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

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(allegedly) unloaded up river from the location near the present-day Interstate and then shipped overland to (you guessed it) Chicago.
One of the inlets on this river is referred to as Shingle Mill Lake - referring to the location of such a single mill during the lumber boom. Further upstream on Rotten Bayou is a lake known as ?Moonshine Lake'for reasons you can only imagine- and still further upstream one encounters ?Church House Lake? - close to the cemetery where the original St. Joseph Church once stood.
Other stones recall how two men were ?fishing' (illegally) not far from there, using dynamite for bait - when apparently a stick of dynamite exploded before being disposed of, causing the death of both fishermen. The body of one was never found. A similar story tells of the death of seven individuals (again in the Rotten Bayou area) close to present-day Bayou View Road in Diamondhead, when their boat capsized on a turn in the river - apparently all occupants were drowned and are buried close to the site of the accident in unmarked graves in the wooded area across the Bayou. These stories are almost impossible to verify, but continue to live in the memories of our older residents.
I recently met a man in Hancock Hospital, aged 84, from the Clermont Harbor area of the county, who stated that he only remembers one Indian in the area during his childhood. He said they referred to him simply as ?Griswell?. He lived alone on a nearby bayou, smoked his pipe and patted the children on the head. Mr. Garcia did not know if he had a last name or whatever became of him. ^
In the older cemetery of Bayou Cadet, there also exists the marked grave of one Cadet LaFontaine, after whom Bayou Cadet is called. Nowadays it is usually referred to as Bayou Caddy - the site of the second dockside casino in Hancock County.
Perhaps our oldest living parishioner at this time is Hilda Curet Cretors, now bed-ridden and in her 95th year. Her older brother, George, survived to w ithin 5 months of his 100th birthday, and another brother, Camille, died only a few years ago, at the age of 97.
Another couple setting new records is Bernice Koenenn and Leo Garriga, who were married in this church late one evening by Fr. A. C. Denis, w ith the oil lamps of the time to illuminate the church on July 29, 1933. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in this church in 1983 and their 60th anniversary in 1993 - and this year they w ill celebrate their 61st year of married life together. They are very active parishioners, and few couples can say they have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the same church in which they were married.
I have researched to some extent the involvement of people from this
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area in the Civil War activities and come up with precious little. However, only in recent weeks I have been told of the existence of an old Civil War battlefield in the ?upper Gainsville? area of Hancock County. That area is now part of the NASA.test facility and is not generally open to the public. Most of it is in an overgrown state and offers no traces of its history,although it has been told to me that some people in the past claimed to have found musket balls and some cannon balls in that vicinity. Also, only in the past few weeks, 1 have been told that there are some Civil War era graves to be seen near Pearlington. behind the Oak Harbor subdivision, where about twenty two Civil War soldiers were buried. A Favre family cemetery in Bay St. Louis is also said to contain two marked graves of Civil War veterans and one is supposed to exist right here in the Bayou Coco Cemetery. Other than that, little has come to my attention of Civil War interest in this part of the county.
As already mentioned, this booklet contains some historical information-some perhaps of dubious historical value, some folklore and stories of elderly parishioners. Many of our parishioners have much more to add and hopefully somebody, someday will gather this interesting information but for now I will conclude with what I have already gathered. The past is now behind us, and as we live in the present, we look forward with some anticipation to what the future may bring to this parish and this area of Hancock County. Only a few years ago, few people would have envisioned the Casino industry as it has sprung up along the Coast and especially that Bay St. Louis would host the first dockside Casino facility on the Coast-now joined by a second at Bayou Caddy, an area that few people ever visited unless they got lost and kept driving to the end of the Beach Road. The building of a new County High School close to Stennis airport has also added to the activity of this area and now with the four lane highway being built on Highway 603 to access the airport,we can expect to see a dramatic growth in vehicular traffic?much of which w ill have a economic impact on Kiln.
Life is a series of changes and so we pray that God will continue to guide us through the changing times that await us as we continue to grow and worship together.
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