Walk through one of the loveliest resting places in Hancock County with Becky Orfila, who introduces some town residents who are long passed from this earth. 
- by Rebecca Orfila

With evidence remaining of storms, winds, and time, this peaceful graveyard is the resting place for approximately 2,000 individuals. The cemetery is owned and managed by Our Lady of the Gulf Church in Bay St. Louis. A simple walk through this cemetery brings one closer to the resting places of many families from Hancock County.

Several graves predate the 1872 dedication date. Blanche Teresa Scull died in 1852. The 15-year-old was the daughter of Hewes Charles Scull and his wife, Louisiana Philipana Scull (they were cousins) of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Blanche was attending St. Joseph’s Open School when she died. She is buried in St. Mary Cemetery, in the northeast corner of the Sisters of St. Joseph plot. (Plot: N10-26:  see how to find the gravesite by number at the end of this article). 

Nicolas Caron/Carron was buried in St. Mary in 1859. Nicolas was married to Ursule Justine Saucier, the daughter Phillipe Pierre Saucier, Sr. In the 1850 U.S. Census, it was reported that Caron had properties valued at $9,000, making him a member of the top five wealthiest men in Shieldsboro (N09-01). 

The first burials following the cemetery dedication in 1872 by Father Henry LeDuc — with the blessings of Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow, Diocese of Natchez — were for Sisters Estelle Astier (1872), St. Peter Elder (1874), Ellienna Alloid (1878), and Louise Felicity Robinson (1880). These initial interments established a dedicated plot for the Sisters of St. Joseph (N10-03). In the Bishop’s report, “Catholicism in Mississippi,” published in 1939, the Bishop refers to St. Mary Cemetery in several places. 

The death and burials of the Very Reverend Florimon J. Blanc and the Very Reverend Aloise van Waeberghe are recorded in Bishop Gerow’s report. The Bishop’s statement identifies that Blanc and van Waeberghe were interred in a vault at “Calvary,” which was an underground vault and aboveground monument located at the intersection of the east/west trending cemetery road and the first right-side roadway. 

One undated historical plat map has survived and a circular area is identified in handwritten script as Calvary. The circumference of Calvary measured 36 feet in circumference or 23 ft in diameter. No aboveground evidence of the Calvary remains and it is unknown whether an underground vault and burials exist. It is likely that the Calvary was destroyed by one of the major storms in the area.

A familiar name in Bay St. Louis, Clement Robert Bontemp, was interred at St. Mary in 1918 following his death from battle wounds received at Chateau-Thierry, France (N02-15). His military grave record shows he was born Nov. 6, 1893, Bay St. Louis, MS and served in the sixth regiment of the U. S. Marines during World War II. The American Legion Post 139 in Bay St. Louis was founded in 1923 and named after Bontemp.

The Italian Society Mausoleum has one of the largest funerary structures in St. Mary Cemetery. The Society vault is Italianate in style and marks a section dedicated to the entombments and interments of society members. 

A member of the engineering and maintenance crew of the Delta Steamship Line ship, the SS Del Sud, Funston Mauffray died on April 27, 1959 (S07-23d). The ship was only 11 days out of port at the time of his death. Two weeks later, Mauffray was buried at sea (South Pacific). Mauffray was 39 at the time of his death and was a 1921 graduate of St. Stanislaus.

Jerry Costollo was a brakeman on a train of 18 loaded cars near Birmingham when the locomotive engineer failed to stop and ran into another train on the rail, killing Costollo, the engineer, and a train mechanic. The story of the railroad accident was telegraphed and published in the May 18, 1891 issue of the New York Herald. A worn memorial stone dedicated to Costollo is placed near the graves of Mary and Hanora Costollo (N08-15).

A grave maker on the north side of the cemetery captures the eye in the vivid sunlight. An elegant white marble headstone marks the grave of Arsene Bontemp Estapa (N02-02). Though stained with green moss and dirt, what is unique about this headstone is the brightness of the marble and the depth of the engraving. Her place of birth is inscribed in graceful print and in the musical voice of the French language — “ne a la Baie S. Louis" (from Bay St. Louis). She died on October 10, 1875, in Hancock County, Mississippi. 

It goes without saying that there is an otherworldly nature to cemeteries. Whether it is based on our religious beliefs or our distance from decades or centuries of local life, the more we learn about cemeteries, the more they contribute to our understanding of the history of humans.

Information regarding burials and purchasing plots in St. Mary’s should be directed to the Our Lady of the Gulf rectory at 228-467-6509.
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The Hancock County Historical Society surveyed and recorded St. Mary Cemetery, which is divided into a North and South sections, beginning with Necaise Street. 

​To find a gravesite, start on the main road through the cemetery and walk westward counting row numbers, beginning with #1.  Based on the location data provided above, find the proper row.  For example, Funston Mauffray is buried in S07-23d.  To get to his grave, walk seven rows west then turn south. Counting gravesites southward, Mauffray will be buried in the twenty-third gravesite, along with other family members. 
 
Information regarding burials and purchasing plots in St. Mary’s should be directed to the Our Lady of the Gulf rectory at 228-467-6509.

Pat Murphy's recollections of old Bay St. Louis take us across Highway 90 and to Dunbar Pier, the old Bay Waveland Yacht Club and down Felicity Street, where his childhood home once stood. 

​If my childhood memory serves me accurately, my dad talked of Mrs. Favre doing owner financing for the property. I think that Dad paid $800 for the property ($100 per 25 ft. on Felicity).

At this time there were no houses on the north side of Felicity except up close to Dunbar Avenue.

The Kiefer family lived at the corner and Mr. Harry Benjamin (who was married to Mr. George DiBenidetto’s sister, Mary) was the next and only other house on that side.

On the south side where Dad’s property was located the first house was the Scianna home (Charlie Scianna was married to Mrs. Favre’s daughter, Beverly). Ms. Ida Cramer lived next door, and then Mr. and Mrs. Earl Raymond. There was a vacant wooded lot and then Mr. and Mrs. Shadoin’s residence with another vacant wooded vacant lot on the other side.

Our property was next to several more vacant wooded properties. After these came Russell and Mary Chapman’s home, and then more woods until CC McDonald’s home.

After McDonalds there was nothing but woods and swamp on that side of the street all the way to Joe’s Bayou (this was long before the Casino or Casino Drive was ever thought about). What is now the casino property on the north side of Felicity Street was owned a man named Joness and operated as a large farm. Burnell and Joe Necaise's father Forrest ran the farm for Mr. Joness, and their family lived on the property.

The second block of Felicity Street was just a dusty dirt road with drainage ditches on both sides all the way back to Joe’s Bayou and then continuing on around becoming Joe’s Bayou Road. This road ended at Blue Meadow Road (Main Street).

 At the time everything past Earl Raymond’s house was not within the city limits. Garbage pickup was by private contractor (in a pickup truck with wire fence sides) and everyone was on septic tanks. There must have been water because I know that we didn’t have our own well (possibly Mrs. Favre had a big well and provided water to the properties but I don't remember).

There was nothing on the north side of the street past Mr. Benjamin’s except scrub pines and swampy grassland, which seemed to catch fire pretty regularly. My dad and other men in the neighborhood were the unofficial firefighters in these situations.
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In the dry part of the year Felicity Street was really dusty. Occasionally our county supervisor would come and spray the street with oil to keep the dust down. If we were really lucky they might run a road grader down the road when the potholes got too bad. These things didn't happen very often.

There were lots and lots of pine trees. Our front yard probably had 50 big pine trees in it (so many that after Hurricane Camille one couldn’t see the house from the street because of all the broken off big pines). The sides and the back of the property were filled with smaller pines.

