This month, ride along with local wildlife photographer Chris Christofferson as she bikes Hancock County's 12 mile beach road, starting at Cedar Point and ending at Bayou Caddy - story and photos by P. Chris Christofferson

Cedar Point boat launch at the end of North Beach Blvd is public and leased by Hancock County from the Hollywood Casino, which sits with its golf course across from the launch inlet.  It has two launch ramps, a covered bench area, two port-o-lets (but no water spigots), lights on from dusk to dawn, a small fishing deck and a surrounding bay wall.  It's the perfect place for fishing the bay, since it has a generous parking area.  A peaceful place to sit and observe beauty of the north bay and mouth of the Jordan river and be expectantly watched by a few egrets and laughing gulls, waiting on treats.

From the boat launch to the intersection of North Beach Blvd and Hwy 90 at 2.9 miles, there is only street biking, but the bay wall supports walkers and fishermen to the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club at 2.5 miles.  Speed restriction is 25 mph which seemed well regarded by the locals.

Wetlands from the boat launch to the first group of homes, several of these being rentals with private piers.  As I leaned on my handlebars for a few minutes, absorbing its pristine, serene beauty, many birds flitted through singing and calling.  I recognized a laughing gull, Brewer’s blackbirds, cardinals, red-winged blackbirds, Carolina chickadees and a red-headed woodpecker, amid other bird songs I couldn’t identify.  What a satisfying beginning for this adventure!

 I had never noticed before, but there are several ladders into the water for easy climbing  back onto the wall. Given no beach from the boat launch until Bay Waveland Yacht Club, it’s convenient.

Bay Waveland Yacht Club.  A private yacht club, started in 1896 and beautifully rebuilt.

The only beach front on this section of North Beach Blvd is between the yacht club and Hwy 90, but it is all privately owned by the residents across the street.

North Beach Blvd crosses Hwy 90 at the St. Louis Bay Bridge. The fabulously rebuilt bridge’s lit biking and walking lane provides a spectacular view of the bay with parking available across the street at its foot.

From the bridge to this point, which is .4 mile, the beautifully manicured white sand beach behind the privately owned fenced gazebo is directly accessible.  But, then, at the beginning of the tiered flood wall there is cable running the length of the walkway at the top preventing one from going down the stairs to the beach all the way into Bay St. Louis behind The Blind Tiger.  This morning, the first flock of birds I saw were about 20 laughing gulls.  Strange to me, that only a very few great blue herons and egrets were seen to this point and no pelicans; but lots of songbirds on the wetland and house side of the road.

Jimmy Rutherford Pier in the Bay St. Louis marina is the longest of the five public piers on the beach road and is brand new, with overhead lights.  It is very conveniently connected to a ramp for short-term boat tie ups.  It has two covered sections with benches, but doesn’t allow bait-cutting or net fishing and has no water spigots. The marina dock offers restrooms. 

The newly opened Bay St. Louis Harbor has permanent, as well as transient docking available with full amenities and a huge parking lot, usable for festivals as well. Interestingly, here is no boat launch. Here on North Beach Blvd, the Bay Town Inn tree (which saved three lives during Hurricane Katrina) sculpted into angels, is a delightful spot to lounge on the bench at its base and watch the bustling street and bay action.

From Cedar Point boat launch to Main Street Bay St. Louis.  The bay side has restaurants and private businesses furiously being erected. Bay St. Louis was recently reported as the fastest growing town on the coast. If you’re still with me, and want to use Main Street as mile marker zero, instead of Cedar Point, obviously just subtract 3.6 from the following distances.

Our Lady Academy, Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church and St. Stanislaus College.  The name of the beach road changes from North Beach Blvd to South Beach Blvd  at the intersection of Main Street.  A tiered floodwall with sidewalk runs from the railroad tracks to the newly rebuilt Washington Street Pier and pavilion.

Washington St. Pier and Pavilion is a very popular recreation center of Hancock County which supports a double boat launch and fishing pier as well as a pavilion (available for rentals), generous parking, 200 feet white pure sand beach and bathrooms.  Friday morning, a van was in the parking lot offering kayaks for rent.

