Bay St. Louis: It is the highest point on the entire Gulf of Mexico coastline (12 ft), and was known for it's pristine beaches before the town was crushed by hurricane Katrina. It's on the St. Louis Bay, between Gulf Port Mississippi and New Orleans and is very close to where the eye of the hurricane made land fall. The area we spent most of the time in was from the bridge on Highway 90 where the decking is completely missing as are some of the support pillars, and along the road by the bay. The destruction in this area was total. It appears the area had upper priced homes, not sure if they were summer homes or permanent homes. All that was left was the foundations and some of the pillars from the homes that sat atop them. The docks out into the bay were "just sticks" Before Katrina the population was just over 8,000.
Bay St Louis was first discovered in 1699 and was originally inhabited by the Choctaw Indians. It had belonged to both Brittian and Spain and in 1812 the United States flag was raised, and it became part of the Mississippi Territory.
For Before and after Katrina Photos go to www.sunherald.com Go to Katrina - before and after photos. One of the before beach photos from Gulfport and the bridge photo from Bay St. Louis are on this site.
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Gulfport: We parked our coach at the Flying J (truck stop) on Highway-10 in Gulfport, got there early afternoon, so decided to drive around a bit. The Flying J appeared to be in pretty good shape, as did the area around it, so we were unprepared for what we saw at the beach. There was almost nothing left, just twisted steel, pieces of concrete and trash hanging in the trees. The few structures still standing were gutted and the once beautiful trees ruined.
The city was incorporated in 1898 and in 1920 the harbor was completed and the port became a working seaport. It's the second largest city in Mississippi with 6.7 miles of man made sandy beaches. Before Katrina Gulfport was "the city where ancient live Oak trees kiss the gulf of Mexico"
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January 2006 .............
Pearlington: A tiny hamlet on the Louisiana St. Line, half way between Biloxi and New Orleans. The eye of Katrina made direct contact with the town. After the storm the town had nothing but a place to get water and ice. There was no Red Cross or shelters. The homes were heaps of debris and trees and nail studded boards littered the roads. About 600 of the 1700 residents were living in tents and under tarps. Only 5% of the buildings are usable, the rest need to be bulldozed.
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