One of the things that 8-year-old boys do is construct forts and hideouts. In our back yard my dad would let me and my buddies cut down all of the pine trees that we wanted.

At this time I was hanging around with Richard Schaefer, whose father, Mr. Kaiser (Camille), worked for my Grandfather Stevenson as an electrician. Richard was several years older than me but loved the outdoors as much as I did. We’d spend days cutting those small pines down with an ax. We would cut the tops out, then cut the trunks up and make log cabins by crisscrossing the logs. Then we’d put more logs across the top for a flat roof.

In six or eight months, when the newness wore off and we lost interest, the old man would just fill the log cabin up with yard trash and burn the whole thing. Daddy loved us building the log cabins out of those smaller pines.
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Any kind of little oak or magnolia tree was a really big deal, especially to my mother. We had a nice small live oak at the back of our driveway and for some insane reason (like George Washington with the cherry tree, I suppose), I cut the top out of this oak with a pocket knife. I think that I was punished for at least 10 years over that stunt. 

My sister Mary Ellen’s playmates were the daughters of CC McDonald and Russell Chapman, Wendy and Mary Jane. My baby sister Carleen played with the Chapmans’ younger daughter Susie. Andre McDonald and sometimes Mrs. Favre’s grandson Donald were my neighborhood running buddies.

Sometime around 1960 we acquired a new neighbor on one side of us. Mrs. Alma Galle built a weekend getaway home. One funny memory concerning Mrs. Galle and her weekend party house comes to mind.

Mrs. Galle used to throw parties that would rip and roar until two or three in the morning. They were loud and used to keep my dad awake at night. Daddy would wait until early in the morning after one of these parties. He would start cutting grass at five in the morning and concentrate on the property line right outside of Mrs. Galle's bedroom window. I don't remember exactly how it got resolved but the parties got quieter and my dad and Mrs. Galle were always good friends.

One day a car drove up while Mrs. Galle's home was being built and lots of kids started piling out of the car. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't have but a couple of kids to play with in my neighborhood. Mrs. Galle's daughter Gloria was married to Lawrence Forstall, and they had seven kids. Mrs. Galle's other daughter Natalie was married to brother Warren Forstall (two sisters married two brothers) and they had a bunch of kids. There was also another sister who had a bunch of kids.

These families were regulars at the weekend house with Lawrence Forstall eventually building a house on the other side of Mrs. Galle. The Forstall grandparents had for some time owned an old weekend home in the first block of Leonard Avenue next to the old Taylor School building.
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At any rate, my sisters and I never lacked for neighborhood playmates again! Gloria and Lawrence Forstall eventually became full time residents of Bay St. Louis. The younger kids went to school here, some now being full time residents and mainstays in the Bay St. Louis community.

It seems that my daddy was always working in the yard spreading fill dirt whenever he could afford to buy it. We’re not talking spreading it with a tractor either. Nope, it was spread one shovel at a time. My old man was a hard worker. The property was very nice in the dry times of the year and really wet in the rainy season.

Daddy dug several swale ditches (by hand of course) from the back of the property to the street so that the water would drain to the ditch and out to the street. There was a ditch going down the side of each property line, one running down the side of the driveway and then one from just in front of the house across the middle of the front yard. My Dad eventually turned the one across the front yard into a French drain. I have to give it to my Dad because his drainage system worked pretty well most of the time.

Over the years the neighborhood developed, more and more fill dirt was used in the neighborhood and our property got harder to drain during the rainy season. My dad just couldn't afford to keep up.
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After we actually developed a sort of lawn in the front and around the house, it was nonstop grass cutting with a push mower during the spring and summer. I don't mind telling you that I hated it. Even when we got a riding lawn mower, it was a lot to keep up with.

I mentioned earlier that Hoffman’s Farm fronted Dunbar Avenue and extended back well past the rear of Daddy's property. At one time the whole thing was covered with a pecan orchards. There were a house and a barn on the property. Old Man Hoffman died in the late 1950s and the land gradually became overgrown with the buildings in desperate need of repair.

My buddies and I used to play back there and snoop around in the barn and the old house. One of my friends, Billy Shumski, actually found an old Civil War-era powder horn with CSA engraved on it. I also used to use this property as a shortcut to walk across when I would go back to Captain Clark's to ride horses.

Captain J.W. Clark later owned the property that formerly belonged to A.G. “Red” Favre at the end of Commangere Boulevard. Captain Clark was a merchant marine ship's captain and lived back there with his wife and three pretty daughters.

The family kept horses and Shetland ponies and I used to go back there and ride horses with his daughters. The estate had a big barn and pasture as well as riding trails through the woods at the rear of the property.

​Later my friends the Wagner brothers, Chuck, Lewis, and Jimmy, lived on the property with their mother, Ms. Bess.

In the early 1880s, G.W. Dunbar’s Sons built a seafood-canning factory on North Bay and a whole community grew up around this factory.

Dunbar Avenue was the main entry for my family coming into Cedar Point. Dunbar started at Main Street and ended at the seawall on North Beach Boulevard. The intersection of Dunbar and Ulman Avenue was really where the journey for us began. At this intersection was the little league baseball field, Dave McDonald’s Building Supply, and Monitor Paneling Company (formerly Slim Gillmore's Chrysler dealership).

Driving down Dunbar towards Cedar Point there was nothing but woods before the red light at the new Hwy 90. Moore's Texaco Station was on the left after you crossed the highway. Beyond the Texaco there wasn't much other than a couple of houses and thick woods on both sides of Dunbar all the way to Commagere. Esplanade and Highland Drive weren't even thought of at that point.
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Across Dunbar Avenue from Commagere Boulevard on the right was a big pecan orchard with a road that led back to the Hancock County Old Folks Home. I can still remember something that my dad said to me in conversation one day as we passed the clearing of this orchard for the "new" hospital (Now Dunbar Village Nursing Home). My dad told me "Just think, son. One day you'll be able to tell people that you remember when all of this was a pecan orchard." Yeah, Pop, I remember and I still tell people that.

No talk of Cedar Point would be complete without mention of the Larroux family. There were four Larroux brothers: Jimmy, Ed, Larry and Warren. There was a half brother, Mark Solomon, who was a very nice guy as well as being extremely intelligent. There was one Larroux sister, Dorothy, but she died early in a flu epidemic around WWI.

One of the Larroux brothers, Ed was married to Ms Virginia Baxter who worked at Hancock Bank. Mr. Ed Larroux owned and ran Larroux's Grocery on the corner of Dunbar and Thomas Street. The business previously was Rando's Grocery, and was purchased by Mr. Ed in May of 1952. This store played a prominent part in my Cedar Point childhood.

Around 1956 another grocery store opened on the corner of Julia Street and Dunbar Avenue. The Mercadel Grocery was in a building on the closest corner of Dunbar and Julia. This business only operated for about two years because they could not compete with Mr. Ed's entrenchment in Cedar Point. After the closing of Mercadel Grocery, Ed Larroux converted that building into a stock warehouse in the rear and a place in the front for kids to play ping pong and pool. He installed swings and a merry-go-round on the lot next door. All this property later became Larroux Park.

Actually the grocery was more like a general store, because Mr. Larroux sold everything from hardware, groceries, cigarettes, and beer to fishing tackle, soft drinks, and fresh cut meat. This was in the "dry" days of the black market tax, and liquor was sold out of the back room. The store was within easy bike-riding distance of my house and was about midway between my buddy Richard Schaffer's and my house. Richard and I used to buy nails, several pounds at a time, to construct our log cabins. Although Mr. Ed offered home delivery (usually by his nephew Jean), there were many days when my mother would send me by bicycle to buy cold cuts for lunch. Alma Sick was the checkout girl for the grocery.