The rebuilt Washington Street Pier seems to be the most basic of all five public piers along the beach road, with no coverings and no water spigots.  However, there are rail lights on dusk to dawn and handicap accessibility.

I saw about 20 laughing gulls, one great blue heron, two egrets and on the rocks at the beach about 60 pigeons, lolling in the sun. In the marsh grass, there was a red-winged blackbird and, I think, an Eastern kingbird. 

From Washington Street in Bay St. Louis into Waveland for 4.5 miles , there is a remarkably fabulous, approximately 200 feet wide, stretch of a man-made white sand beach with protective sand dunes and the first biking path as well as a walking path, well-groomed by the county. Garbage cans are intermittently placed, which, aggravatingly, seem too often ignored by day-beachers. Car parking, on the land side is intermittently available (with care to not get stuck if the sand is too deep or wet).  This is a gorgeous stretch which we can be so very proud of its rebuilding even better 10 years out!

At the Waveland/Bay St. Louis city line, the name of the road changes BACK to South Beach Blvd.  Both cities have a South Beach and North Beach Boulevard - even though it's all the same road.  

What struck me was that in the area of Ballantine to St Charles, the sand dunes are higher than the bike path so there is always, but particularly with a stiff breeze, build up over the path.  I had to be careful my bike tires didn’t slide, with me landing on my tusch. 

Nicholson Ave is a main road to the beach from the Hwy 603 and 607 intersection. At the corner of Nicholson on the hill of a private, Katrina empty lot is a swing which withstood Katrina and is often the site for wedding photos or just folks relaxing, since they're able to gaze all the way to the ship channels in the bay.  Unfortunately for beachers, for a couple of hundred yards on either side of Nicholson, the sand is full of broken oyster shells which make it so very uncomfortable to sit, painful to walk without shoes, and very unsightly, compared to the pristine sand to this point and after the drainage canal at Sarah’s Lane at 6.4 miles.

 According to Lisa Cowand, president of the Hancock Board of Supervisors, they are aware of this problem and want it cleaned. But, that area of the beach (being a corp of engineer initial project) poses difficult logistics, which she says is taking time to rectify. The reddish-brown color of the water flowing into the bay at the Sarah’s Lane drainage canal is from iron ore deposits in the soil, and not a dangerous discharge to beach walkers, again, according to Lisa Cowand.

Garfield Ladner Memorial Pier.   I hope its revival will be the gem needed to jump-start Waveland development.  It recently reopened in June.  To me, it has it all.  A long, wide pier with overhead lights on from dusk to dawn, six covered stations with benches, lights directed into the water for night fishing,  plenty of parking and porto-o-lets planned.

This is the only public pier on the beach road to have water spigots interspersed on the pier,which I think is a huge amenity.  Before it closed because of Hurricane Isaac damage, it required a fee, but none is to be required at present.  There are even six sand volleyball courts and a wide beach. Even early afternoon Friday there were a lot of beachers. A snowball truck was there and very popular that hot afternoon.

The City of Waveland Veterans Memorial park is as poignant and beautiful as any I’ve ever seen. At the water’s edge by the volleyball courts, I saw four peeps and a sanderling, for the first time, with a few laughing gulls.Destination America-Red White and You is sponsoring a spectacular celebration at the pier for the 4th of July with rides, food and awesome fireworks.  It couldn’t be a better introduction to the community of the newly renovated pier!

Coleman Ave is Waveland’s main street, all new construction post-Katrina.  North Beach Blvd becomes South Beach Blvd at this intersection.  By the time I reached here, about 2:30 PM, my suntan lotion was sweated off and, out of bottled water, I was really thirsty. Port-of-Call General Store on Coleman is the perfect beach general store.  Soft drinks, beer, ice, beach food, fresh fruit, t-shirts, first aid including suntan lotion, beach toys, towels and lots more.  It is invaluable as the only general store close to the beach the entire 11.7 of beach road.  It even rents bicycles.  Refreshed, I was back on my bike to finish this survey of the beach road’s delectable offerings.

