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Community
SUNDAY, JULY 20,2003
pg
1B
the Gulf
Gulfside transcends racial issues for 80 years
BY BENNIE SHALLBETTER Staff Writer
In 1923, religion and society were sharply divided along racial lines. At that time the Bishop Robert E. Jones, the first black bishop and general superintendent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, had a vision for the future.
While speaking at Lakeside Assembly, a white Methodist campground in Ohio, Jones thought, why not have a meeting place for black Methodists in his own district that encompassed Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. No such place existed at the time anywhere along the Gulf Coast.
His wife, Valena C.
Jones, had grown up in the Bay St. Louis Waveland area, and was able to locate land available for purchase. Through the aid of individuals and churches, Bishop Jones raised about $4,000-
1925.
Gulfside was also the only place on the coast where blacks had access to the beach, directly in front of the property. They were not allowed to walk down the beach however and had to come through the woods and down through the property to reach the water.
There was also a pier for fishing and crabbing, one of Robert’s favorite pastimes when she wasn’t attending a dance in the pavilion or some other activity at the retreat.
‘You shuffle to the left and you shuffle to the right and you walk and you walk and you dance all night,” Roberts sang as she demonstrated the line dances done in her day. The point of the dance was to get back around to the boy you really liked.”
“Besides being a place where blacks could go, it was a place were teens could go when we weren’t allowed to go anywhere else and meet people we would have never met and get a little glimpse of the world outside,” said Roberts. “It made me curious about that world.”
During its heyday Gulfside offered a place for black artists and musicians to give concerts and per-
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