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STENNIS CENTER
NASA scientist sifts through history
By ROBERT COLLINS
SPECIAL TO THE SUN HERALD
STENNIS SPACE CENTER — When NASA established the Mississippi Test Facility in 1961, five communities were relocated to make room for America’s space program. One unexpected outcome of the relocation was that the sites were preserved and have remained relatively undisturbed for more than 30 years.
The untouched sites offer a wealth of information about the-residents of those towns and also about the early settlers and prehistoric inhabitants of the fertile area next to the Pearl River. This is where NASA research scientist Marco Giardino enters the picture.
Giardino is a research scientist with the Earth Systems Science Office at the space center. He and A1 Genin have been conducting research for the past three years into the history of the old Logtown area.
“We’re doing extensive historical research on the land ownership and historical events that surround Logtown,” Giardino said.
The research, being done in anticipation of logging activities, is mandated by federal and state regulations so that archaeologists can “prevent the destruction of sites that are important
PHOTO COURTESY OF STENNIS SPACE CENTER
Marco Giardino, a NASA research scientist at Stennis Space Center, plans his next survey of the old Logtown area using maps compiled from remote sensing information.
to understanding some aspect of the history of Mississippi, ” Giardino said.
To research a town that no longer exists, Giardino visited the state archives in Jackson and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. What he found was many interesting people made their homes along the Pearl River.
“We found an unpublished diary written in 1723 by a French officer who had been sent by Bienville to
explore the Pearl River,” he said. "We know from that account there were no European settlers in the Logtown area.”
Around 1724 to 1725, Giardino said, the first land grant from Bienville was made to a Frenchman in the area of Logtown. “From then on,” he said, "we have pretty much an uninterrupted land record all the way to when NASA took over the land.”