St. Clare Catholic Church at the intersection of South Beach Blvd with Vacation Lane is the 3rd and last church on the beach road, all 3 having been rebuilt after Katrina with current robust congregations.

This ends the man-made, extensive sandy beach at a private pier with the beginning of a bay wall, satisfactory for fishing and walking, but bike riding is relegated to the road the rest of the way to Silver Slipper Casino at the 11.7 mile mark. Touring RVs of all sizes on their way to Buccaneer State Park and Silver Slipper crowd other bicyclists with few honoring the 25mph speed limit.  Encounters can get tense.

Buccaneer State Park.  Camping, water slides and pools and recreation pavilions with full bathrooms, all for a fee, make this a well-maintained, deservedly praised and very popular summer family destination.

Waveland City limits and beginning of Clermont Harbor.  The wetlands with teeming songbirds, egrets and the occasional great blue heron are unspoiled and magical.  From here to the Clermont Harbor fishing pier at 10.4 mile, there’s a couple of outcropping, small, untended beaches and very intermittent roadside parking.

Clermont Harbor Pier, just past Bordage street, is public with 14 covered units and benches, side rail lighting on from dusk to dawn, but no water spigots or port-o-lets and limited roadside parking.  However, with Buccaneer State Park and the Silver Slipper Casino nearby, it seemed a very popular and congenial place on Friday afternoon.

This begins the man-made and beautifully maintained white sand beach to the Silver Slipper  at 11.7 miles. This stretch also supports a casino RV park in between stretches of gorgeous, untouched wetlands. Road traffic is heavy on weekend afternoons, so bikers need to be attentive, stick close to the side of the road and beware of vehicles exceeding the 26 MPH speed limit.

Silver Slipper Casino - the end! A lovely hotel has just been added to the casino and first-class restaurant as a confident investment in the future of Hancock county. I ducked into the air-conditioned casino lobby (shock) at 4:15PM, weary, dirty, sunburned and sweaty, to be met by the cacophonous sounds of scores of slot machines and a collage of bright color.  The juxtaposition was intense after a leisurely day of pedaling to the rhythm of soft breeze whispers, song birds, cricket chirps, frog calls, and lapping waves and visions of picture-perfect beach beauty, shore birds foraging, shrimpers on the horizon, fishermen on piers and walls and a clear blue sky. Obviously, the Bay/Waveland beach road attracts all personalities, exactly as it should!

The intrepid community investment in the beach road, both in conservation and development, is a resounding success ten years after disaster ferociously struck.

We should be proud, my neighbors, as we stay diligent protecting this little piece of heaven.  Lisa Cowand informs me upgrades are in the future, but I can only hope none of the rustic charm is lost in the process and it is only enhanced.

 Geoff and Moli Kergosien entertain easily and often in their "country" home, one that reaches out to embrace and include the natural beauty that surrounds it.
- story and photography by Ellis Anderson

But thanks to Horace’s grandson Geoff, and his wife, Moli McDonald Kergosien, excursions “to the country” now are anything but primitive.  The couple built their Miteer Drive home to take full advantage of the surrounding natural beauty - and to share that splendid bounty with friends and family.

The home sits on property a few lots down from the one Geoff’s grandfather owned.  Geoff, a physical therapist, purchased it twenty-five years ago, just a few months after he started dating Moli.  They both worked at Hancock Medical, where Moli was an x-ray tech.   

The McDonald family has been in the Bay since the mid-1800s, while the first Kergosien arrived in the 1880s.  The families knew each other.  In fact, Moli’s aunt (Eve McDonald) introduced Geoff’s parents.  But although Bay St. Louis is a “small town,” because of a seven-year age difference, the two had never formally met before.

“She graduated high school when I was playing little league,” Geoff quips, and they both laugh.

Geoff, who’d been a woodworker from an early age, was a regular customer of McDonald’s Hardware, but didn’t realize Moli’s connection until he rang the bell of the family home on their first date.  Mr. Jim answered the door and the young suitor momentarily was taken aback.  But he remained undeterred in his courtship.  The two married in 1990.  

Later, after a year-long stint living and working in Tuscaloosa, the pair joyously returned to the coast.  They still remember the drive south and the intoxicating scent of marsh grasses that seemed to welcome them back.

