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IV W UJ LU111
Clermont Harbor home still carries the torch or Coast’s lively history
f MAM PATTOH EHRBRIGHT___________________________________
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i CLKKMONT HARBOR — It lakes a while fur first-limt; isitnrs to Mary am) Delmer Wilcox’s spacious Ikmw site u notice the manicured lawn. llte fruil trees and the round
—	yes. round two-slory house.
11)0 eyes focus first on the "lighthouse."
'I "he 40-foot-tall. white stuccoed structure was built luring the winter of 1942-1943 by Mary Wilcox's father, lugh Turner Carr. It served as an observation station luring World War II; volunteer civil defense workers nanned the telephone-equipped tower during daylight tours.
After the war, the volunteers received citations for their contribution to the defense effort.
“The tower was right on the beam between Keesler and New Orleans.” Mary Wilcox said. "They would call the Third Fighter Command and report every plane that flew over."
Volunteers also reported sightings from a lighted instru-ntent station at Uie St. Stanislaus High School pier in Bay St. I^ouis.
The Clermont Harbor tower’s official name is Osborn 5. But "everyone calls it a lighthouse,” Wikrox said.
She remembers the many drills and blackouts during those years.
“They used to ulk about submarines out in the Gulf."
Once visible, now it’s hidden
At that time, the shoreline three blocks away was dearly visible from the tower. Since then, trees have grown tall enough to obscure the view.
A stately Live oak standing next to the tower is a seedling from the Coast’s famous Friendship Oak on the USM campus in Long lieach.
“Now. you can't see much but roof tops,” Wilcox said. “You can see one tittle spot of bench.”
The sturdy tower still features the original railing along its winding 49-step staircase.
Carr, a native of the Virginia hills, came to the Coast m 1925 to remodel the luxurious 13-year-old Clermont Harbor Hotel on Front Street.
He bought the property that is now the Wilcox home in the 1930s and opened a sawmill and Clermont Harbor Lumber Co.
“The war put him out of business about 1941," Wilcox said. "The government said no more lumber for homes."
Carr, who already had experience as an antiques dealer, went back into that business.
Alice Bell PrindiviDe described Carr as “dealer in an-aques, antiquarian par exeBence, craftsman hors con-:ours” in her article about him in the March-April 1953 ssue of ‘Down South," a bi-monthly published in BiloxL The unnamed but disastrous hurricane of 1947 ruined he Carr house, Wilcox said High winds broke windows in he top of the tower. But the structure itself was undam-iged.
"The water washed around it,” Wilcox said.
Carr built a roomy circular area around the bottom of he tower and used it for temporary living quarters wtele le rebuilt the house, making it circular, too.
“He Ad it all on paper first,” Wilcox said.
The Wilcoxes bought the property from Carr in 1965. **He really wanted to go back to the mountains.” his laughter said. “Instead, he moved about 30 miles north nto the county."
Carr was 88 when he died in 1984.
7rw
Wilcox, who paints, said her father chose woodwork for his creative outlet
The Clermont Harbor home has several magnificent examples of his craft: a cypress table and a four-poster, canopy bed.
And, of course, the lighthouse.
There's a new pvrpcse
The area that served as a temporary refuge for the Carr family is now a workshop and storage space.
“At one time, a grandchild suggested we take everything out and make it a skating rink,” Wilcox said.
Instead, the sheltered lower part of the tower has become a stucco canvas for more family art
Wilcox told her nine grandchildren they could paint murals around the tower.
"I told them to choose a spot," she said. “There's lots of space. They can do tlus for years, if they wanL"
PHOTOS BY TtU IS8ELL/THE St*
■ An old magazine artkde features Hugh Turner Carr. The light house that he buftt, now owned by his daughter Mary Wilcox, was used as an observation station during WWB.