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

---

4B » SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2001
Blvd. — It’s all ours	Continued	from	Page	IB
and see all this. Stay for a week and enjoy it. Live there for twenty-six years, like we have done and love it. For all of these are part of the road’s subtle charm, all of these collectively give it that subtle importance I spoke about, that distinct personal flavor that is ours.
I say ‘ours’ in its strictest sense. Think about it.
There is no beach road like this to our west. Not a one. None. To our east, Hwy. 90, an impersonal 60 mph, four-lane, no-man’s land, isolates the local residents from their beaches. We don’t have that with our road. Ours is uniquely ours to own, to step out and enjoy at any time, and we do.
Look at the license plates of the cars and trucks I spoke about. There will be some Louisiana plates, people with camps in the area, but mostly it’s Mississippi plates, and these will be mainly Hancock plates at that.
It’s as if we in Hancock County have a swimming pool, a Wet Willy, a sand box, a fishing pond, and a parade ground in each of our back yards. And in a way, we do.
That is not to say we haven’t made changes over the years, we have. It’s no longer a shell road meandering between massive live oaks that we see in old pictures of the Coast. Some pictures of old Bay St. Louis show it was actually a dual road in if these can be believed
strong tidal currents and wind-driven water that had undermined the wall, had eroded the ’67 beach until all that was left of it was isolated pockets of sand butting against the concrete wall.
Soon these were gone and portions of the wall again became undermined and starting to collapse. In severe storms the spray from wind-driven waves slamming into the exposed wall, splashed high over the road and thrill seekers drove the road to experience these crude showers. At times the road had to be closed due to the danger posed by these storms and their waves.
In 1993, the wall was completely restored and the Army Corps of Engineers brought in heavy equipment massive pipes and an offshore barge.
All of these were to make a second, this time broader (300 feet) beach using sand pumped in from a man-made trench about 400 hundred yards offshore. The feeling was broader was better.
It took a lot of sand.
For us living on the beach and nearby, it was a lively, noisy, exciting time. People came from miles around to watch the tons of sand being pumped onto the beach from the offshore dredge. All of a sudden Beach Boulevard was a tourist attraction! Let other places have their roller coasters and carnival shows; we had our
becomes covered with blowing sand that makes the road difficult to use and on occasion impassible. When this occurs, the beach crews shift from sweeping the beach to sweeping the road, brushing up the tire-rutted sand and restoring it to the beach.
Various ways are being used to control or at least mitigate this wind-blown process. Nylon net fences and tall beach grasses have been laid in staggered rows parallel to the road to keep the sand from blowing onto the road. These have helped and in places, dunes have grown that all but cover the fences.
Surprisingly, the alien grasses have adapted quite well to the man-made beach. They have thrived, unhampered by draught, sinking their roots down five and eight feet for water. An added extra, is that the presence of these tall grasses, rather than being an ugly distraction, has given a distinct softening tone to the beach’s overall appearance.
If the 26 year life of the ’67 beach is a yardstick, then this
beach should last 20 more years. Nature isn’t quite that uniform, but this gives a feel of the expected life of this beach. We can rest comfortably, the wall and in turn our road, are safe at least till then.
Actually, all Mississippi beaches are man-made and all are migrating westward. As I write this, some of these beaches are being replenishing (but with few spectators - remember, anyone who wants to watch, has to cross Highway ‘60 mph’ 90).
The coast communities have found that rather than protecting the beach road, these beaches’ principal importance is the financial return the communities get from tourists.
This isn’t exactly true with us. We want to play on it ourselves. The tourists, while welcome, are going to have to share it with us.
All we have here is unique. We like our two-lane boulevard with its live oak trees, its concrete wall and its sandy beach. It’s ours and we plan to enjoy it for years to come. So lay back, relax and enjoy it with us.