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14
Back Porch
The Gulf Coast Spring Pilgrimage -an Informal History with Up-to-Date Information
by Patti Wilson
of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Council of Garden Clubs
Pilgrimage by definition is “a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of devotion," and the people who participate are pilgrims. That is, in any other part of the country outside of the Deep South. We understand Pilgrimage to mean tours of homes, gardens, historic places, landmarks, etc. organized by local garden clubs or other civic organizations.
The Natchez Garden Club is credited with holding the first Pilgrimage in the spring of 1932, all because of a late freeze. In the midst of the Great Depression the annual convention of the Garden Clubs of Mississippi was meeting in Natchez. Garden Club members had worked long and hard in their gardens to showcase them during the convention, but their plans were nipped in the bud, literally, by a late hard freeze. The beautiful old mansions were in disrepair due to lack of funds, for the South suffered along with the rest of the country; but members bravely opened their homes to their gardening sisters from other parts of the state, and Natchez gave birth to the Pilgrimage.
In March of 1939 the Garden Clubs in the tri-county area which includes Hancock, Harrison and Jackson Counties hosted Pageant Week, a coastwide extravaganza showcasing homes, gardens, etc., much like the pilgrimages we enjoy today. The students at Gulf Park College in Long Beach presented a three-act play and, on the beautiful
campus overlooking the Mississippi Sound, was a gigantic Floral and Horticultural Exposition. Pageant Week was repeated in 1940, but World War II put a step to it until its revival in 1948 by the newly formed Coast Council of Garden Clubs (now the Mississippi Gulf Coast Council of Garden Clubs, Inc.)
Today’s Council is comprised of 26 clubs in die Tri-County area, with approximately 1000 members, and was organized for the express purpose of presenting an annual Spring Pilgrimage. This they have done successfully for the past 49 years. There is some question as to the Pilgrimage of 19TO following Hurricane Camille but this is, for all intents and purposes, the 50th Anniversary of the Annual Spring Pilgrimage. The Pilgrimage is unique in that all events are free, the only complimentary Pilgrimage in the South, made possible by contributions from several local businesses, individual
patterns, local does and counties, the Mississippi Gdf Coast Convention and Vtskbn Surau and a grant from the Mississippi Divinon of Economic and Community Development.
This year, Gulf ftrt College, now USM Gulf Park, will again be the scene of a gigantic Floral and Horticultural Exposition. 'Rowers by the Sea” is loued as a Floral and Horticultural Egposirion on the Mississippi Gulf Coast celebrating the golden anniversary of the annual Spring Pilgrimage and 50 years of hospitalky and shared love of God's gifts. Th*? thrte-day opening event is dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Leo William (Rebecca) Seal, Sr. who was active in die Bay-Waveland Garden Chib and was instrumental in the formation of the first Pilgrimage, and to all the women along the Gulf Coast who have preserved the tradition of hospitality, friendship and community service.
The famous Friendship Oak of Gulf Park College, now USM Gulf Park
,5.