Exploring Bay St Louis … “A Place Apart”

Friday, 12 April (Part II)
Buccaneer State Park — Waveland, Mississippi
Temps: Lo 48F / Hi 80F (9C / 27C)

The storm that came through yesterday cleared the air and the humidity, leaving us with a beautiful day of blue skies, sunshine, and mild temperatures.  In other words, a perfect day for an outing.

Our day started around 6:30a.  I had spied two murals in a parking lot in Bay St Louis and wanted to photograph them before the lot filled up with cars.  Our bonus for setting out early was a beautiful sunrise … which, of course, required a few clicks of the shutter.

Despite the delay, we managed to complete the drive (about 5 miles [8 km]) in time for me to photograph the murals without hindrance.

Water pooling in the parking lot doubles our pleasure in “Welcome to Bay Saint Louis,”
a mural painted in 2009 by Joshua R. Poole.

“The Promenade” tells the living history of Bay St Louis.  Painted by John McDonald,
it was completed in 1997.  Though the mural was submerged in water and the paint film
was compromised, it survived Hurricane Katrina.

[I posted detail shots of this piece of art and the story it tells for the
Mural Monday meme.  You can find that post in my viewfinder blog … here.]

On one side of 220 Main Street, an art deco style building constructed in 1929, is an unsigned
mural advertising Coca Cola for 5¢ (yeah, right!).  On the other side of the building is a
brilliant red tree painted by Lori K. Gordon, and named “Ol’ Reliable” by a William Baxter.

After our foray to photograph murals, we picked up some scones and a loaf of artisan bread from Serious Bread and returned home to have breakfast.  The baked goods were fresh and delicious, but way too expensive … except as a special treat.

This Community Garden on Main Street may not be there long; there was a “for sale” sign (which I
opted to keep out) to the right of the bench.  What a shame to lose this green space in town.

After breakfast, we went for a stroll on the beach.  Since we planned to do a walking tour of Bay St Louis later in the day, we kept our pace slow and enjoyed the beautiful post-storm morning.  Unfortunately, our morning was marred a bit by the sight of a second dead Kemp’s Ridley turtle on the beach.  When we came here I didn’t think we’d be seeing any dead turtles, let alone two of them.  Of course, I reported this encounter to the NOAA Fisheries authorities as well.

Happy Scene … gull feeding on the beach.

Sad Scene … another dead sea turtle; I asked Mui to pose behind it for a size-perspective.
Though larger than the first turtle we saw, I think this is a Kemp’s Ridley as well.

(Later in the day, we walked this beach again, and I was able to take a photo of the sea turtle from a different angle.  Too gruesome to post as taken, I post-processed it in B&W for the Viewfinder blog … here.)

On with our day … back home for a while, and then back out again.  This time … to do a self-guided walking tour of Old Town Bay St Louis.  But first, a belated birthday lunch at 200 North Beach.  The restaurant is located in a house that was built in 1903.  Damaged by Katrina, it was restored by the owners “by reclaiming original beaded boards and exposing massive wooden beams.”  The food was tasty, and the portions were reasonably-sized … and our choice of dessert, though rather small, made up for the lack of a birthday cake yesterday.  (By the way, no fault of Mui’s that there was no birthday cake … at my request, he didn’t bake one as it would have been too much of a temptation to have one sitting on the counter waiting to be devoured!)

Clockwise from top left: Grilled Triple Tail on a bed of julienned vegies; Crab Cakes
(appetizer size, which I enjoyed with a small Caesar salad); Warm Brownie Sundae.

Thus sustained by our meal, we began our self-guided walking tour of Bay St Louis, which is said to have been settled by Bienville, a French explorer who came to the area in 1699 and named it in honor of Louis IX of France.

What started out as a change of scenery for our “exercise walks,” turned out to be a pleasant afternoon exploring the historic old town.  We began with a few places described as “off the beaten trail” in the brochure we had picked up at the Mississippi Welcome Center when we first arrived in the area, and made our way to the other sites one building at a time.  I clicked the shutter only occasionally, so if you want the full tour, you will have to do it yourself ;-)

(I already shared with you the Katrina Angel Trees we found in Bay St Louis, so I won’t include those in this blog entry.)

“Off the beaten trail,” Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church is our first stop.
Constructed in the Romanesque style in 1908, it overlooks the Mississippi Sound.
Click here for a photo of the Katrina Angel statue dedicated to the volunteers
who poured into the city to help where they might after the hurricane.

The Hancock County Courthouse and the World War II Memorial.
The courthouse was completed in 1911 at a cost of $25,000, with furnishings …
including beds and mattresses for jurors unfortunate enough to be sequestered.
The neo-classical revival structure is the tallest building in Old Town.

The Brothers of the Sacred Heart Cemetery is dedicated to the Brothers who served at
St Stanislaus College, founded in 1854, and the oldest educational institution on the Gulf Coast.

I looked for a sign indicating the age of this grand oak tree, but there was none.
My best guess is that it dates back to the same year — 1905 — as the Old City Hall,
on the grounds of which the tree is located.  The “shoofly” around the oak tree
takes its name from the French word, "chaufler," meaning "cauliflower."

One of the unexpected highlights of our tour was a stop we made at The Depot, a mission style building built in 1929 as a train station.  In all honesty, the only reason we went inside was to use the restroom.  We ended up finding not only a charming woman who shared with us an album filled with newspaper articles and pictures of the devastation wreaked by Katrina, but also a small collection of Mardi Gras costumes designed by Carter Church.  What made seeing these elaborate creations particularly special is that Church lost his business to Katrina and had to rebuild it from scratch.  (Article here.)

This two-story mission style depot, built in 1928, was a fanciful addition to the heart
of the town.  Over the decades, thousands of travelers have passed through it.
Used as a set in the 1965 movie starring Natalie Wood, This Property is Condemned,
It is now used as the Visitor Center, and also houses the Mardi Gras Museum.

We saw some Mardi Gras costumes in New Orleans, but the ones here had quite a “wow” factor.

the elaborate headpiece is worn with the help of a brace that is hidden by the feathers.
the ostrich feathers cost $800 when the costume was made in 2009; they would cost
$2400 today due to a diminished supply resulting from a bird flu epidemic in Africa.

And here are a few more photos of these elaborate costumes. As the lady at the visitor center explained, worth thousands of dollars, Mardi Gras court costumes are worn for less than 24 hours before they are stored away in an attic somewhere. Displaying them for visitors to see is a good idea IMHO.  (Each costume is exhibited with a framed copy of Carter Church’s original design.)

Can’t top these costumes for a colorful ending to this post!