# US 90: The Creole Coast *the Old Spanish Trail's middle act* US 90: The Creole Coast is a ~270-mile back-roads route from New Orleans to Pensacola on US 90 and AL 98 Scenic, driven in 2–3 days, that stays off I-10 through the Gulf Coast. - **Drive:** New Orleans → Pensacola - **Distance:** ~270 mi - **Days:** 2–3 - **Highways:** US 90, AL 98 Scenic - **Avoids:** I-10 - **Region:** Gulf Coast - **Themes:** Eats & Institutions, History & Markers, Oddities & Roadside Wonders, Small Towns The central act of the old Old Spanish Trail — the 1920s auto trail that ran St. Augustine to San Diego on what became US 90. Before the interstate, this was how America met the Gulf: shrimp boats, live oaks, a lighthouse in the median and five flags' worth of history. From New Orleans it threads the Mississippi Sound's old resort towns, rounds Mobile Bay through a utopian colony, and lands in Pensacola, where Spain planted a colony in 1559 — before St. Augustine, though the hurricane that wrecked it cost Pensacola the bragging rights. (The Trail's Florida and Louisiana acts are their own routes — chain all three for the full US 90.) Markers: Mississippi's coast towns keep dense runs of state historical markers — Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs reward walking. ## The drive, segment by segment ### The Creole Coast *New Orleans → Ocean Springs · ~95 mi* Out the old Chef Menteur Highway past Fort Pike, across the Rigolets and into the string of Mississippi Sound towns — Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Biloxi — that were the South's seaside playground a century before condos. Stops: - **Fort Pike & the Rigolets** (New Orleans East) · History & Markers — An 1820s brick fort guarding the back door to Lake Pontchartrain — the moody, marshy way out of New Orleans that I-10 drivers never see. - **100 Men Hall** (Bay St. Louis) · Music & Juke Joints — A 1922 chitlin'-circuit dance hall — Etta James, Big Joe Turner — still throwing shows in a town that calls itself 'a place apart.' - **Biloxi Lighthouse** (Biloxi) · History & Markers — Cast iron, 1848, and standing in the median of US 90 — it rode out Camille and Katrina and became the coast's comeback symbol. Long tended by women keepers, a 19th-century rarity. - **Ohr-O'Keefe Museum** (Biloxi) · History & Markers — Frank Gehry pavilions under the oaks for George Ohr, the self-declared 'Mad Potter of Biloxi,' whose wild pots America only appreciated fifty years too late. - **Walter Anderson Museum** (Ocean Springs) · History & Markers — The hermit genius who rowed twelve miles to Horn Island to paint pelicans through hurricanes. His secret painted room, discovered after his death, is here intact. ### The Singing River Shore *Ocean Springs → Mobile · ~60 mi* Art-town Ocean Springs, the Pascagoula (the 'singing river' of Native legend — and of one very famous 1973 UFO story), then over the delta into Mobile, the original Mardi Gras city — with the Dauphin Island spur hanging south into the bay's mouth. Stops: - **Pascagoula Abduction Marker** (Pascagoula) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — In 1973, two fishermen reported being floated aboard a craft by clawed beings — one of the most documented UFO cases ever. The city put up a historical marker in 2019. The river already had legends; it sings, after all. - **Africatown** (Mobile) · History & Markers — Founded by survivors of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship (1860, fifty years after the trade was banned). The wreck was finally found in 2019; the Heritage House museum tells the community's story. - **Mobile Carnival Museum** (Mobile) · History & Markers — Mardi Gras started here in 1703 — fifteen years before New Orleans existed, as Mobilians will gladly remind you. Trains, crowns and Joe Cain's whole story. - **The Dew Drop Inn** (Mobile) · Eats & Institutions — Mobile's oldest restaurant (1924), home of the upside-down hot dog. Jimmy Buffett name-checked it; locals never needed the endorsement. - **Dauphin Island & Fort Gaines** (Dauphin Island, AL) · History & Markers — The unhurried barrier island at the bay's mouth: Fort Gaines' 1864 ramparts (it was between here and Fort Morgan that Farragut roared 'Damn the torpedoes — full speed ahead!'), the Audubon bird sanctuary where spring migrants make landfall, and the Estuarium's touch tanks. ### The Eastern Shore & Pleasure Island *Mobile → Pensacola · ~90 mi* Fairhope's utopian pier, Point Clear's grand hotel — then choose your beach spur: west down the Fort Morgan peninsula to the 'Damn the torpedoes!' fort (car ferry to Dauphin Island closes the loop), or east through Gulf Shores and Orange Beach to the Flora-Bama. Pensacola collects you either way. Stops: - **Fairhope** (Fairhope, AL) · Small Towns — Founded 1894 as a single-tax utopian colony — the experiment technically still runs. Bookshops, flowers on every corner, and the pier at sunset over Mobile Bay. - **Fort Morgan & the Mobile Bay Ferry** (Fort Morgan, AL) · History & Markers — The star-shaped 1834 fort guarding the bay's throat — the other half of the 'Damn the torpedoes' duel. The little car ferry to Dauphin Island (40 minutes, dolphins frequent) turns the two spurs into the best loop on the coast. - **Bon Secour NWR** (Fort Morgan Peninsula) · Natural Beauty — Four miles of undeveloped dune and maritime