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nearly every structure in Clermont Harbor, eight months ago.
Like so many other residents in Clermont Harbor, he is trying to make the decision whether to come back or move on.
"I want to rebuild," he said. "FEMA has not come back with a positive guideline, and the insurance companies are not in any hurry. Every day it gets harder for the people who want to come back."
According to records from the Hancock County	Historical
Society, the modem day Clermont Harbor began taking shape in 1914. Charles Hopkins, the president of Gulf Coast Development at the time, purchased six to 18 lots, which later became the Clermont Harbor Hotel. The hotel would stand as the signature of the community until it was destroyed by fire in 1946.
With the hotel attracting outsiders, the com-
munity became a resort for vacationers from New Orleans, as well as a home to a growing fishing community	in
Hancock County.
On September 29, 1915, a powerful hurricane with estimated 140-mph-winds heavily damaged the area, testing the resolve of the community much like Katrina has done.
Supervisor David Yarborough estimates only 15 percent of recent residents are living in the southern parts of Clermont Harbor.
"A lot of the retired people have made the choice to be with their family in different places," he said.
With the utter destruction of the community, former resident Dane St. Pe' has initiated a plan to build a memorial to the victims and survivors of Katrina in Clermont Harbor.
St. Pe' moved there in 1979, and has lived there on and off for the last 27
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years.
"Before we went to Florida after the storm, I climbed over trees and houses to get to Clermont Harbor," he said. "I saw the three columns in front of Garcia's. I said those needed to be saved."
He has worked with local leaders over the past few months, and this September, he is hopeful the memorial will be unveiled.
Although the community may look like a ghost town now, there are reason the community may come back.
In a twist of irony, commercial development may bring Clermont Harbor back to the pinnacle of economic growth, much like it did with the Clermont Hotel.
The Silver Slipper Casino and Paradise Properties are poised to develop the Lakeshore area into a resort destination. If this happens, Clermont Harbor may be rejuvenated.
"This property is too good," Buisson said. "There is super living here, people love it, and with the casino who knows."
"It will be a different group of people in Clermont Harbor," Yarborough said. "The community will come back, but for right now the elderly and the poor are the biggest concern."