Brother Larry Larroux was a good friend of my grandfather Stevenson and was the go-to guy for air conditioning and refrigeration work especially in the 1950s. In 1955 he convinced his brother Ed to air condition the store with a big old time water cooled a/c unit. Many businesses at the time were not air-conditioned and this move made Mr. Ed's store very popular on hot summer days.

Larry, whose birth name was Emile, lived with his family on North Beach Boulevard past the yacht club just before you came to Boardman Avenue.

The other brother, Jimmy Larroux, was a master carpenter and could build anything from a boat to a home. Mr. Jimmy was in partnership with Sam Noto in the general contracting business. Mr. Larroux had a workshop behind his home and built furniture, cabinets and anything else back there.

Even though I knew all of them quite well, I probably knew Mr. Jimmy Larroux better than any of the others. My grandfather Stevenson's contracting business did a lot of the electrical work on the homes that Mr. Jimmy built.

The other brother Warren was career military and only lived here as a young man.
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All of the brothers were avid sportsmen but Mr. Jimmy Larroux was well known for his prowess chasing fish, especially in the Cedar Point waters.

St. Joseph’s Chapel was constructed as a church for the Dunbar Brothers seafood factory workers. There were a couple of canneries on the Bay in Cedar Point. The first mass at St. Joseph’s was celebrated on March 19, 1896. The Larroux brothers' mother, Marguerite Larroux Solomon Backman, was the organist at St. Joseph’s and played every Sunday morning from 1908 until 1956. The church was renovated by Mr. Jimmy Larroux after the 1947 hurricane, doubling its size.
 
As a young child living in Cedar Point, I vividly remember going to Sunday mass at 8 a.m. during the winter and 7 a.m. in the spring and summer. There was no a/c and the big windows would be opened to the birds’ chirping and singing. The priest would hear confession 30 minutes before celebrating mass every Sunday.

Another memory that I associate with attending church at St. Joseph’s is of Ms. Lillian Carver attending mass with her seeing-eye dog. Ms. Lillian was the blind lady who ran the concession stand at the courthouse and she would walk to work five days a week and to mass at St. Joseph’s every Sunday with her dog.
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Through the years this quaint little chapel weathered many storms including the 1947 hurricane, which left water marks of about four feet on the inside walls. Hurricane Camille left marks eight feet up on the interior walls. Unfortunately, after 2005's Hurricane Katrina, there were no interior walls left to leave marks on. This beautiful old chapel was totally destroyed.

The Bay Waveland Yacht Club has played a prominent role in Cedar Point since 1948, when the original charter from 1898 expired and was then renewed. A new club was built on North Beach Boulevard at Second Street about 1950.

The new club was built on the site of the former Peerless Seafood/Bay St. Louis Oyster Company/Dorgan Canning Company which was one of a couple of seafood canning factories on the shores of the north part of the bay.

 When I was a child, my family belonged to the club because the membership fees were modest and included use of their swimming pier. My sisters and I spent many happy hours with our childhood friends swimming off this pier and playing on the beach at the yacht club. As a teenager, I attended most of the dances that were sponsored by the club. There were some great bands that played at BWYC over the years.

Through the years BWYC sailors have regularly won regattas and national awards for their sailing skills. The club has produced and continues to produce generation after generation of expert championship sailors. It has been speculated that the Bay of St. Louis is an excellent training venue because of its winds and currents.
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Most of Bay Waveland's sailors have been born into this dynasty, learning their skills from parents and grandparents, all competitive champions themselves.

Other than the architecture, not very much has changed as far as North Beach Boulevard and the seawall go through the years.

Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Camille in 1969 brought the era of raised homes, especially along North Beach Boulevard. Even after Camille there were still plenty of old landmark homes (like the Saenger Mansion) that had been on Beach Boulevard for 75 years or more, but every one  of them was destroyed in Katrina's tidal surge. Now every home that has been rebuilt on the street seems to be 40 feet in the air (not actually, but they seem that way).

The north end of the road and seawall remain virtually unchanged since construction in about 1923.  One can look at photos of North Beach Boulevard at Dunbar Avenue from 60 years ago and other than the automobiles, the road and landscape look the same.

The Dunbar Avenue pier is a little more high-tech than it used to be (thanks to abundant federal money after Katrina) but it is still a favorite fishing and crabbing spot for lots of people.

One of my favorite memories is of going down towards the end of North Beach at night with my dad and some buddies. We would bring a bag of dry dog food and a cast net with us because in the fall of the year when the white shrimp come into the bay, you can scatter dry dog food out in the water and throw the cast net. We used to come home with fifteen pounds or more of beautiful huge shrimp

Another favorite attraction of the North Beach Boulevard area was the submarine races. Usually, this area was pretty deserted late at night with not much automobile traffic. On dark moonlit nights with thousands of stars in the sky, the time would be right for watching the submarine races. These races occurred regularly in Cedar Point and were a favorite of teenage boys and their girlfriends. I used to watch them on many occasions while parked on the side of the road. The only problem watching them from inside the car was that the windshield and car windows usually got pretty fogged up!

When I was a senior at St. Stanislaus, I wrote a composition as part of a creative writing course expounding upon the sport of submarine race watching. The principal, Brother Lee, actually called my dad on the phone to praise me for my vivid imagination. “Can you imagine, Mr. Murphy! Submarine races, what an imagination!”

The drive down North Beach from Dunbar to the end remains one of my favorites. It is one of my favorite ways to chill out and unwind. There are plenty of places to pull over, park, and enjoy the solitude of the scenic back bay and mouth of the Jourdan River.

This afternoon I decided to take a ride to Cedar Point and take some photos of the old Submarine Race Course. On the way back, I drove down Felicity and pulled into the driveway of what once was 224 Felicity. I have had a hard time with this each of the two or three times that I've done it since Hurricane Katrina. It hurts my heart. The only thing that I recognized was the big pine next to the driveway close to where the brick walkway used to be.

​Move on, Murphy, move on. It's hard.

When they purchased their historic home in 2014, Chris and Patricia Cheek didn't realize that it came complete with its own journal, started 65 years before - one that contained a few surprises.
- story and photos by Ellis Anderson

A church and two schools bear her name:  Valena C. Jones.  Her life wasn't a long one, but she left a lasting legacy.
- by Rebecca Orfila

Following her matriculation, Jones was named principal of the Bay St. Louis Negro School where she taught until 1897 when she accepted a position in New Orleans at McDonough School #24. During the McDonough teaching period, 1897 to 1901, Jones was voted the most popular black teacher in the city.  When she married Rev. Robert Elijah Jones of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1901, her career as an educator ended. Married women were not allowed to teach in public schools at that time. 
 
After her marriage, Valena helped her husband edit and publish the Southwestern Christian Advocate, a periodical of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Three years following her death in 1917, Rev. Robert E. Jones, Valena’s husband, was elected Bishop of the New Orleans Area (central Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas).
 
Three centers of education and spirituality were named in her honor since her death: Valena C. Jones School in New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, and the Valena C. Jones United Methodist Church on Sycamore Street in Bay St. Louis. 

Beginning in 1910, a citizens group in New Orleans 7th Ward saw the need in their community for a neighborhood school.  Between fundraisers like dinners and dances, the group was able to purchase four acres for the construction of a small school.  The first school was destroyed by weather events in 1916 and was replaced by a new structure built in 1918 near the intersection of Annette Street and North Miro Street.