forest between the condo walls — 'safe harbor' in French, and it is: nesting sea turtles, the Pine Beach trail, and the beach as it looked before 1950. - **Gulf Shores** (Gulf Shores, AL) · Small Towns — Alabama's sugar-sand main beach: the Hangout's family sprawl, Gulf State Park's pier and 28 miles of trails — and the hot-pink Pink Pony Pub (1956), the dive that every hurricane has spared. - **Orange Beach** (Orange Beach, AL) · Small Towns — Home of the Gulf's largest charter fishing fleet, The Wharf's 112-foot Ferris wheel, and back-bay dives reachable by boat — including Pirate's Cove across Arnica Bay, where the floor is sand and the dogs swim. - **Bamahenge** (Elberta, AL) · Oddities & Roadside Wonders — A full-scale fiberglass Stonehenge hidden in the pines of Barber Marina, with life-size dinosaurs lurking down the road — all by Virginia roadside auteur Mark Cline. Free, weird, perfect. - **Flora-Bama Lounge** (Perdido Key) · Honky-Tonks & Dives — The honky-tonk that straddles the state line — home of the Interstate Mullet Toss, where thousands hurl dead fish from Florida into Alabama each April. Songwriters' nights are shockingly good. - **National Naval Aviation Museum** (Pensacola) · History & Markers — Free, vast, and the Blue Angels practice overhead most summer Tuesday and Wednesday mornings — locals bring lawn chairs. - **Joe Patti's Seafood** (Pensacola) · Eats & Institutions — A working seafood market the size of a supermarket, bedlam since 1931. Get royal reds. McGuire's Irish Pub nearby has over a million signed dollar bills on the ceiling. ## Tips and best time to go - Eat oysters west of Mobile Bay, royal red shrimp east of it. - The Fort Morgan–Dauphin Island car ferry (about 40 minutes, dolphins likely) turns the two beach spurs into a loop — check the schedule, it bends to weather. - June through November is hurricane season — the coast shrugs, but watch forecasts. - US 90 IS the beach road through Mississippi; the Gulf is your passenger window for 40 straight miles — and Mississippi's first Buc-ee's is landing just north of it at Pass Christian (see the 🦫 layer; confirm it's open before you bank on brisket). ## Worth a detour - **Bellingrath Gardens** — 65 acres of camellias and azaleas south of Mobile — peak bloom late February into March. - **Ship Island excursion** — Boat from Gulfport to a barrier island with Fort Massachusetts and water the color the casinos promise. - **Gulf State Park Pier & trails** — The Gulf's longest fishing pier plus 28 paved miles through six ecosystems behind the beach — rent bikes, find gators. ## Spurs & side-roads - Pleasure Island (AL 182): Gulf Shores–Orange Beach–Flora-Bama - Fort Morgan Peninsula & the bay ferry - Dauphin Island ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is US 90: The Creole Coast and how many days does it take? US 90: The Creole Coast is about 270 miles and takes 2–3 days at a back-roads pace. ### Where does US 90: The Creole Coast start and end? It runs from New Orleans to Pensacola. ### Which highways does US 90: The Creole Coast follow? It follows US 90 and AL 98 Scenic. ### Which interstate does US 90: The Creole Coast replace? It avoids I-10, using US 90 and AL 98 Scenic instead. ### How many stops are on US 90: The Creole Coast, and what are the highlights? 19 stops are mapped, including Fort Pike & the Rigolets, 100 Men Hall, Biloxi Lighthouse, Ohr-O'Keefe Museum and Walter Anderson Museum. ### Which ready-made itineraries include US 90: The Creole Coast? The Red Dirt Roadhouse Run (6 days), The Gulf Crawl (6 days), The Old Spanish Trail: Full US 90 (8 days), The Deep South Grand Circle (14 days), The Whole Hog (28 days) and The Long Way to the Opry (21 days). ### When is the best time to drive US 90: The Creole Coast? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “June through November is hurricane season — the coast shrugs, but watch forecasts.” ## Ready-made itineraries using this route - [The Red Dirt Roadhouse Run](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/red-dirt-run) — 6 days, ~900 mi - [The Gulf Crawl](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/gulf-crawl) — 6 days, ~480 mi - [The Old Spanish Trail: Full US 90](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/old-spanish-trail) — 8 days, ~1000 mi - [The Deep South Grand Circle](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/deep-south-circle) — 14 days, ~1700 mi - [The Whole Hog](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/whole-hog) — 28 days, ~4300 mi - [The Long Way to the Opry](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/music-epic) — 21 days, ~3000 mi ## Road stories on this route - [A Gulf Coast Seafood Drive on US 90](https://dixieroadtrip.com/articles/gulf-coast-seafood-us-90) — Oysters, royal reds and working docks from New Orleans to Pensacola ## Connects with - [The Forgotten Coast](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/forgotten-coast) — Pensacola → St. Marks - [Alabama's Coastal Connection](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/coastal-connection) — Dauphin Island → Pensacola - [US 90: The Florida Backbone](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/ost-florida) — St. Augustine → Pensacola --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us90-coast Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05