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HANCOCK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Post Office Box 312 - 108 Cue Street - www2.datasync.com/history Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi 39520 228 467-4090
2000 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Brehm Bell, President Marine Collins Paul LaViolette Ruth Carlson Jim Henrie Ruth Good Charles Gray
July 12, 2001
Ms. Dorothy Fussell Eskew 311A Peg Wen Boulevard Statesboro, Ga 30461
Dear Ms. Eskew;
Thank you for the delightful article by your aunts, Dora and Clara Forhand. They were indeed enthusiastic travelers for young people of the period.
There is one thing that perplexes me, though. Why they debarked from the train in Pass Christian which is directly across the Bay of Saint Louis from Mr. Perkin?s home in the city of Bay Saint Louis. There was no automobile bridge over the bay for another 21 years after their visit and the crossing would have had to be by ferry. Bay Saint Louis had a fine train station at the time.
Mr. R. R. Perkins was then one of our wealthiest citizens. His beautiful home was demolished in 1953 when the second (replacement) bridge was built at that exact location. In the photograph of the house, you can see the carriage of which your aunts spoke in the drive beside the house. Two years later Mr. Perkins was sporting a 1910 Cadillac. The enclosed photograph was taken in 1912 in front of Merchants Bank, of which he was a founder.
I will deliver a copy of the article to Mr. Perkin?s granddaughter, Mary Perkins, at the Hancock County Library where she works.
As for Vidalia, Mississippi, we have absolutely no record. Hometown Mississippi by James Brieger does not mention it. However, we do have a Vidalia road a little north of the city so it must have existed at one time. I am checking on that and will let you know what I learn. The Jordans whom they mention were assuredly real and the river in the area of Vidalia road is named for the two Jordan brothers. I have not identified Mrs. J. H. Long but your aunts certainly traveled in good company.
Again, thank you for your kindness in sending us a copy of the article.
Sincerely,
Charles H. Gray HCHS Historian