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However formidable, this edifice, like so many others, did not survive hurricane Katrina.
This was a very substantial house, located on Waveland?s beach near what is now Nicholson Avenue. The Sea Coast Echo, in an article about Mrs. Nicholson?s visit to the paper in 1892, explains the origins of the term. ?This name was suggested by a retaining wall...built down the beach, in front of the premises.... A seawall of this type of construction in contrast to the many timber and piling make-shift retaining walls that had been built and failed of purpose, would hold out against the many invading elements of wind and wave. The high wall was so constructed that it did resemble a fort.? The wall would have predated the present beach road; at the time of its construction, it is probable that only a shell road existed between the natural beach front and the house.
The Poetry of Pearl Rivers
Fort Nicholson was for many years the summer home of Eliza Jane Poitevent Nicholson, who from an early age became a noted poet.
Born in 1849, Miss Poitevent was a daughter of William James Poitevent. He had come from North Carolina in the early 19th century, settling at Pearl River. I ler mother was Mary Amelia Russ, who had come to Pearl River in 1836, and was a member of another family which became prominent in the area. Her journey, believed to be by wagon train, is well described in a journal she kept, recording daily events along the way. According to a document in the Hancock County Historical Society, William Poitevent became ?one of the largest planters and most influential politicians of the County.? From this early beginning came the prominent family long established in the historic communities of Hancock County like Logtown and Gainesville.
Though young Eliza was one of eight children, she was raised by an uncle and aunt because of her mother?s poor health. Their home was in Hobolochitto, now called Picayune. Living near Pearl River in the beautiful Piney Woods might have been a lonely existence for a single child, but the environment must have had an effect on her sensitive nature. At 14, she was already writing delicate poetry, and by 18 she was being published.
Her early poems exhibit a certain simplicity. In one of her pieces, she writes, ?But bear it tenderly to those/Who loved the simple thing,/Because of simple joys and woes/ The singer used to sing.? Writing under the nom de plume of Pearl Rivers, her work was published in newspapers in New Orleans and New York, including the New York Home Journal, and in a book called simply Lyrics, published in 1873 in Philadelphia, PA. Copy of title page and Preface of the original book are attached.
In the Louisville and Nashville publication ?Along the Gulf,? Pearl Rivers was said to be ?the poet Laureate of the birds and flowers of the South.?
Later, in her senior years, she turned to serious poetry and published two major poems, called ?Hagar? and ?Leah,? published in Cosmopolitan in 1893 and 1894. The former is considered her masterwork. Borrowing from the biblical story of Hagar, the poet described an