Gold Coast Watering Places

"Gold Coast Watering Places" is an interesting and enjoyable account of our Coast heritage from a unique vantage point. Dan Ellis mixes methodical research with period photographs in a compelling history. The Gold Coast was a name popular in decades past for our Southern Mississippi shoreline because of its "open bars and open gambling." Watering Places is an antebellum name for Coast resorts that could only be reached via water from New Orleans at the time. Hence, "Gold Coast Watering Places" is a history of the resorts, tourists, citizens, transportation and societies that considered the Coast an upper-class destination. The tourist and summer home trend on the Coast was noted as early as 1810 in a written account by a visitor: "Moreover, a number of wealthy New Orleanians had established summer homes." Soon, hotels and resorts - Biloxi's American Hotel (1843), East Pascagoula House (1836), Long Beach's Brown Hotel (1895) and The Pass Christian Hotel (1831) - dotted the Coast as the region's reputation grew as an oasis of leisure and cultured civility. Activities and services available at The Pass Christian Hotel included "sea bathing, fishing, sailing, shooting, riding and romantic walks, together with archery, billiards, tenpins and excellent dining." Well-rendered local history is vitally important to a full understanding of national history. It is impossible to climb and appreciate the view from a widow's walk if a foundation has not been laid first. National events of a time period have a richer and deeper context when laid upon a firm base of local historical knowledge.