Downtown Ocean Springs — Washington Avenue

Two walkable blocks of Washington Avenue hold more art galleries per square foot than anywhere on the Gulf Coast. The concentration sits under 300-year-old live oaks, and Ocean Springs has been an artist colony since the Anderson family arrived in the early 1900s. Galleries, pottery studios, boutiques, and coffee shops line the street in buildings that feel more New England village than coastal Mississippi. The town was the home of Walter Inglis Anderson, a nationally renowned painter and muralist who drew inspiration from the natural coastal landscape and nearby barrier islands. The Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival — named for a different Anderson, the potter — draws 150,000 people the first weekend of November each year. The festival was first hosted in 1978 after local artist Klara Koock brought the idea to the Chamber of Commerce. Ocean Springs began in 1699 as Fort Maurepas, the first permanent French outpost in French Louisiana, established by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville under the authority of King Louis XIV as a foothold to prevent Spanish encroachment on France's colonial claims. The site was maintained into the early 18th century. The town was briefly called Lynchburg Springs when the first post office was established in 1853. The name Ocean Springs was coined by Dr. William Glover Austin in 1854 — he believed the local springs had healing qualities. Hurricane Katrina's 28-foot storm surge destroyed much of the shoreline on August 29, 2005, including the Biloxi Bay Bridge that connected the town to Biloxi. The new bridge opened November 1, 2007. The downtown survived, and Second Saturday events run year-round. Free to explore. Park on Washington Avenue or the side streets.