When their son Caleb was a toddler, Geoff  and Moli begain building their house on  Miteer.  They moved in a year later on the first birthday of their daughter, Camille.  Geoff - who is “biologically programmed to be an architect” - had been fascinated by building and design since his youth, completing a sailboat when he was only fifteen.

 He came up with a floor plan and his “adoptive grandfather,” William Boudreaux, finessed the plan and drew up blueprints – even gifting the young couple with a 3-D model of the home – complete with a removable roof.  Contractor Rodney Corr then constructed the framework of the house, leaving much of the finish work for Geoff.   Raising young children and working fifty-hour weeks left him little time to give the detailing the attention he would have liked.

Yet the Kergoisiens' life on Miteer was idyllic.  The young family missed no opportunity to appreciate the lively social scene offered in the town itself and the super-saturated natural beauty that surrounded their home.

Eight years later after moving into their home, Geoff and Moli cruised the Bay in their classic convertible Bonneville.  It was a memorable evening, because Old Town was “rocking.” The splendid landscape of the coast wrapped them with peace.

“That night at Dan B’s, we thought, ‘this is utopia,’” says Geoff.  “We could entertain ourselves in this tiny town, while everything was so vibrant and lush and green.  It was almost too good to be true.”

Two weeks later, Hurricane Katrina turned that utopia on its head.  The losses – both personal and community-wide - seemed insurmountable.  The unprecedented flood waters tore through the living area of their home on Miteer.  They were able to save only three pieces of furniture - one of them being the bed Geoff had built when they were still newlyweds.

Moli admits that the first time she stepped into the house afterward, it seemed so far beyond redemption she suggested they burn it to the ground.   

But Geoff couldn’t suppress an odd sense of elation.  Hurricane Katrina had given him another opportunity to rebuild the house – this time, according to his vision.

“I lost every tool I owned, and there’s nothing that will make a man happier than to tell him he must go out and buy new ones.  Within a month, I had a game plan.”

The plan involved rebuilding the woodshop first and then beginning work on the house.  The couple chose mahogany to finish off the interior the second time around.  The rich red tones of the wood set the theme for the entire house.  Over a period of two years, Geoff crafted the kitchen cabinets, all the window and door casings, and every piece of trim.   Moli and the children pitched in on the rebuilding efforts as well.  In their scant spare time, the Kergosiens also helped friends and family members reconstruct their own lives.

There were surprises along the way.  One night Moli came home from work to find a large hole in the bedroom wall. Only a bed sheet separated them from the yard.  During the day, Geoff had taken a chainsaw to the exterior of the house and cut out a huge section.  He'd been visualizing a sun room off the master bedroom and decided it was time to begin. 

Now the space Geoff designed and built has become the couple's favorite retreat.  

Another day, Moli arrived home and marveled at a new and enormous crater behind the house.

“I’d never put a pool in before,” says Geoff.  “But I figured it couldn’t be that complicated.  Besides, by this point, Moli knows my projects are probably not going to end badly.”

Moli’s faith was justified.  The pool is now the centerpiece of an extraordinary outdoor living space on the ground level.  It encompasses the entire footprint of the house and flows effortlessly out toward the canal that wraps three sides of the property.

Down by the docks, a classic wood Chris Craft and a sleek skiff beckon.   Beneath the house, an enormous screen for watching televised games is visible from almost every vantage point within 100 yards.  An outdoor fireplace, two bars (one in progress), multiple grills and three large dining areas tell the story of frequent family feasts.

The couple love to cook.  Moli is the "family caterer" and in recent years, Geoff has focused his creative drive on the kitchen.  He compares slicing and dicing to woodworking.  “You can take the ingredients and create anything you want.  There’s nothing better.”

The two often entertain and now that the children are both in college, the focus has expanded.  Immediate family members who live in the area comprise a ready-made dinner party of twenty.  Add friends and acquaintances, and the numbers easily rise to a hundred.   Yet the Kergosiens have developed a system that’s “efficient and easy.”  They can prepare for a major party in just two days and clean up in a few hours.

