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Texas. Louisiana and Mississippi at that time.
Waveland. Mississippi was centrally located, on the Gulf Coast. 55 miles from New Orleans, where his main office was located at 631 Baronne Street.
He raised approximately $4,000 to purchase land through the aid of churches and individuals. With this money he bought 300 acres and leased 316 acres How could a Black man purchase beach front property in Mississippi during the hay day of Jim Crow? Simple. Bishop Jones was very fair-skinned and the sellers mistook him for white.
There was only one building on the whole of the 616 acres. It was called the Jackson House because it supposedly had been the home of President Andrew Jackson.
It was a magnificent old mansion with very large rooms. The structure stood some eight to ten feet above the ground and the first floor had a porch wide enough for meeting space, that rapped around the front and sides. The space underneath ?provided a comfortable shelter for the cows and the hogs that roamed the nearby forest.?
Bishop Jones marshalled his force of 14 preachers, and local craftsmen set about putting the deteriorating structure back in living condition. Ms. Roberts says that the bottom was eventually closed in and a kitchen constructed in the rear. The men also built a screened-in pavilion with a dirt floor where meetings were to be held. The immediate grounds were cleaned and a tennis court etched out also.
There was a poor excuse for a dirt road leading to the Jackson house area. When it rained, there literally was no road so most people walked the three miles or so to the Jackson house, through the woods.
Those first two decades under the leadership of Bishop Jones saw Gulfside blossom into not only a pivotal point of the New Orleans area, but for the region as well.
In the early days, events at Gulfside took place in the summer: The Young Mens Christian Association Conference, the Summer School for Town and Country Pastors, the Summer School of Theology for aspiring ministers, the Boy's Camp and Girls Reserves. Bishop Jones* Area Council Meetings and picnics sponsored by groups throughout the region.
Ms. Ruth Sanders went to Gulfside through her church. Wesley United Methodist, reputed by some to be the oldest Black Methodist congregation in New Orleans. A Ms. Purnell would take the girls every summer for a week. Ms. Sanders remembers rigorous religious instruction and recreation. She also remembers, ?being awakened up in what they called early morning, but it was still night."
For Attorney Lolis Elie. who went to Gilbert Academy, a Black Methodist high school in New Orleans located on St. Charles Ave. where De LaSalle High School is today, traveling to Gulfside was his first trip outside New Orleans. Tom Dent, local writer, and his brothers, went every summer with the Dryades Street YMCA.
Bishop Jones? tenure at Gulfside. which spanned the Great Depression, was speck-
Ms. Purnell and her Wesley Lnited Methodist girls youth group
led w ith threats of foreclosure. But Gulfside , always managed to meet payment. Pennies ; were collected, philanthropists courted. ? and lots sold from the 300 acres that were bought.
There was also the prejudice of the times. My father, who was from Waveland. volunteered often at Gulfside. He told me of cross burnings on several occasions. Many w hites were angered by Black folks' ?defiling? the Jackson house.
One winter morning in the 1940s. it mysteriously caught fire. Some blame it on the Poor Boys School that used the facility i in the winter. Some blamed it on whites.
; A hurricane in 1947 finished the Jackson house and other buildings that were built on the purchased land.
' In 1944, Bishop Robert N. Brooks became administrator of Gulfside. Under
his leadership the Board of Trustees was formed so that the burden of Gulfside did not rest with just one person. He encouraged people to give dollars instead of pennies. Over a period of eight years Brooks Chapel Gulfside Inn. Harry Hoosier Auditorium and the Bishop's house were built. These buildings were of cinder block construction. so they were better able to withstand the follies of man and nature.
Under Bishop Brooks' leadership. Gulfside continued to be the focal point for ?training...youth retreats, jurisdictional meetings, and leadership training enterprises.*' But all was slowed when in 1968 Black Methodists were finally accepted on an equal footing by white Methodists.
The all Black Central Jurisdiction was disbanded, and the Black membership was interspersed among the existing white con-
ferences. As a result, interest in Gulfside dwindled.
There was talk of selling Gulfside and dividing the proceeds among the 12 Black ME colleges. But those efforts were laid to rest by Bishop Mack B. Stokes. Bishop Ernest T. Dixon and layman. Wayne Calbert. These three worked tirelessly to preserve what they thought was a Black treasure. The fruit of their labor can be seen in the newly renovated, modem facility that exists today under the direction of Dr and Mrs Charles Kellogg.
It should be noted that during the civil rights movement Gulfside served as a meeting place for the region. Civil rights activist. Hollis Watkins of Jackson. MS, says ?there were only three places where Blacks could meet in Mississippi during the movement. Toogaloo College. Rusk College and Gulfside.'*
Today. Gulfside is still being used as a meeting place for groups of African Americans from all walks of life. Regional meetings of the Southern Black Cultural Alliance have been held there over the past ten years. Numerous retreats by business and religious groups, not all Methodist, are also held there on a regular basis.
The facility is also open to individuals who simply want to stretch out and bask in its fine history. So Gulfside Assembly is unquestionably hallow ground for not just Black Methodists but Black Americans. When we look at the state of Black America today. Gulfside becomes increasingly more important, as a place and as a concept.
Photos courtesy of Amistad Research Center
The Neu Orleans Tribune Mav 199) 19