The 1918 school was the first structure named in honor of Valena Jones.  Due to its growing enrollment, the small school was replaced in 1929 with an impressive brick, three-story structure. According to the Chicago World issue of November 2, 1929, the school was “named after Mrs. Valena MacArthur Jones, formerly a teacher in the public school system in recognition of her outstanding ability as a teacher and for her uplifting influences among the people of her race.” 

Back in Bay St. Louis, St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church provided religious education to the black population and was originally located on Washington Street in Bay St. Louis.  The first structure was replaced in 1922 with a larger church.  Built in 1880 to provide religious education and support for blacks in the area, growing attendance levels required the construction of a larger church in 1922. 

The influence of Valena McArthur Jones did not stop at the conclusion of her life or with the construction of the buildings that carry her name.  In an oral history conducted by the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage, Alonzo Merdis Daniels recollected excitement as a youngster for attending school “with the other fellows in our community.”

Daniels waited impatiently until he turned six to attend Valena C. Jones Public School in Bay St. Louis.  Daniels attended from first through tenth grades, the highest level attainable at the school.  Following Jones School, he attended St. Rose and completed his high school graduation with the class of 1931.  While reminiscing, he praised his English teacher, Grace Claudia Jones Minor, one of Valena Jones’ daughters.
 
Mrs. Jones died in New Orleans in 1917.  She was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.  The grave is unmarked but can be found in Plot 515, Pine Cedar Aloe, Daughters of Louisiana, Gravesite 5. 

If anyone has more information about Valena C. Jones and would like to add to the historical record of her life, please contact us at publisher@bslshoofly.com. 

A place that honors the survivors and volunteers who experienced the wrath and the aftermath of the most destructive hurricane in American history.
 - story and photos by Ana Balka

If one did not take a close look at these, one might assume they were a post-Katrina gesture from a quilting society somewhere, but no: these are all the work of master quilting artist Solveig Wells, who had homes in Canada and Bay St. Louis and who completed these all from salvaged fabrics over 16 months in 2006-’07. Wells’ husband David donated the exquisite collection to the museum following Solveig’s death in 2013.
 
Museum volunteer and Waveland resident Carol Kerr says that in the weeks since the museum’s reopening visitors have reacted positively and sometimes emotionally to the museum’s collection of photos, art, and artifacts, which paint a distinctive portrait of Waveland before, during, and after Katrina.

Carol showed me the auditorium, where local students in Waveland’s M.A.P. (Music, Arts & Practicality, a non-profit enrichment program providing free theater and choir experiences for area students) summer theater camp have been rehearsing “The Lion King” for presentation on the auditorium stage July 16-17.

This is a facet ofnew director Kathy Pinn’s long-range vision for the Ground Zero Museum building as a gathering place: a place that builds community, as well as being a center for learning about the storm, about Waveland history, and about what makes Waveland such a special place.
 
Pinn has long fostered community in Waveland. A former president of both the Coleman Avenue Coalition and the Waveland Community Coalition (and incidentally a M.A.P. co-founder), Pinn and her husband Ron are moving back to Waveland after five years in Illinois specifically to get back to the home they love, and for Kathy to assume her role as museum director.
 
Pinn says that the dozens of museum visitors in its first month have included residents of 15 other states, some who had never been to the area, some post-Katrina volunteers. For locals, touring the museum can be cathartic.
 
“Seeing the waterline, seeing the pictures on the wall, then the H.C. Porter exhibit, it’s very moving,” Pinn says.
 
“Backyards and Beyond” is a multimedia exhibit by artist H.C. Porter and collaborators Karole Sessums and Gretchen Haien. Porter and Sessums photographed and recorded hundreds of Mississippians in the year following Katrina, creating a nationally touring exhibit that features Porter’s mixed media paintings and accompanying audio in which the portraits’ subjects express the reality of displacement and loss through their own stories.

Ground Zero’s Porter exhibit, sponsored by Mississippi Power, contains eight of the paintings, with audio guides. The floor is covered in photo-printed tiles that together comprise a life-sized portrait of the slabbed remains of a Waveland home.
 
The room feels chapel-like, bringing human shape to the unspeakable. I can see how it might uncover long-buried emotions in those who survived the storm.

“All of that is sometimes a little overwhelming,” Pinn says, “But then we go into the Waveland room.”
 
Many displays in the Waveland Room represent steps toward healing. There are binders with hundreds of handwritten, individual “Storm Stories” by survivors that visitors can thumb through, and throughout the room there are photo collages, quilts, signed shirts, and other outpourings of love from well-wishers and volunteers around the country.
 
A large cardboard “Gratitude Tree” stands covered in names and quotes. I photograph volunteer Carol next to her own words about home being wherever she is, because she cannot go home. In a corner, an assemblage by mixed media artist Lori Gordon depicts the clothes that hung from trees after the storm.

The room also contains historical artifacts: one wall is festooned with hand-painted versions of Boy Scout merit badges from the days Scouts held meetings in that very room in the ’50s, as well as photos of students, teachers, and sports teams from Waveland Grammar School days in the ’30s and ’40s. A glass case contains memorabilia from hurricane Camille.

 A somewhat surreal herd of carousel animal figures gallop, hop, and swim at the back of the room, but that is part of the museum’s evolving nature. The Port Townsend (Washington) Carousel Association donated the Carousel of the Olympic Sea, an original by Bill Dentzel of the Denztel family of carousel makers, to Waveland after Katrina. Its size prohibits assembly in the museum building, so while the carousel has a permanent home at the museum, its location has yet to be defined.

Pinn knows that visitors will come away from the museum experience with a positive awareness of all that Waveland is and has achieved: “I’d like people to understand that part of it: It happened, we got through it, and now look at us.”

A crackerjack group of volunteers keeps the energy humming at one of the most respected historical societies in the country. 
- story by Rebecca Orfila, photos by Rebecca Orfila and Ellis Anderson

The HCHS volunteer cohort consists of individuals with a love for history or a desire to give back to their community.  Gifted with various talents and interests, each volunteer is invited to work in their area of interest or, with the assistance of the volunteer staff, match their skills with new or unfinished projects.  With a smile, Charles Gray, the Executive Director of HCHS, confirmed that volunteers are provided a wide berth on their volunteerism and schedule: “Whatever works for you, works for us.”
 
Volunteers can serve in many ways at HCHS. Several professional and avocational historians contribute quality articles to the monthly newsletter, The Historian of Hancock County.  During a post-luncheon chat with a few of the volunteers, James Keating spoke of being inspired by Eddie Coleman (the editor of The Historian) to pursue his interest in the economic history of this area. 
 
Keating, a New Orleans native and retired physician, has been published in The Historian several times, most recently in the April 2016 issue with his article “The Turpentine Industry in Hancock County.” Other well-known contributors to The Historian include Coleman, Scott Bagley, and Russell Guerin. According to Coleman, submissions for The Historian are invited.  If you are interested in submitting an article, contact the Society via the address or number listed below.​

Historical societies gather, organize, and share information with researchers, genealogists, visitors, and other interested parties by making paper or digital documents available to the public. HCHS maintains documents and indexes of local cemetery records, for example.  These resources — and much more — are available to the general public at the Lobrano House in downtown Bay St. Louis and on the Society’s ever-expanding website, where the cache of digitized records available for research increases every day.  
 
Through the efforts of volunteer researchers, writers, computer aficionados, organizers, and “boots on the ground” folks, the Society continues to add to their collection. Many local and New Orleans families have donated records and images, which are scanned for archival and research purposes.
 
Personal materials, including private letters, tell stories and even provide details on confidential matters.  According to Gray and Coleman, the Society does not censor when asked for information.  No matter what the contents of a letter, album, or image, any donation will be made available to the public.  “We don’t want any secrets,” Gray said.
 
