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MS 1 Stop - Hancock County History
Page 9 of 9
to the summer activities.
Until June 1930, Hancock County had the largest sawmill in the world. Timber was brought from miles away to the Weston, Poitevent, Eads mill at Logtown. Subsequently, nearly all the houses at The Bay were built of heart pine. They were thereby especially susceptible to fire. Being built on land divided into arpents, (the French equivalent of an acre) houses that caught fire were unlikely to be saved. In fact, several very large fires devastated The Bay, such as the ones in 1903, 1907 and 1927. About thirty homes and businesses were destroyed in 1907, including Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church, the Bay Saint Louis Opera House, and the Planchet home and stores.
Beachfront homes nearly always had either a pier, with or without pierhouse, or a gazebo for the enjoyment of the evening breezes. After five in the afternoon, families gathered in these open buildings to socialize, both with their families and with their friends and neighbors. After about 1900, lemonade became the favored evening beverage and it was the most refreshing. This tradition continued to the middle of the century when, after World War II, families had been so scattered, serving in the military or working in defense-related companies, that few large family groups remained to gather. Also, there was the phenomenon, air conditioning. Today few piers remain, and even fewer gazebos, and a great tradition has been lost.
The 20th century has brought many changes to The Bay. An automobile bridge was not built across the Bay of Saint Louis until 1928, and even then it burned with such regularity that it was hardly considered reliable. There are many stories of suitors bringing their girls from The Pass over to The Bay to one of the fine motion picture houses only to find when the reel was finished that the bridge had burned and the trip back to The Pass would take much too long to fit within the curfew set by the girls' parents.
Hurricanes, too, inflicted their damage to homes, piers and the beach. The most devastating hurricane ever was Hurricane Camille on August 17, 1969. There was not a single beach-front home that did not have severe damage, and dozens were completely washed away.
In 1963, NASA and the Stennis Space Center brought new prosperity to the Gulf Coast in the form of employment. The impact of the arrival of gambling casinos in 1994 caused the prices of homes and property to soar to undreamed-of heights. New construction is going up on nearly every vacant lot on the shore and inland. Unemployment is limited to those who choose to be unemployed, and there is an appearance of abundance everywhere.
With all the devastation of wind, water and fire, still there are within the city of Bay Saint Louis 576 homes that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city participates every spring in the largest free pilgrimage of homes in America, and a Preservation Committee is being established to oversee the historic homes and to assure compatible new construction.
http://www.ms 1 stop.com/1 stop/ms/hancockco/home.nsf/History ?openpage
7/15/2007