Page 67 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2025

d’Iberville’s expedition for having a patch of small forest on its east tip.
John Bernstiel, with the Resource Education Division of Gulf Islands National Seashore, is a walking history book about the islands. He and his team coordinate outreach in surrounding communities, facilitate field trips for local and visiting schools and other youth groups, present formal talks, guided walks, water programs, and other programing.
“From a historical standpoint, I believe you can break the island’s modern history down into three periods: Early exploration and European colonization, American military history, and the tourism boom leading to the designation of the national seashore and federal protection,” he said going back to 1699 when Ship Island was vital to the French colonization of the Northern Gulf Coast. The U.S. acquired Ship Island from the French as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
In 1847 Ship Island was declared a United States Military Reservation which led to construction of Fort Massachusetts. In 1861, it became a haven for escaped enslaved individuals. As more men came, they were enlisted under the title of Contrabands and were signed up for a one-year enlistment with the rating of landsmen. “These events make both Ship and Horn Island officially part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom,” Bernstiel said.
During WWII Horn Island served as a Chemical Warfare Service Quarantine Station and the U.S. Army operated
a War Dog Training Program on Cat Island.
“The Islands are moving! They are very malleable and constantly changing, shifting, and slowly moving northwest,” Bernstiel says. “Although all landscapes change over time, barrier islands are one of the few that you can see change with your own eyes within a lifetime.”
Sztendera explains that the islands provide a near ideal habitat for diverse
wildlife and serve as defense for the mainland against storms by helping to block the storm surge and dissipate large amounts of wave energy.
Citizens visiting the islands can help. “Marine debris is one of the biggest threats to barrier islands. Marine debris includes trash from visitors and industrial trash from drill platforms and commercial ships, and larger debris such as buoys washing in from the Gulf,” Sztendera says.
Fort Massachusetts and west beaches.
Founder Capt. Peter Martin Skrmetta, Croatian Immigrant, 1887-1963.
Skrmetta island boat service
began in 1926.
15-inch Rodman cannon guards Ship Island harbor from atop Fort Massachusetts, circa 1858.
Original Skrmetta family passenger vessel, circa 1926.
TIPS FOR VISITING THE ISLANDS:
• Practice correct fishing practices (licenses, discard fishing lines, obey wake zone rules, and share the shore with wildlife)
• Take your trash home
• Come prepared for no resources, no restrooms or water except for
Ship Island
• Practice boating safety, wear a life jacket, know radio channels and
speed limits
• Know where you can camp and follow park rules
For more information, visit nps.gov/guis or msshipisland.com.
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