The WPA Guide to Mississippi by Federal Writers' Project

Author:Federal Writers' Project
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781595342225
Publisher: Trinity University Press

PIRATE’S HOUSE, WAVELAND

At 7.3 m. is LAKESHORE and the mouth of BAYOU CADET, where fall and winter fishing for speckled trout is excellent.

Between Bay St. Louis and the Louisiana Line US 90 is a flat straight stretch of road running through cut-over pine lands. That the second growth pine is already being wellworked for turpentine is evidenced by the many slashed trees along the road.

At 75.5 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

Left on this road to the Gulfview School, 2.5 m.; R. here on a dirt road through pine and stump barrens, past the post office at Ansley, 5.8 m., and through two pasture gates, at 10.9 m. to a trail fork; R. on the trail to the old PLANTATION HOME, 13.2 m., once belonging to Col. J. F. H. Claiborne, Mississippi’s pioneer historian. In 1712 John B. Saucier settled here on Mulatto Bayou, and in the 1780’s had his title confirmed by the Spanish authorities. He built the house before 1800, taking timber from the pine woods about him and firing his own brick with the help of slaves. The house shows Spanish influence in its main floor, propped high on open brick piers in the West Indian manner. A single flight of steps rises to the gallery with toothpick columns, running across the front. The hipped tin roof is broken in front by two dormers and is topped by a plain box observatory. The rooms are large and open off a central hall.

At Jackson’s Landing on Mulatto Bayou, just a mile from the house, is seen the long circle of earthworks thrown up by Andrew Jackson in 1814 to guard the mouth of Pearl River from British assault. Colonel Claiborne bought the house in the 1840’s and lived in it until 1870, writing his best books during this period.

Back of the house are the ruins of the brick slave quarters. The piers that support the house itself are joined with bars to form cages. In these cages the Negroes who were brought from Africa were kept until they had been tamed enough to be moved into slave quarters in the rear.

Painted on the wall panels in the hall and in the front bedrooms are huge canvases of hunting and fishing scenes done by Coulon, a 19th century artist of New Orleans.

The estate now belongs to a New Orleans business man who has turned it into a cattle range. Brahma bulls, half again as large as the average bull, with shaggy humps above their shoulders, drink at the spring where the Choctaw Indians camped. Near the spring is a mound of clam shells left by the Indians.

At 82.4 m. on US 90 is the junction with a wide graveled road.

Right on this road is the picturesque NETTIE KOCH HOME, 0.4 m. (R) (private), erected before 1820. The original part of the house, consisting of two rooms, is constructed of logs. Lean-tos, ells, and wings that are connected to the main house by latticed porches have been added, giving it a rambling appearance.

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