Harbor Garden House

Comfortable, quiet, and private vacation rental home with a nature connection
on the Inner Harbor in Ocean Springs, Mississippi

  

Recently renovated 1620-square foot, 3-bedroom, 1.75-bath house with sunroom, two porches, covered carport, herb and vegetable gardens, fruit trees, wireless Internet, cable tv, firepit, and private woods with walking paths. Rocking chairs, down pillows, memory foam mattress in the master bedroom, complimentary bicycles, horseshoes, large gas grill, and other comforts and distractions. If you need to work or want some quiet time alone, there's a study/office with a desk, comfortable couch, and a separate entrance. The kitchen is set up for serious cooks and includes a wall-mounted oven, large microwave oven, countertop convection oven, blender, coffeemaker, coffee grinder, food processor, electric kettle, and good kitchen knives and cookware.

Located on a quiet dead-end street on a hill above the inner harbor with live oaks and banana trees, directly across the inner harbor from Shearwater Park (The house is barely visible among the trees in the linked photo.) and the entrance to Shearwater Pottery.

There's excellent bird watching and wooded walking paths, and you're only five blocks from downtown Ocean Springs. The property is a Certified Wildlife Habitat per the National Wildlife Federation. (But don't fret about wildlife in the house.) Guests love the views into the into the back gardens and woods through the mostly-glass south wall of the kitchen and living and dining area. Settle into one of the rockers and enjoy the all-day bird show. (Binoculars, bird guides, and birdseed provided.)

Contact Don at HarborGardenHouse@gmail.com for rental details, rates, and reservations. The house is listed on airbnb.com and TripAdvisor.com, and you can also call Don directly at 228.806.1009. The basic rate is $195/night with substantial discounts for week-long (18%, like getting a free day and a quarter) or month-long (35%) visits.

More information and photos:

Facebook - with lots of photos

Google Places - location and driving instructions, detailed contact information, comments

Airbnb.com - Explore the house and grounds, check availability, and make reservations on AirBnB.com.

Tumblr - A photo blog for guests and potential guests to help you get to know the house and the local area. It features nature observations, good food opportunities, local events, fishing tips, and updates on the house and grounds.

Trip Advisor - Another booking service, similar to the Airbnb.com listing.

iNaturalist.org - An online database of nature observations at the Harbor Garden House and other areas.

Harbor Garden House vacation rentaVacation rental, Gulf Coast, Ocean Springs, ms

Late July, 2022 - Summer

Herbs: There's turmeric, basil, ginger, oregano, fennel, chives, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, bay, wild garlic, and Greek oregano.
Wildflowers: There are a blue spiderworts scattered everywhere and a variety of summer wildflowers in the woods and along the harbor road. Dewberries, blackberries, and the wild blueberries (mayberries) may have some lingering fruit.
Vegetables: We've cut back on the vegetable garden since the Covid pandemic, but there may something to share.
Fruit: The citrus trees are still blooming and have set fruit. The persimmons have fruit that will ripen in the coming weeks. It's a great year for figs. Help yourself. The blueberries are done for the year.
Local Food: You can get delicious fresh (often caught that morning) shrimp from the boats in the harbor. Expect to pay about $3.50 per pound for smaller shrimp and $7.00 per pound for jumbo shrimp (16 count or larger). Local fresh shrimp are the greatest food bargain you'll find and the taste is superb.
Critters and wild things: All the usual bird suspects are here: Cardinals, Catbirds, Bluejays, various doves, Brown Thrashers, Easter Towhees, Carolin Wrens, Titmice, Brown Pelicans, and various gulls and terns in the harbor. Nesting is over for the year and there are lots of juvenille birds. Bald Eagles are seen regularly and Ospreys are an everyday sight. We occasionally hear Great Horned Owls or Screech Owls at night. The Screech Owls chose not to nest in the house we provided. The Great Blue Herons have just finished rearing their second broods in the tall pines across the harbor at Shearwater Pottery.
Toads and frogs call on warm evenings and the Leopard Frogs chatter away on warm afternoons. Two of the ephemeral ponds are full of water. The box turtles are been out and about every day.
There's no sign yet that bats have moved into the pair of bat houses near the elderflower grove on the lower portion of the west woods. But they come from somewhere to patrol the neighborhood and eat mosquitos every night.
Rabbits show up mostly during the early morning and late evening, but also during the day. Raccoons sometimes come at night digging in the wood chip pathways or scavenge extra seeds from the bird feeders.

Vacation rental - Harbor Garden House vacation rental ocean springs, ms

View of house and garden from the harbor side in early summer, showing pole beans and tomatoes. Guests have picking privileges, including the turmeric and ginger in the foreground and the herbs nearer the house.