Live Local: French Colonial Memorial Garden

Lace up your shoes and take a stroll with News 25’s Lorraine Weiskopf in today’s edition of Live Local, a series you can catch on News 25 on Thursdays.

For this week, we visit the French colonial cemetery, the oldest known French colonial cemetery in the South and second oldest in the United States.

What was originally the site of an old art studio now is the French Colonial Memorial Garden. Serving as a resting place to approximately 32 French colonial settlers from the 1700s who were discovered there.

Local Historian Jane Shambra said, “This is called the Moran Site, named after the person who had the art studio before all the  discoveries were made. Most sites are named after people. There are no Morans buried here.”

One of most notable features in the cemetery is the Weeping Angel, watching over the mass grave of French settlers. “It’s a symbol of sadness but also a symbol of thoughtfulness as well. So, when you come here you can have a lot to look at and think about.”

Across the road in the visitors’ park, more angel statues started appearing, resting in the bushes or beside trees.  “No one knows how they got there, but it’s a good compliment to the huge Weeping Angel in the park.”

Next to the memorial garden is the Biloxi Visitors Center. Despite its old appearance, it is fairly new construction opening in 2011. It is based off the old Dantzler House, dating back to the 1850s which was demolished by Katrina.

It still offers a glance in the past by having the Dantzler House original stained-glass windows.

Live Local is made possible through the support of the Biloxi Library System. Tune in next Thursday as News 25 continues highlighting places of interest along our Coast.