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

---

Sister Mildred Wheat of Pearlington divides her time these days between the Greater Mt. Zion Church, lifelong friends, her husband of more than 50 years James and of course, fishing. Wheat and her mother before her were born and raised in at The Point, in Logtown, one of Hancock County's Lost Communities.
hen Senator John C. Stennis secured a deal that would bring Stennis
afternoon radio news.
Sure there had been vague rumors of men scouting for a place to test rockets, but they _	were taken about as leriously. as
WfeMf	bring Stennis if they had l.«u rumors of
<■	Space -Centai'-Martians looking for a place to
Federal City - colonize. -The announcement that and rocket testing facility	,
to Mississippi and Hancock County, he fore- • saw an opportunity for growth and prosperity in an area that many pic-( tured as a backward place, filled with poor people .with'not a lot of hope	for..,
^	future.	No doubt	he'Cv
felt that the Space Center {SbT^QUld bring a jolt of life to the area and in many ways, it did just that.
But no one ever bothered to ask the residents of the little towns dotting the area along the Pearl River in far West Hancock County how they felt w about the changes to come.
The people living there, many A) for generations upon generations, never even knew what was coming, until it was announced on the
Of Hancock County
BY BENNIE SHALLBETTER
their land and their homes would be seized by eminent domain suddenly made the impossible, possible.
Mildred Wheat of Pearlington remembers it well. Wheat is one of the nine children of Sarah Vaughn Keys and Joe Keys. Both
Wheat and her mother Sarah were born and raised in an area known as the Point, a part of Logtown. Wheat’s husband of morp than 50 years James Wesley Wheat, was bom in near-by4Vestonia. ■
She. talked at a table set out under the carport of lifelong friend Lillie Sams, visiting with her friend and munching	on
orange cake.
“It took a long time to get used to the idea,” said Wheat. “And a lot of people didn’t ... they died of heart attacks before they left from all the worry.' Many more died right after they moved and I’ll tell you, we lost a lot of people. They were dying all up and down the river.” ,
“When they came, it must have been 1961... when they came and told my mama and them they
Logtown resident Mildred Wheat at her Conformation Ceremony at Big Mt. Zion Church, now Greater Mt. Zion in POINT-5B Pearlington.