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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Hancock County, Mississippi.
Official Website
Overview
This area of Mississippi was inhabited by indigenous peoples at the time of European colonization; the French were the first settlers and traders in the area. They imported African slaves as laborers, and in time a Creole class of free people of color developed.
After the United States conducted Indian Removal in the 1830s, more Protestant Americans migrated into this area, but it retained French and African Catholic influences. The area is home to the John C. Stennis Space Center, NASA's largest rocket engine test facility.
In 2005, the county was the scene of the final landfall of the eye of Hurricane Katrina, and its communities and infrastructure suffered some of the most intense damage inflicted by that storm. Over the entire 7-mile beach front, not one building or home was left intact. Nearly the entire first block off the beach was destroyed for the entire 7-mile stretch.
Homes as far inland as 10 miles were flooded by the historic storm surge, which occurred during a full moon high tide. All rivers and waterways were inundated by the surge. Highway 603 south from Interstate 10 was completely submerged, and the Highway 90 - Bay St. Louis Bridge was left looking like a stack of dominoes.
Houses were floated off their foundations. In Waveland and Bay St. Louis, some homes were stranded atop the railroad tracks and others in the middle of streets. Towns like Pearlington, Waveland, Bay St. Louis, Diamondhead, and Kiln suffered catastrophic damage.
Adjacent Counties & Parishes
Cities & Communities
- Ansley
- Bay St. Louis (County Seat)
- Clermont Harbor
- Diamondhead
- Kiln
- Lakeshore
- Napoleon
- Pearlington
- Shoreline Park
- Waveland
Links
Bay St. Louis-5 Years After Katrina
Bay St. Louis-10 Years After Katrina
National Register of Historic Places
Hancock County Historical Society
MS Genealogy & History Network
