Presque Isle

The name Presque Isle is French for “almost an island.”  Presque Isle was a large heavily forested spit of land that jutted out from the mainland.  Today, it is bound on the east by Rhodenburg Avenue, on the north by Highway 90, and it runs for  about a half of a mile westward.   During the early 1900s, Biloxians traveled in wagons or by trolley to Presque Isle for  fishing and hunting parties and picnics. Most of the oak and pine trees were cleared for the Mid-20th century construction of restaurants and nightclubs, and it became known as “the strip.” Before Katrina, there were  a few trees still standing, but today there is little to remind us that the area was “almost an island.”

 

From Rhodenburg Avenue continue west and get into the right lane at Veteran’s Avenue.  A large sign on the right indicates the Veteran’s Hospital and the Biloxi National Cemetery.  Turn