The amount and accessibility of resources at the Hancock County Historical Society has raised the bar for other county and city societies to provide research materials and educational events to the interested public.  As noted by Gray, “Our ultimate goal is to consign all the written documents on Hancock County history that we can gather into a database that will provide instant access to information being sought.”

“We all learned a great deal from Katrina,” recalled Coleman.  The hurricane was a major impetus for increased focus on digitizing.
 
Over the years, HCHS has received and cataloged thousands of primary (original papers, images, and maps) and secondary (books, annuals, and reproduced images) resources. Cataloguing documents takes a great deal of time. A collection of photographic negatives from Anthony Scafidi, a prolific Bay St. Louis photographer of the late 1940s through the early ’60s, for example, took multiple volunteers an entire year to clean, scan, and print for conservation purposes.
 
Marianne Pluim, volunteer webmaster and computer pro, shared her thoughts on digitizing materials for public access and archival protection.  According to Ms. Pluim, having access to cemetery, marriage, divorce, and land records online has made it possible for researchers at a distance to find key elements to their genealogical or historical research.

Also, between 125 and 150 people actually visit the HCHS each month for research purposes, and having the digitized materials helps to make research time less lengthy.  It also secures these important resources in case of natural disaster.
 
Volunteer Beth Weidlich, like Marianne, is interested in saving a large quantity of materials for posterity. A regular Tuesday volunteer, Beth is deep into a project to scan materials located in the vertical files for uploading.

Ana Balka works alongside Weidlich on the resources archive project, and recognizes the importance of history to county residents, but also to newcomers to the area.  A transplant herself, Ana sees opportunities to expand our understanding of history in Hancock County by researching for example, ​the economic ebb and flow of businesses before and after catastrophic weather events, or for deepening our understanding of African American history in the county.

Dot Larroux Kersanac, another volunteer, is working on her own project.  She is crusading to gain a Magnolia Marker for Cedar Point, where her family has had a presence for many years.  A former teacher and respiratory therapist, her work-in-progress began in October 2015.
 
The Historical Society is concerned with more than paper documents. The Society and the Bay-Waveland Garden Club work together to register Hancock County’s oldest live oak trees, with volunteer Shawn Prychitko at the helm of those efforts. Read in-depth stories from the Cleaver about live oak registration here and here.
 
Jim Thriffiley, 1st Vice President, is in charge of scheduling the monthly speakers.  When asked what qualities a speaker should have, Thriffiley responded, “Warm, receptive, and clever.”
 
Eddie Coleman said that people from many countries and states have contacted the Historical Society for assistance in research or genealogy.  Between in-person visitors, telephone calls, and email inquiries, the daily workings and research fill the day for volunteers.
 
The HCHS Board of Directors are all volunteers: Board President is Marco Giardino; Jim Thriffiley is 1st Vice President; Jackie Allain 2nd Vice President; Lana Noonan, Secretary; Georgie Morton, Treasurer. Scott Bagley, Publicity Chairman; John Gibson, Historian; and Ames Kergosien, Member-at-Large. 
 
This year on October 31st, the Society will hold its 23rd annual cemetery tour in Cedar Rest Cemetery. According to Gray, the event needs many volunteers every year to be successful: 10-12 to portray historical figures buried in the cemetery, another 10-12 to serve as guides, and several to welcome visitors to the Lobrano house, where guests are invited after the tour.
 
As noted on the Society website, “All talents are welcome. No experience required.”  Come join in the fun and help preserve Hancock County history.
 
For more information on volunteering, possible submissions to the newsletter, or research, contact HCHS at 228-467-4090 or hancockcountyhis@bellsouth.net.

Pat Murphy's book-in-progress is no longer a book in progress.  In this final installment, he takes the long view back over his own life and some of the people he has known and loved. 

A cherished family home is snatched from the verge of destruction and restored to pay homage to former owner Ellsworth Collins - Bay St. Louis artist, woodworker and musician. 
- story and photos by Ellis Anderson

A restored collection of historic images by legendary documentary photographer Lewis Hine tells the poignant story of children who worked in the Mississippi coast seafood industry.
- story by Ellis Anderson, photos by Lewis Hine and Joe Tomasovsky

But Sadie is better off than some of the other children Hine has photographed. She is wearing shoes. They’re battered, but they provide some protection from the acid of the shrimp that eats holes in leather soles. Some of her young friends work with bare feet.

The images recall an era when profit was the unabashed king of the country. Compassion for one’s fellow man was the province of church ladies, not serious businessmen. Attempts to establish regulations to protect workers’ lives were scorned by wealthy tycoons. Burdensome bureaucracy and government meddling, they called reform measures. How can we provide jobs if we’re hamstrung by regulations?
 
Some of the cheapest sources of labor were children. No matter the industry or its location in the country, profit margins soared by paying desperate adults starvation wages.  They went up even further if the family’s children worked as well. Children were paid a fraction of the pittance the adults earned. They were nimble, too, their small fingers able to perform often-dangerous tasks that adults could not. 

Lewis Hine was a teacher so moved by the plight of child workers that he left his job and went to work for the National Child Labor Committee, a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1904. According to the book “Kids At Work” by Russell Freedman, Hine became an investigative photographer in 1908, concocting ruses to get onto jobsites with his camera. It was dangerous work, and he risked beatings and worse to tell the visual story of childhoods lost to greed:

“If people could see for themselves the abuses and injustice of child labor, surely they would demand laws to end those evils. His pictures of sooty-faced boys in coal mines and small girls tending giant machines revealed a shocking reality that most Americans had never seen before.”

Joe Tomasovsky, a retired photography teacher who lives Bay St. Louis, restored digital files of Hine’s original work, which can be found in the Library of Congress. The library contains over 7000 images of children at work that Hine shot during his career.
 
Joe, who grew up in Gulfport, had taught Hine’s work to his Florida photography students for years before his retirement, but only recently discovered that Hine had taken pictures on the Mississippi coast. He felt the images needed a wider audience and began the restoration project as part of his work with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Museum of Historical Photography (MOHP).
 
According to Joe, the digital files in the Library of Congress are scans of contact prints made from Hine’s original glass 5-by-7-inch negatives. He sifted through the thousands of available images Hine took in his travels to find ones relevant to the Gulf Coast and the seafood industry.

​While the quality of the images has suffered from age, poor processing, and repeated duplications, Joe spent hours meticulously restoring each one of the digital files to more accurately reflect the original quality. He then printed the files in large sizes (up to 24 by 38 inches) onto archival canvas, allowing the images to be viewed without a barrier of glass. 

“These people that Hine photographed in this series were mostly immigrants,” says Joe. “They were known by the derogatory term ‘shrimp pickers.’ They dressed differently and they couldn’t speak English, but they had an incredible work ethic and earned a lot of respect. Many of their descendants are still here on the coast today.
 
“Hine believed he could use photography as a political tool to bring about change for these people. He was part of what’s now known as the Progressive Movement.”

​The George Washington University website defines those early Progressives as “people who believed that the problems society faced (poverty, violence, greed, racism, class warfare) could best be addressed by providing good education, a safe environment, and an efficient workplace… They concentrated on exposing the evils of corporate greed, combating fear of immigrants, and urging Americans to think hard about what democracy meant.”
 
Lewis Hine lived long enough to see his work have a major impact. In 1938, Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law, a federal mandate that prohibited children under 16 from working in manufacturing and mining. 
 
Hine died in 1940, before the law was strengthened in 1949 to include other types of jobs. But child labor is still a major issue worldwide today (including in the United States) so the work of Hine continues to be relevant, generations later.

Joe explains how Hine’s final years were spent as a pauper, cut off from financial support for his work by the powerful figures he’d exposed through his photography.
 
