Page 148 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2017

the county of
HANCOCK
story by Lynn Lofton
Hancock County is the southernmost county of Mississippi and has the eighth highest per capita income in the state. The county was named for John Hancock, U.S. founding father and signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the 2010 census, the population was listed as 43,929.
The county is home to the John C. Stennis Space Center, NASA’s largest rocket engine test facility. A popular saying is that you have to go through Hancock County to get to the moon. A number of large private companies are located in the county in the polymer, chemical and aerospace sectors. Tourism and gaming are also economic drivers.
It all began centuries ago when French brothers Iberville and Bienville arrived to claim the area for France in 1699. The first settlement overlooked the Bay of Saint Louis, the Mississippi Sound and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico from the highest waterfront elevation on the Gulf of Mexico. Bienville had a fort constructed on the bluff garrisoned with 15 soldiers and five families under the command of
a sergeant. Thus the colony at Bay Saint Louis became the third settlement on the Gulf of Mexico following Pensacola and Biloxi (Ocean Springs).
After New Orleans became the territorial capital, its deep-water access for shipping rendered the colonies eastward to Mobile of little value to the French. There was little, save hides and pelts, of commercial value produced in the area and those were transported to New Orleans for shipping. Hard life and disease left the colony chronically
under populated and agriculture was never developed. In 1727 the few troops remaining at Fort Louis in Biloxi were withdrawn and the area was left to fend for itself.
The lifestyle that developed became one of rural peace. During the rest of the 1700s there was little development
of cultural, social, religious or political organizations. There were no schools, and although the population was exclusively Catholic, no churches were built. Occasionally an itinerant priest traveled from Natchez performing marriage and burial rites, often after the fact. The people hunted or fished for food, dressed and groomed themselves in the fashion of the Indians, and built their homes of thatch and mud. The settlers were destined to remain much the same for nearly a century.
Bay St. Louis
During the War Between the States, northerners learned about the south and began flocking to the warm climates. Resorts sprang up everywhere. At one time Bay Saint Louis had as many as 12 hotels. Tourism remains a vital part
of the town’s economy, and leaders work to give visitors numerous reasons to visit.
Tish Williams, executive director of the Hancock Chamber of Commerce, said, “There is something to do every weekend from festivals to fishing tournaments. Or, if you just want to relax and take in our pristine beaches, you only have to cross the two lane Beach Boulevard Scenic By-Way
148 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • December 2017 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net
Parade on South Beach Blvd., Bay St. Louis
Bay St. Louis