Scenic Drive Historic District
Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi
Marker Inscription
Scenic Drive Historic District. Due to the large number of 19th and early 20th century mansions once located here, Pass Christian's Scenic Drive was heralded as "The Newport of the South." Composed of architecturally significant vacation villas set among live oaks, this National Register listed historic district had the largest and best preserved collection of noteworthy beachfront manors on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina destroyed many of the historic buildings, especially in the western half of the district. Mississippi Department of Archives and History, 2013.
Erected by Mississippi Department of Archives and History
The Story
Along Pass Christian's beachfront, wealthy families built architecturally significant vacation villas beneath live oaks, earning the shoreline the nickname "the Newport of the South." For generations this stretch held the Mississippi Gulf Coast's finest concentration of 19th- and early-20th-century beachfront mansions, later recognized as a National Register historic district. Hurricane Katrina swept away much of that heritage in 2005, especially at the district's western end.
Why it matters
It captures both the Gilded Age leisure culture of the Gulf Coast and the profound loss that Katrina inflicted on America's historic built landscape.
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Related events
- · Hurricane Katrina (2005)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Saucier-Bidwell-Pratt House
Pass Christian, MS · est. 2013
Pierre Saucier — whose son later became mayor of Pass Christian — built this two-story Greek Revival house around 1855, with a temple-like portico, square-columned galleries, and an octagonal Gothic Revival outbuilding on the grounds. It later belonged to the renowned New Orleans theatre impresario David Bidwell and was known locally as "Union Quarters." Hurricane Katrina destroyed the landmark in 2005.
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