“But no one could diminish the power of his work. This exhibit is a tribute to what one man was able to accomplish using the lens of his camera.” 
 
 
The Bay St. Louis Library plans to host part of the Hine exhibit sometime later in 2016, focusing on images from Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian. Keep on eye on our Upcoming Events page; details will be posted there as soon as they’re available.

In this fascinating chapter of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, he writes about his grandfather, Bay St. Louis citizen and businessman, George Stevenson.

Bay St. Louis in the 1800s was popular as a place for dueling, in addition to relaxing.  This fascinating piece details a few of these life-and-death dramas that took place on our coast.
- story by Rebecca Orfila

S&B's Bar & Grill on Sears Avenue is located in the original home of Soldinie's Grocery.  Grandson Rick reminisces about growing up in an establishment that was the neighborhood's beating heart. 
- by Becky Orfila

In this chapter of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, he looks back at the storms that have altered the lives - and the history - of the town.

In this chapter of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, he leads us around the Bay St. Louis of the past, visiting soda shops, piers and even funeral parlors!

Nine decades spent determined to leave the world a better place than she found it shows in the wisdom and the smile of this Bay St. Louis icon. 
- story by Pat Saik

An unremarkable office building in Waveland contains an extraordinary collection of more than 4,000 models of planes, ships and cars.  Walk in, but be aware your jaw could hit the floor. 
- story by Rebecca Orfila, photos by Ellis Anderson

One of the most prestigious designations in the country honoring culture and natural resources recognizes the treasures of the Mississippi Coast.  Find out more about the program and how it can help us shine! 
- story by Rebecca Orfila, photos by Rebecca Orfila and Ellis Anderson

Heritage areas are congressionally designated regions that connect natural, cultural, and historic resources in order to recognize the diverse nature of our nearby heritage.  Currently, 49 Heritage Areas have been established within the national program.  Per the National Park Service (NPS), these nationally identified heritage areas are “lived-in landscapes” and not governed by the NPS.  Instead, the heritage areas team up with the home communities to focus on local interests and needs.    

Local management of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Heritage Area is the job of Department of Marine Resources’ Deputy Director of Coastal Restoration and Resiliency, Rhonda Price and her staff.  Price works to facilitate the necessary partnerships of communities, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and individuals who value our region's rich cultural diversity, history, traditions, and natural beauty.

Among her list of projects for 2016, Price described taking the Bon Silene project a step further with plans to bring back the Bon Silene roses to the property.  The property took its name from the carmine-pink flowers that were originally planted on the grounds.

In 2015, grants totaling $200,000 were awarded by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Heritage Area to help support diverse initiatives.  All of the grant awards will be matched with local or state funding and donated services.

• The Disability Connections received $40,000 to create a film project to preserve and promote the heritage areas of South Mississippi, while designing tours to educate and connect the public, inclusive of people with disabilities.
• To support its comprehensive education outreach program, the Mississippi Heritage Trust received $25,000.  MHT plans to develop the educational program using five significant sites to educate students and the public.
• The Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area awarded Stone County Economic Development Partnership a grant of $35,000 to identify, develop and promote heritage resources.
•  The Gautier Colored School will be the beneficiary of a grant of $50,000 to facilitate renovations to create the Gautier Historic Schoolhouse and Cultural Museum.
• Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast Regional CVB was awarded $15,000 to create six Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area signs to be erected at the corridors coming into the 3-6 coastal counties. Additionally, the grants will underwrite a portion of training for college workforce and visitor center personnel that focuses on the assets of the Gulf Coast Heritage Area.
• A grant of $35,000 was awarded to the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain to compose a comprehensive history of the Turkey Creek area, in addition to a feasibility study for the restoration of the Phoenix Naval Store building for use as an interpretive center for the completed historical documents.

Following Hurricane Camille, foundation repairs of Joe Moran’s art studio in Biloxi uncovered twelve skeletons that were originally identified as Native American.  Moran protected the skeletons in situ and went on about his studio work.  Hurricane Katrina ultimately destroyed the structure, which allowed for additional excavation and study of the site.  This examination resulted in the identification of 20 additional burials.  Following osteological study, the remains were identified as French Colonial settlers.  The Moran site is now recognized as the second oldest cemetery of French Colonial settlers in the United States.

The remains of the settlers were reburied on site in Biloxi. The reinterment ceremony included a Rite of Committal conducted by Bishop Roger Morin.  Also participating were Knights of Columbus from local churches as well as members of the 1699 Society in period garb from Ocean Springs. 

As with the planned landscaping at Bon Silene, Rhonda Price and her team are finalizing plans for a memorial garden at the burial site of the settlers.  Design of the gardens will include evergreens styled in the parterre fashion.  Additionally, a life-size sculpture of a weeping angel will be included to honor the colonists and their suffering.  

Whether for restoration, preservation, access projects, signage, or educational programs, the Department of Marine Resources’ Mississippi Gulf Coast Heritage Area team encourages leaders of our area resources to apply for annual grants. For additional information, click here.

Note:  The Bon Silene Restoration and Preservation Project was the Recipient of a 2014 Heritage Award for Preservation Education and the Trustees Award for Exemplary Restoration of a Mississippi Landmark.

Pat Murphy recalls Christmases past and youthful hijinks in this installment of his book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis.

A forgotten Hancock County historic treasure has a chance at a new beginning, thanks to a dynamic young leader and the Mississippi Heritage Trust's "Most Endangered" program.
- by Rebecca Orfila, photos courtesy MHT

On October 22, 2015, the Jourdan River School was added to the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s 2015 Top Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites in Mississippi, a program that serves to identify and champion the protection and restoration of important historical sites. In a recent press release, the Mississippi Heritage Trust (MHT) reported, “The Jourdan River School is one of few remaining African American schools in south Mississippi.”
 
As noted by MHT Executive Director Lolly Barnes, “The goal of the ‘10 Most Endangered Historic Places in Mississippi’ program is to raise awareness about the many threats facing our rich architectural heritage.  By educating the public about the history of the Jourdan River School, we hope to find the resources to save this special place.”

Danin Benoit (operationwakeup@hotmail.com), a representative of  Community Wakeup and Men and Women of God Ministry, the nominators of the school to the Most Endangered list, explained that school alumni Earllean Thompson Washington contacted him to advocate saving the old structure. The next step for the Jourdan River School is fundraising.

Community Wakeup and the Men and Women of God Ministry groups intend to raise funds to facilitate the renewal of the Jourdan River School, in addition to potential grant opportunities.  Supporters hope to meet with school alumni in February of 2016 to hear their stories of the old school in the trees.
 
Backed by the enthusiasm of former students, Ruby V. Patterson and Velma Frederick, plus several local groups and individuals, Benoit hopes the school will be brought “back to light” and serve as a community center for the Kiln area.

The folks in "the Bay" have always known how to celebrate life.  Join this party from the past in the latest installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, and you'll get an in-depth look into our community's festive past!

What I remember most was that throughout the whole parade this contraption was falling apart. When the parade passed my grandfather’s store on Main Street, we had to stop, borrow a hammer from Gramps and nail the thing back together!

When Mississippi’s own Miss America, Mary Ann Mobley, came to town, a huge parade took place and she rode through the streets of downtown in the back of a shiny new convertible. I remember standing across the street from the courthouse and being just mesmerized when her convertible stopped right in front of me and she shook my hand. I don’t think that I  washed my hand for a month after that!

There were the occasional national or state political candidates giving speeches, shaking hands and kissing babies on the lawn in front of the courthouse. Sometimes these candidates would bring bands with them. One time in the early 1960s, country music stars Porter Waggoner and Ms. Norma Jean actually played off the back of a trailer in front of the Hancock County Court House.

