthing remains. A $300,000 FEMA restoration repaired over 200 headstones and 10 above-ground tombs; unidentified remains were reinterred in a specially built tomb. Every October, costumed reenactors bring the buried to life on a guided tour.