Old storefronts, Spanish moss, and a blues legacy: Bay St. Louis earns a longer look

Bay St. Louis isn’t your average beach town

Bay St. Louis sits on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, and it doesn’t look like much from the highway. But walk a few blocks into Old Town and the picture changes fast.

Art galleries in old storefronts, oak trees draped in Spanish moss, a blues hall where Ray Charles once played, and a Catholic church with a mural that stops people cold.

This town has over 300 years of history packed into a few walkable blocks, and most people drive right past it.

Three centuries of French Creole roots

The French got here first. In 1699, explorers Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville camped on the bay and named it for King Louis IX of France.

The town incorporated as Shieldsborough in 1818, one of the earliest in Mississippi, before reclaiming its French name in the 1870s.

Wealthy New Orleans families came here every summer, and that French Creole influence never left. You taste it in the food, see it in the architecture, and feel it in the way the town moves.

Awards and rankings back up the hype

Budget Travel called it one of the Coolest Small Towns in America in 2013. Coastal Living put it in its top 10 small beach towns in 2010.

USA Today’s readers voted it the No. 2 Best Coastal Small Town in the country in 2022. The town’s motto is “A Place Apart,” and that’s not just marketing.

Visitors keep coming back and describing the same thing: it has the ease of a small Southern town with the creative energy of somewhere twice its size.

Old Town’s walkable streets pull you in

Old Town centers where Main Street meets Beach Boulevard, and you can walk the whole thing in an afternoon. Historic buildings hold galleries, antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants.

The moss-draped oaks along the sidewalks give everything a slower, greener feel. Locals call it “Mayberry by the Sea,” and once you’re in it, that makes sense.

If you come by boat, tie up at the day pier in the Municipal Harbor and walk straight into the middle of it all. The Downtown Dasher shuttle also runs if your feet give out.

Second Saturday turns Main Street into a party

On the second Saturday of every month, Old Town shifts into a different gear.

The Old Town Merchants Association throws a free event that draws people from across the Gulf Coast.

Galleries hold special openings, shops run themed events, and live music fills the streets from Downtown all the way to Depot Row.

The Art Walk is the centerpiece, where you can meet the artists making the work, not just look at it through glass. It runs from daytime into the evening and it costs nothing to attend.

Dozens of galleries pack a few city blocks

Bay St. Louis has one of the densest concentrations of art galleries on the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Gallery 220 anchors the scene in a historic Art Deco building at the corner of Main and Toulme Streets, where about 25 local and regional artists show painting, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, and more.

Other studios and photography galleries line the surrounding blocks.

The town’s affordable rents and proximity to New Orleans keep drawing artists, and that steady flow keeps the scene alive. You buy directly from the people who made the work.

The train depot holds a Mardi Gras surprise

The Louisville and Nashville Train Depot, built around 1928, sits in a park with live oaks, picnic tables, walking paths, and a duck pond.

The two-story mission-style building is a Mississippi Landmark and now houses the Hancock County Tourism office alongside the Bay St. Louis Mardi Gras Museum.

Walk through the museum and you’ll find elaborate Mardi Gras costumes and the full sweep of local carnival history on display.

The ducks at the pond don’t care about any of that, but your kids might want to feed them anyway. Admission is free.

Ray Charles played here. So did James Brown.

The 100 Men D.B.A. Hall went up in 1922, built by a civic organization of Black residents who had been meeting since 1894. For decades it was the social and cultural center of Bay St. Louis’s African American community.

After World War II it joined the chitlin circuit, and the list of performers who took that stage includes Ray Charles, James Brown, Etta James, and Irma Thomas.

The hall got a Mississippi Blues Trail marker in 2011 and now runs about 80 events a year, from blues brunches to writing workshops.

Angel Trees carved from Katrina’s wreckage

Hurricane Katrina hit Bay St. Louis hard in August 2005.

After the storm, chainsaw artist Dayle Lewis arrived from Indiana and carved storm-killed oak trees into angel sculptures. Four Angel Trees stand around Old Town now.

The most well-known one sits near Beach Boulevard at Demontluzin Street, marking the spot where three residents and a dog survived the surge by holding onto its branches. The tree didn’t make it.

The survivors had Lewis carve it into angels and set it in concrete at the exact location. They’re part of the town’s historical walking tour.

Two churches with art you won’t find anywhere else

Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church has served the community since 1847, a Romanesque-style building above the Mississippi Sound with stained glass windows that face the water.

It hosts the annual Fourth of July Crab Fest on its grounds every summer.

A few blocks away, St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church, built in 1925, has an altar mural depicting an African Christ figure rising before a live oak tree, painted by artist Auseklis Ozols.

St. Rose is also home to a nationally recognized Southern Gospel choir. Tours run by appointment.

The coast opens up outside Old Town

Bay St. Louis Beach runs along South Beach Boulevard with room to swim, relax, or walk the paved boardwalk.

The Bay-Waveland Heritage Trail stretches about 4.5 miles along the coast to Waveland, good for biking or a long walk. The rebuilt Bay Bridge has a pedestrian and cycling path with open water views on both sides.

Along the trail, Sweetbay Hollow has a birding tower where pelicans, egrets, and osprey are common.

Just down the road in Waveland, Buccaneer State Park has a 1.8-mile nature trail, disc golf, and a seasonal waterpark open Memorial Day through Labor Day.

A train from New Orleans drops you right in town

Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service launched Aug. 18, 2025, bringing passenger rail back to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the first time in about 20 years.

The line runs twice-daily round trips between New Orleans and Mobile, with a stop in Bay St. Louis right near the L&N Train Depot, which puts you a short walk from Old Town.

In its first six months the service carried more than 80,000 riders, well past the 71,000 projected for the full first year. For anyone coming from New Orleans, it’s an easy, car-free trip down the coast.

Visit Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

You can reach Bay St. Louis by car off Interstate 10 at Exit 13 to MS-603 South, or by Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service from New Orleans or Mobile.

Old Town is walkable from the train station, and the Downtown Dasher shuttle covers the rest. The Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum, Mardi Gras Museum, and Angel Trees are all free.

St. Rose de Lima Church tours need an advance appointment.

Buccaneer State Park’s waterpark runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, but the trails and disc golf are open year-round. Hurricane season runs June through November, so check conditions before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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