After the Bay St. Louis “Krewe of Chicapoula” Mardi Gras parade wound its way through the city, huge crowds would gather in the gymnasium of the old high school (later to become Second Street Elementary) and the king and queen of Mardi Gras in Bay St. Louis would be crowned.  Awards would be presented for best floats and costumes. Hundreds and hundreds of townspeople, young and old, packed into that old gymnasium  every year. It was a much-anticipated annual event in downtown Bay St. Louis.

Click on gallery images to enlarge and see captions - you'll be able to advance to the next image.

Veterans Day was another huge celebration and parade through downtown Bay St Louis. 
Every grade in every school, all the teachers, every school band and several college and military bands marched along with all of the American Legion and Veterans' posts. There would be thousands marching for this parade and it would end in a ceremony featuring speakers on the front steps of the Hancock County courthouse on Main Street. I recall that most often the weather was pristine — cool, crisp, sunny November mornings. It was all very exciting for me as a young kid. After it was over, students were dismissed early from school. As kids, we were not unhappy about that!

The Christ the King Parade was an extremely big deal in this very Catholic community; there were hundreds of people. Looking back it reminds me of the religious parade in “The Godfather: Part II” with the priests and altar boys marching and carrying the religious icons.

The thing that I remember most about this parade was Mr. Sam Compretta and his goat and cart. Every year Mr. Sam and his goat were in that parade! The goat and cart had something to do with the initiation of fourth degree Knights of Columbus. All I ever heard out of my dad was about some ritual of riding the goat! Mr.Sam was a fourth degree knight and along with my dad (Joe Benvenutti) and some others belonged to the statewide initiation team. They traveled all over the state on weekends initiating fourth degree knights. I think riding the goat was part of the initiation ritual. Really I think it was all a tall tale and just an excuse for all of these old guys to get away on the occasional weekend, drink and blow off steam with their friends and fellow Knights of Columbus.

In 1958, the town of Bay St. Louis held its centennial celebration observing the town’s 100th birthday. It’s hard for me to believe that was over 50 years ago!  The town fathers even hired some company specializing in these type of events to lay out and stage a centennial pageant. This company provided costumes for the participants to wear during the pageant. The Bay St. Louis Little Theatre was also involved in the casting and presentation.

The presentation was held at St. Stanislaus football stadium (this was in the days before Bay High had a football stadium) and took place over a period of three or four nights that week. Each night, a different period of time in the town’s history was presented in this live pageant. 

There was some kind of special proclamation signed by the mayor, Johnny Scafide, declaring that all of the adult men in town had to grow facial hair for the celebration. If they didn’t and got caught, the violator could be tried in kangaroo court and placed in one of the head stocks that were constructed on the front lawn of the Hancock County courthouse. I remember that they would break raw eggs in the men’s hair and throw pies and things at them while they were in the head stocks. Then they would be thrown into a makeshift  jail for an hour. Needless to say most men grew facial hair or left town temporarily until the pageant was over. Back at this time, men did not wear facial hair. You never saw beards and mustaches on men.

My dad grew a goatee and many of the townspeople had acting roles in the pageant, including me and my dad. I remember that I played a child crying because I’d just lost a family member in the town’s yellow fever epidemic.

These days they are called festivals:  Crab Festival, Harbor Fest, Beachfront Festival, Seafood Festival. But back in my childhood, they were just called fairs and everybody had them. From church fairs to county fairs, the schools, churches, American Legions, Knights of Columbus and SSC Sidelines Club all had fairs as a method of  fundraising.

There were several childrens’ fishing rodeos with the one presented by the American Legion Post 139 being the one I remember best. The American Legion Fair was usually July 4th weekend and it ended with a huge fireworks display out on the end of their pier.

This American Legion post home was constructed on the beach side of South Beach Boulevard at the intersection of Washington Street after the 1947 hurricane. It was directly across the street from The Star Theatre and featured a long pier that basically was built on the footprint of the earlier Stokie’s Wharf. This was prior to the construction of the rock jetty and roadway. This American Legion building was destroyed by Hurricane Camille in 1969. Most of the Catholic church and school fairs took place on the grounds of the St. Stanislaus back school (Rip’s University).

The Dances

Oh, Lord, we had the dances! There were plenty of them. My musical career grew out of the love of live music that began at these dances. From the first time I experienced live music, the music bug was just all up in my bones. My Grandfather Stevenson was best friends with Ben Hille, Sr., who owned the Oldsmobile dealership and I was friends with his son, Squeaky. We used to go to the Hille residence every year for a visit on Christmas morning. I vividly remember the Christmas morning when Squeaky got his first set of champagne-sparkle Gretsch drums. Soon Squeaky and Henry “Jay” Heitzmann had a real rock-n-roll band, initially named The Scavengers, but soon changed to The Starfires (most bands during this period were named after cars). I remember going to the Bay St. Louis Youth Center and listening to Henry J & The Starfires. From that point forward, I was a live music junkie!

When I was a teenager, the Our Lady of the Gulf CYO used to hold teen dances in the large meeting room upstairs in the KC Hall on Main Street. My dad used to call bingo downstairs several nights per week to make extra money, so I knew the building well. The room upstairs was all wood floors, ceilings and walls and, looking back on it, had great acoustics. The ceiling height was about 16 feet, which made the room seem much bigger than it really was. The space would hold about one hundred people comfortably but on any given night there might be 150 kids packed up in there. The CYO also used to hold dances in the cafeteria of Our Lady of the Gulf elementary school (now Holy Trinity).

As I remember it, most of the time the admission fee at the KC Hall was a dollar, maybe two if it was a bigger name band. The music was usually provided by bands from Gulfport or Biloxi like the Nightbeats, the Soul Brothers, my friend Bo & The Claudettes and occasionally even my band, the Saxons. There also on occasion, would be bigger name bands from New Orleans and Baton Rouge like the Dimensions, Deacon John and the Ivories, the Mersey Sounds and the Inn Crowd. On those occasions the place would be absolutely packed.

These were put on for teenagers 18 and younger, with no alcohol allowed. There were big, tall windows down the two side walls and no air conditioning. To say that it was hot and steamy would be a huge understatement. They had a big attic fan that would suck air in through the open windows to ventilate the place. We used to lower a string down from the upstairs window and have one of our buddies tie off a pint of whiskey and tow it back up through the window. You generally could pull this off on a big crowded night because the chaperones were generally preoccupied trying to keep alcohol from being smuggled in through the main door.

One night Deacon John and The Ivories were playing. They were one of the bigger-name New Orleans bands working these dances. The bandstand was raised and stuck up in a little alcove in the corner of the room. The stage was built up enough so that the stage floor was about level with the sill of the window in the corner. It was summertime and hot, sweaty and sticky from the climate and 175 dancing, gyrating young bodies packed up in the hall. Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, who went on to be the drummer for the Funky Meters and the Neville Brothers, was playing drums with the Ivories at the time. He was set up in the corner right next to the open window. A couple of wasps flew in through the open window and Zig started swatting and batting around with his drum sticks trying to shoo them away when he lost his balance behind the drums and toppled off of his drum stool. If one of the other musicians had not quickly grabbed him he would have gone out the second floor window head first.

There actually were some very good bands playing that circuit back then and over the years I would become friends with many of the musicians in those groups. Bill Dunham’s band, the Mersey Sounds, were a very good band from Baton Rouge. They performed frequently for the CYO. I am still friends with Bill Dunham. One night many, many years later, my band was playing at Ruby’s Roadhouse in Mandeville and I had the pleasure of calling up George Volavitch, the original singer of the Dimensions (another regular CYO band from New Orleans), to sing with us.

