This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

A Slow Drift down Pearl River « Russell Guerin
http://www.russgueriacom/history/hancock-county/a-slow-drift-down.
bustling with business. Ads for hotels, stores, a dancing school, and various services are in evidence.
In its final edition, the editor did not shy from pointing out the merits of the area. “This is a section of Mississippi which has been much overlooked and greatly underrated by those abroad, and superficial observers at home. Its geographical position is enough at once to establish the value of its importance, both for agricultural and commercial purposes.” He boasted of “...the finest of fruit, such as the fig, the peach, the orange and the lemon, all of which flourish here in voluptuous luxuriance.... The extensive forests of matchless timber of various kinds, has for a long time afforded a profitable investment of capital and labor to a large portion of the citizens. This application of industry may be pursued to an indefinite extent, as the quantity of timber is almost inexhaustible.... There are in the trade between this place and New Orleans, three fine steamboats running regularly for the transportation of passengers and produce. The country on Pearl River, with its mild and salubrious climate, offers its beautiful villages convenient and helthy (sic) retreats to the inhabitants of the city, during the sultry and sickly season of the summer.”
Benjamin Wailes passed through Gainesville in 1852. He observed a very large steam sawmill, commenting that the site was at the head of tidewater. Overall, he thought the town “not as handsome as Napoleon.”
No structures remain of the towns south of Stennis until one reaches Pearlington. All such had to be removed under the easement owned by the federal government and surrounding the test site.
Napoleon - about three miles downriver
Named for the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, this village lay just south of Gainesville. It was first settled in 1798 by Simon Favre, whose father had received a grant from the Spanish government. This was a smaller community compared to Gainesville and Logtown, and like the latter, it is survived by a lovely cemetery. When still a town, its people also engaged in the timber industry, and practiced agriculture and stock raising as well. Lately, we have found that brickmaking was also part of their economy.
Simon Favre’s father, John Claudius, was the previous owner. He transferred this parcel to his son, who is believed to have built the first house and store at Napoleon, the store eventually becoming the back of the Napoleon Baptist church. According to the WPA, it was near two large oaks and one large cedar tree. Simon eventually owned at least three sections of land along the Pearl.
Benjamin Wailes, not one to bestow idle compliments, considered the town “handsome.” Like Gainesville, Napoleon also has a beautiful bluff, dropping almost straight down to the river. In front to the bluff is a lovely island with a stand of tall cypress. Wailes wrote in his journal that it was first called Pearltown. The origin of this name comes from the accounts of Iberville that the Indians found pearls in the clam shells here, and proffered a bag of then to Bienville.
The first printing press in Hancock County is said to have been located here.
According to a legend involving Napoleon, his brother Jerome came to America to enlist help in rescuing the Emperor from exile. Supposedly, Jerome had landed at Waveland. The story includes a tale of buried treasure somewhere around the settlement later called Napoleon.
Devil’s Swamp
The line of vision may be too obscured for one to see past the high land and forests on the river’s banks, but if a person could project past them he would see Devil’s Swamp. That is where the Choctaws hid out during Indian Removal of the Jackson years, and where the Koch boys escaped conscription by the Rebel army - escaped, up to a point, anyway.
Possum Walk - about two more miles
2 of 8
2/20/2015 1:12 PM