If I told you that you could own a beautifully landscaped 3,000-square-foot home on Kipapa Way or Hamakua Street with three bedrooms, three baths, a two-car garage and a huge deck for under $200,000, you’d be pounding on my door for more information. Oh, and it has a great view of Diamondhead.

Well, I have to tell you that it’s true. The average price of homes there is under $200,000 or if you wanted to rent, it would be in the $1,000 to $1,200 range.

It could all be yours, in Diamondhead, Miss. I came upon Diamondhead — one word — by accident while I was Googling an address.

Instead of Kamehameha Highway, it showed me a map with Kamehameha Place. Nearby was Hana Place, Koloa Street, Hamakua Street, Kapalama Drive, Diamondhead Drive, Pokai Way and Aloha Drive. I felt like I was in "The Twilight Zone."

The streets were familiar, but just a little off. Like Mapunapuna Drive (Honolulu has a Mapunapuna Street), Alapai Drive (instead of Street), or Kaumakapili Street (instead of Church).

There are places on the mainland that have Hawaiian names. I remember a Honolulu Creek in Alaska and a Honolulu Hills in California. There are Aloha Plumbing companies in Texas and California. L&L Hawaiian BBQ has restaurants in nine states.

But Diamondhead, Miss., is the only city I’ve ever heard of that has a Hawaiian name, outside our state. Maybe readers of my column can think of others.

The city was originally planned as a retirement center for people living on the Gulf Coast, from New Orleans to Biloxi. But the city has evolved and is mostly young families today.

Annual events include a Hawaiian Open and a Big Kahuna Golf Tournament held each year. The latter raised $4,000 for veterans’ groups this July.

They also had a luau at the Diamondhead Country Club this summer. "Longtime residents do feel a connection with Hawaii," says Diamondhead Country Club and Property Owners Association General Manager Scott Irwin. "They have asked for more Hawaiian-themed events."

Hawaiian terminology seems to be in usage in the city. In thanking people who had served on a local board of directors, the president wished them a "big Diamondhead aloha."

The city has a Diamondhead Bridge Club, a Diamondhead Children’s Theater, a Diamondhead Dance Club, a Diamondhead Performing Arts Society, a Diamondhead Rotary Club, a Molokai Village Condo Association, and a Lanai Village Condo Association.

Diamondhead originated in September 1969. It was named by two people who had once lived in Hawaii. Architect Bill Maurer and illustrator Ken Venley had spent four years living here, working on the architectural design of Honolulu Airport.

They left Hawaii and ended up in Mississippi, creating a new community on the Gulf Coast. Maurer and Venley decided to have a Hawaiian theme for the property, and called it Diamondhead.

Why did they make Diamondhead one word, I asked Holcomb Hector, who’s a vice president with the Purcell Co., the real estate development company that created Diamondhead.

"Probably because they didn’t know any better. I don’t know for sure," Hector said. In 1970 the first lots were sold. "Street names were picked out of a Hawaiian dictionary by engineers who laid out the community. As I understand it, they threw darts and picked whatever was hit.

The area land covers approximately 11 square miles. "We have a population of about 12,000," Irwin continues.

Irwin, who attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa and was assistant varsity tennis coach in the 1970s, is also unsure why the name is just one word. "Possibly to avoid someone’s trademark or to distinguish it from Hawaii," Irwin speculates.

Diamondhead, Miss., was about where Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005. "It was devastating for the community," Irwin says. "Everything on the south side of Interstate 10 was wiped out. Because we were not incorporated as a city at the time, we weren’t eligible for state or federal disaster relief. That prompted us to become an official city in 2012.

The Diamondhead Community Center was built in a Polynesian style with lava rocks, Irwin says.

The weather is pleasant in Diamondhead. Highs are usually in the 40s to 60s in the winter, and can top 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. New Orleans is just a 45-minute drive away, Irwin says.

Hawaii and Diamondhead, Miss., have a few things in common. Both grew sugar cane for many decades. Hector points out that the only two hospitals for patients with Hansen’s disease in the U.S. were in Hawaii and Carville, La., which is not far from Diamondhead.

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