The relaxed approach to entertaining extends to the couple’s taste in décor.  Both downstairs and upstairs, eye-catching artwork, photographs and collectibles make up simple tableaus.  Room-makers like Elizabeth Veglia’s mosaic table and glass panel provide unforgettable focal points.

Yet nothing seems fussy or overworked.  Moli jokes that Geoff can tell the story behind every item in the house.  But it’s a joke based in truth.  It’s clear that each belonging is infused with meaning, intertwining the family’s life with that of the community's and the landscape they love so well.

“We live this life to its fullest and it makes us spoiled rotten,” says Geoff.  “I suppose we could have a home anywhere in the world.  But why would we want to live anywhere besides Bay St. Louis?”

Joie de vivre! Il dolce vita! When you see it – you know it.  People who have that special joy of the sweet life!  They are the ones who are always finding an excuse for a party… seizing every opportunity to make a meal a feast… making sure everyone is connected and given meaning. 

I can’t remember when I began to see hospitality because it has always been a part of my conscious world.  My mother and father were inveterate entertainers.  Every week had a bridge party.  Every weekend had a wedding or baby shower.  Every holiday had a cookout or large assembly of family for dinner.  What I learned from these events is the powerful opportunity they have to share love.  It is a labor of cooking and decorating to share hospitality – but what it communicates is love and inclusiveness. 

A special tablecloth and arranged flowers on the table tell you that I care you encounter beauty.  Food prepared with special processes and spices say I want you to feast on the savory and sweet things of this world because you are important.  Music involved in these celebrations is the sensory gift that elevates your heart, soul and mind - because I care you enjoy that experience. I have been a grateful recipient of many generous people who shared friendship, family and festive living with me.  I am grateful. 

Cheers to the sweet life full of joy!

As the Bay St. Louis Harbor nears its first birthday, it has smoothly sailed past all projections for occupancy.   Find out why the harbor is turning out to be one of the hottest boating destinations on the upper Gulf Coast.
- story and photos by Ellis Anderson

“We’re not a stopping point on the way to somewhere else,” says Fortin.  “We are the destination - and one of the most popular ones on the coast.”

Fortin points to the Bay Harbor’s unique positioning in the town as being the main appeal.  Most harbors are separated from the town areas by busy four-lane highways, but in the Bay, only a narrow easy-to-cross beach road comes between the city proper and the waterfront.  It’s easy to walk or bike while shopping or exploring the streets of the popular historic district. Cruisers can also rent golf carts from a local company.  Brett Ladner, at Quality Custom Carts (228.671.9851) can even deliver and pick up from the harbor if needed.

The harbor has permanently set aside 13 slips for overnight transient boats.  Any slips that aren’t currently leased are also used for overflow. 

The Bay St. Louis Harbor contains 163 slips, with 150 open for annual leasing.  In the first year, the facility has far exceeded initial projections for occupancy with 95 of those 150 under lease.  The highest percentage of occupancy is with the forty and fifty foot slips.  The harbor utilizes the unleased slips to accommodate transients during busy times.

Overnight fees are based on the footage of the boat.  The $1 a foot charge includes electricity, water and Wifi.  There’s a free pump out service, since the harbor is one of the first designated “Clean Harbors” on the coast.   Diesel and non-ethanol gasoline are both available.

The harbor staff is taking reservations well in advance for major holidays, festivals and the monthly Second Saturday Artwalks.  For this summer’s Bay Harbor Fest, slated for July 17 – 19, over thirty transient slips have already been reserved. 

As the popularity of the harbor also grows with day-trippers, sometimes the courtesy dock along side the fishing pier fills up.    Boaters who can’t find a space are asked to pull up to the fuel dock and the harbor staff will direct them into a slip that’s not rented.  It’s still free and that way day-trippers don’t inadvertently tie up in a slip that “belongs” to someone else (who may be returning soon). 

Fortin says that this summer he’s also seen a big uptick in the size of transient boats coming in and the number of people aboard. 

“Some days forty or fifty people will jump on a boat somewhere else on the coast and come here just for lunch and to hang out for the afternoon.”

Click here for the Harbor's website.