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

---

The interstate was four years into^ construction iri^V 1969 when Bill $ Maurer, then pres-' ’.* ident of the Dia- . mondhead Corp., drove in to look at a wooded 6,000-. acre site bordering’ the northwest •., shore of the Bay ’ St. Louis.
Now, 3,000 peo- _ , pie call Diamond- , head home. On a summer weekend,
600 golfers daily play one of the two 18-hole golf courses; 800 a day play in the “snowbird season” from February to April. The interstate Mississippi 607 was one reason the resort community was located in Hancock County, said Holcomb Hector, vice president of the Purcell Corp., formerly the Diamondhead Corp.
Availability of property, water access and the nearby target markets of New Orleans and Baton Rouge residents were other reasons. But it’s “pretty likely” that those advantages ^ would have been overlooked if the interstate had not been headed that '■ way, Hector said.	1
“This place was hard to get to before I-10,” he said. “If you were com- ; mg from Gulfport, you had to go to Pass Christian and take Henderson Street to a turnoff north of DeLisle ' about five miles and then we’re back in through there.”
Now the rolling knolls of Diamond- j head house three-golf-cart garages, , Neighborhood Watch signs and bright : yellow Times Picayune newspaper j boxes that reveal the loyalties of New^ ; Orleans expatriates.	:'\J
This exit is in sharp contrast to the other 17. Its merchants supply most ; any need a resident might have, from. J hair styling to dental work, hardware j to homemade chocolates. Lawn care is a big industry in Diamondhead, where the grass surrounding the”! houses is as lush as the green golf I courses.	—i