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William Bartram Trail	?^
March 1st, 1978
Page 3
1* BRIEF HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY
Prior to the creation of Hancock County on December ll*? 1812 the Indian* named the area which is now the Bay St* Louis and surrounding area ASHOUCPOULOU, as the Indians named it for what their translation meant Bad Grass which grew here. A low ground cover with very sharp burrs*
There have been many different spellings amd vartatfcpns since then such as Aehouccupouloui, Achuocupoulus, Achuccupoulous, Achuoupulus,Choucoupoulou, and Chouccupoulouso
Prior to 1812 the County when occupied was a mission effort begun by Spanish Franciscians among the Indians* During the Spanish rule in 1699 the French established the French Fort at Mobile and Biloxi. Under the command of Pierre Le Moyne de Iberville the Gulf Coast was explored and on an expedition early in 1700 the Baye of St* Louis was discovered*
"After resting for two weeks at Biloxi they set out to locate a passage through which they could go to find the Mississippi River to the west of our fort. All our coastal waters are shallow in that direction as far as five leagues out* They found a Bay one league wide and four leagues in circum-ferance, forming a half circle* We named it Baye De St* Louis* We went ashore there and found a quantity of game of all kinds of animals, that we killed, more than fifty animals, (as many buffalo as deer; we made no attempt to kill more)* After three days we left that place and farther on we found a lake we called Lake Ponchartrain* We made our way to the Mississippi and returned to Biloxi*M