A Visit to Pass Christian, Mississippi

Saturday, we drove over to Mississippi to visit with a cousin of Linda's.  Pass Christian has always been one of our favorite spots on the Gulf Coast.  We first discovered it in early 2003, the year that I retired and we took a leisurely two-month drive through the Southeastern U.S.

Leaving New Orleans, we looked for the scenic route along the Gulf.  We passed through Bay St. Louis and into Pass Christian.


Both of these communities had amazing old and picturesque homes near the white sandy beach.  A long stretch of Scenic Drive in Pass Christian was designated as a National Historic District consisting of 2200 acres and 109 buildings.  We drove that road several times in both 2003 and 2004.  If we had known that it would be destroyed in 2005, I would have taken a lot more pictures!  The town had taken a direct hit from hurricane Camille back in 1969, but the historic homes, being fairly high above the water line, mostly survived.  In 2005, Katrina would pretty much erase the historic district from the map.

Here is an example of one of the historic homes as it appeared in the application for the National Register.


And this is a picture that we took in 2003 with Scenic Drive in the background.


Now, in 2012, I stopped in the same general area to take this picture.


That lonely stump from a Live Oak is now a sculpture.


You can see more of the artist, Marlin Miller, and his work at this link.

While the area did survive Camille, Katrina was too much for most residents to consider rebuilding.  So the scenic drive now consists of a number of foundations, "for sale" signs and even some trees with debris still hanging from the upper branches as a reminder.



UPDATE: 2/172012
I found this link to a good set of photos of homes before the 2005 hurricane.  While they are from a bit farther East in Biloxi, they give a good idea of what is missing from these current photos.