Considering Job in Pascagoula (Gulfport, Biloxi: how much, new house, neighborhoods)

[Cblguy12]

I am considering job in Pascagoula, we are coming from midwest (Wisc), what is it like, has it recovered from huricane(s)? How often does it get hit. We would need housing for elderly parents close by 3 bedroom home and great schools for our 7 year old.

[brickpatio]

Pascagoula is a center for shipbuilding and has an overall somewhat blue collar/ middle class industrial feel to it. There are some very nice neighborhoods around the country club which is near the beach front.

Across the bay there are some pleasant neighborhoods and golf course communities in Gautier (pronounced Go-shay) and 20 minutes away, Ocean Springs is very upscale and thriving.

The Coast economy has recovered and doing okay relative to the rest of the country. However, I would say the Biloxi/Gulfport/Diamondhead area feels nicer and more thriving, although Pascagoula does have some well-paying industrial jobs.

[GrandviewGloria]

Along the coast, if you're concerned about hurricanes, it's best to buy a Victorian mansion. Those are generally built on the highest ground around. I'd heard that Pascagoula has some lovely older homes and neighborhoods, still filled with lovely families. So, I did a simple image search, and came up with this beauty: 2425 Pascagoula Street, Pascagoula MS - CNNMoney Move-in ready, with pool and Jacuzzi, and cheaper than a lot of the brick veneer & styrofoam stucco new houses you're going to see. The fact that the fence is 'invisible' (for the dog) tells me that there is not a significant trayvonic threat in the vicinity.

All you need, to blend in with the nicest people in town, is to replace the missing foundation plantings with a double row of Gerbing Azaleas http://m2.i.pbase.com/v3/85/190885/1...ianMrs.G.G.JPG (plant October thru January: under ten Dollars, from a wholesale nursery). That century-old Magnolia is a prize beyond any monetary value. The centenarian Magnolia, and really good curtains, will guarantee doors opening for you that would stay closed, if you lived in a half-million-dollar brick veneer 'Acadian' in a 'planned community' (the alternative to an old house, although those 'Acadians' range in price, in Mississippi, from 150,000 to 3,000,000, depending on size and the prestige of the golf course they're near).

What I'm sayin' is that Pascagoula has a lot, in terms of human resources (as opposed to much of the Coast), if you know where to look, and know how to make yourself attractive to the quality crowd (who are accustomed to avoiding the unfortunately abundant nasty element). The South isn't like Wisconsin: not everybody is nice. If you are people of substance (erudite, rather than merely affluent), you have to exhibit visual cues which will alert the other substantial people of your existence.

Back to those curtains: if someone in the family can sew, get a copy of something like this Amazon.com: The Ultimate Curtain Book (0071138002433): Isabella Forbes: Books, and come period illustrations http://www.georgeglazer.com/prints/a...euxcroisee.JPG and start whipping-up fine curtains. Even (especially, actually...) if you opt for a brick veneer slab-on-grade in a new area, your choice of (and the abundance of) curtains is, in Mississippi, what sets the Achievers apart from mere Strivers. (...well, that and how much greenery you have around your house. More is better. ). Both growies and draperies insulate really well (thermally and acoustically) - probably why the smart and rich have them, while the dumb and poor don't. You'll appreciate the cushioning effect of both, when an ice storm knocks out the heat, or summer temps hang in the nineties for months-on-end.

In nearby Hattiesburg, it is not uncommon for people to pay six figures for the curtains in one room. Back when I lived in the state, among the chatter about this house in Northeast Mississippi http://www.amazon.com/Classic-House-.../dp/1920744681 was that the dining room curtains were hand-painted in France, to the Decorator's specs, and shipped over in hermetically-sealed barrels. However, you can get equal respect, if you scout-out fabric bargains, and make your own (success varying with taste and quality, of course). Just as in Manhattan, the nobodies hate abundant drapery, while the Precious Few adore it. If your 7-year-old is a girl, having the right curtains in your home (and a well-landscaped Victorian home) will virtually guarantee her being asked into a good deb cotillion, and a good sorority.

Heaven knows how the trajectory of our lives would have been different, had we not met our future Decorator when we were 17, and had my Best Female Friend not been a whiz with the Singer, the glue-bottle, and the needle. Growing up in a family of bankrupt aristocrats, that Almanach de Gotha registered Colonial Dame, as a skill ancillary to her rebuilding the family fortunes, learned to turn our Decorator's sketches (and fabric from the most unlikely sources - like dumpsters and abandoned theatres ) into ambrosial confections for the window (with our Husbands building the pelmets and reinforcing the walls when necessary, to hold it all up)(I handled 'ironing and pinning'). By the way: I'm providing you with an illustration, here, of "What There is to Do in Mississippi".

I'm telling you these things, because Pascagoula can be a magical place, from what I'm hearing, IF you know how arrive there. You may want to stay forever, and I want you to get off on the right foot, and blend in with the permanent people.

Unless someone tells you of an exceptional public school for your child, it is to be assumed (it being Mississippi) that private schools will be necessary. That is the norm. Exceptions to that are rare blessings.

Oh, and when you're wondering what roses to order https://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/roses/456/adam (you can expect blooms pretty-much year-round), the mnemonic for remembering the classes that do well in the Deep South is, "Polyantha Noisette likes her Ancient Tea in a China cup". Amazing things grow down there, and gardening can be a thrill.

[SippiStateBulldogs]

The coast has recovered very well. It gets hit by hurricanes on occasion but it is not a yearly thing. There many great places near Pascagoula to live and for your older parents. Pascagoula is blue collar as stated above. But there are many retirement communities in the area for your older parents in Ocean Springs and other places. Since you have a child and schooling is important I would recommend Ocean Springs. Ocean Springs schools are a bit better than Pascagoula in my opinion.