I met my first real girlfriend at one of these KC Hall CYO dances. The drummer in my current band met his wife at one of these dances. While I’m on the subject of CYO dances, I have to relate this tale. One summer I met this absolutely beautiful girl from Baton Rouge while both of our families were vacationing in Panama City Beach, Florida. We had one of those torrid teenage summer romances for the week that we were in Florida and then about two weeks after we returned home, her family invited me to come to Baton Rouge for the weekend.

I rode up to Baton Rouge on a Greyhound bus and she and her sister picked me up at the bus station in her daddy’s car. This was a Friday night and they announced that we were going to a CYO dance. Well, I’m this podunk, small-town Mississippi kid used to attending CYO dances in the KC Hall with maybe 100 kids. We pulled up to the Redemptorist High School gym, which was about five times bigger than any high school gym that I had ever seen. We walked in and there were at least 1500 kids in there and the joint was jumping!

There were two bands alternating sets with each other. One of the bands was a group named Blues Incorporated, featuring a singer named Duke Royal, who was this big 18- year-old kid with a wavy pompadour hairdo like Little Richard but singing like Bobby Blue Bland. This young singer would go on to become the legendary Luther Kent, a world renowned R&B singer today. For a smalltown kid who was already ate up the live music, this weekend made a huge impression that remains with me to this day.  My friend Duke Bardwell’s band, the Greek Fountains, was a huge regional band hailing from the Red Stick City during this time. Baton Rouge today remains a big musical town with an extremely vibrant local musical scene.

St. Stanislaus always had great homecoming dances with really good New Orleans bands. Deacon John and the Ivories, Little James and the Upsetters, Ernie Kdoe and the Matadors, and the Aubry Twins are just some of the bands that played these dances. My sophomore year Ernie Kdoe and The Matadors played for the homecoming dance. I realized years later that the guitarist in ​the Matadors at the time the legendary Walter “Wolfman” Washington. Walter was in fact Ernie Kdoe’s first cousin.

I’m not going to talk much about the dances that were held at the Bay St. Louis Youth Center because other than seeing Henry J and the Starfires perform there, these dances were a little before my time. The Youth Center was behind S.J. Ingram Elementary School on Ulman Avenue. The center and the dances were sponsored by the local Jaycees organization. Although in the early 1970s I performed there numerous times when I was a member of the band Corruption, the real heyday of the Youth Center was in the 1950s, when I was too young to be a part of that scene.

The Bay-Waveland Yacht Club and the Pass Christian Yacht Club took local teen dances to an entirely different level. For one thing, the venues were much bigger and held more kids. Secondly, the entertainment was consistently on a higher level. When I was a teen, my band the Subway Prophets played for the junior nights during the summer.

 The Bay Yacht Club was the first place that I ever saw Deacon John and the Ivories. The yacht clubs had better budgets and could afford to pay better bands. The CYO dances would have bigger bands maybe once per year, while the yacht clubs had big name bands every time. Irma Thomas and the Royals, Art and Aaron Neville with the Hawkettes. Deacon John, Roger and the Gypsies, the Glory Rhodes and later, the Funky Meters all played regularly at Bay-Waveland or Pass Christian yacht clubs. Both yacht clubs also had junior nights on a weeknight in summer. These dances provided work for the younger, up-and-coming bands like mine: the Subway Prophets and Tomorrow’s Dawn, as well as Pass Christian’s Mustangs and Gulfport’s Flower Power.

Several funny episodes come to mind about Bay-Waveland Yacht Club dances. Bay-Waveland was always elevated so the main level where the dances were held was actually on the second floor. One night I climbed out the window (this was before air conditioning) to go get alcohol and fell about ten feet to the ground. Apparently, I must have been pretty “relaxed” because I wasn’t hurt, but obviously didn’t need any more alcohol.

Another time Irma Thomas and The Royals were playing and there was a big fireplace with a mantle that the band always set up in front of for dances.  This was one of those dances where the capacity of the yacht club was 300, while there were probably 450 in attendance. Anyway, I jockeyed my way up to the best seat in the house and was sitting up on the mantle of the fireplace behind the band. Irma Thomas was already a huge local star with lots of big records, but my favorite was a tune called “I Did My Part.”  As usual, I was “extremely relaxed.” As Ms. Irma’s set progressed, I became increasingly more vocal, yelling “Irma, Irma, I Did My Part, play I Did My Part."  What comes to mind with this story is the scene in the movie Animal House when the fraternity boys discover their party band, Otis Day and the Knights, are on the bill at a rural juke joint and proudly announce “Wait until Otis sees us, he loves us!”  Anyway, after one too many times of hearing me say, “Irma, Irma, I Did My Part," the Soul Queen of New Orleans spun on me and announced “I did too, white boy, now get down off of the stage!”

Ironically, one of my lifetime musical friends and heroes, Deacon John Moore, was playing (in his words) “one of those New Orleans Country Club society wedding receptions” when a woman approached him and related that she was a friend of first lady, Laura Bush and that he would be “getting a phone call.” Fast forward to the White House Christmas party and my friend, then Congressman Gene Taylor (a veteran of many, many Bay-Waveland Yacht Club dances) is walking around the Bush’s Christmas party. Gene hears, but doesn’t see the band and thinks to himself that this sounds awfully familiar. He seeks out the room where the band is playing and there is our friend Deacon John doing what he does — for George and Laura Bush’s White House Christmas party! Deacon John and his band the Ivories still “hold court” annually on the 4th of July Saturday at the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club more than 40 years later.

Other Fun Stuff

Sometime in the late 1950s a bowling alley opened on the Highway 90 service road close to Dunbar Avenue. Ms. Laurie Poindexter’s mother, Ms. Dorothy Yaryan, began small with about twelve lanes, but soon after, doubled the size. This building is still standing next door to Grammy’s Donut Shop.

This bowling alley was BIG news for Bay St. Louis’s population. Soon there were men’s, women’s and children’s bowling leagues and for a while, this business was a major player for  the town’s entertainment buck. I remember that once - and only once - my Dad bowled a perfect game. I think the highest that I ever bowled was a score of around 220. The bowling craze in Bay St. Louis was a lot of fun. Later, Ms. Yaryan got out of the business and it was taken over by Fred Cabell under the name of Tower Lanes in 1965.

Around the same time as the opening of the bowling alley, two go-cart tracks were opened in the area. One of these tracks opened where Pizza Hut is today, on property owned by Mr. Vincent Morreale.  The other opened in Waveland on Highway 90 around where Countryside Collectible Antiques is now. If memory serves me correctly, this track was opened by Mr. Tony Morreale.

All I can tell you is that I, along with every other adolescent male in town, went bonkers over the go-carts. If my dad would have let me, I’d have spent every cent that I could get my hands on to get behind the wheel of those go-carts. It was our first experience behind the wheel!

It seems that at some point there was a miniature putt-putt golf course on the same property as the go-cart track where Pizza Hut is located. I know for a fact there was a nicer putt-putt place built at the corner of Second Street and the Highway 90 service road, next to Mr. John Stanton’s Frostop.

Both the putt-putt courses and the go-cart tracks were seasonal, but they sure were enjoyed by a lot of the locals and tourists for several years!
 
I’ve also found in my research that in 1950 there was apparently an amusement park of some sort named Coney Island of the South. This park was located at Jackson Ridge, which at a later date was the garbage dump, but now is the location of Buccaneer State Park, on the southern end of Waveland. I haven’t talked to anyone who could tell me anything about this, but the newspaper ads in the Hancock County Eagle don’t lie! This could possibly have been a short lived venture, however.