This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.


'WP* f""'"' -	*	}y-
TELLA PITTS Wdent
:	. I . V	'
at. flie- time; Another.
atevej^the -s m a 1 l"j&nt home uid, co'mposed. a^f i V	song:	; “Logtown,^ Gainesville^.'
begins
• •’ •bT- 1 • .	,	v	*** - ••v* ^	'	■<	if
>£laipi its om:.-''-^ , •>• :£ Some 3.00tt_resident.s of r*ihese two tiny' towns and -wialf a-dozen other small
'wer-e offered Inequitable’-prices for their land and pleas from others that they be allowed ta remain on acres that -had been rin their families for* - inevitable "•
^1^0n g. the> 'generations, the' .woiuiyw j-t? i, 4^?arl JFtiver. in • southern*^* happened. Settlements were --‘r '-■'t^iKissippi^were" forced 1 somehow arranged,:th e peo-
" ; ’ •* #0 move out in 1962 when ^ reluctantly moved out, and ►Ssi:	-	the government moved in. '
;,}he federal government Many of t h e homes and ^acquired/ a 142,000-acre /buii^gggge'
Xtract in the area as a testing" ground for its Saturn TCand Nova rocket boosters.
fc,
k
site‘Sftthe rest were torn down — because of the inevitable damage from the vibration of .	rocket firings — and whatev-
National Aeronautics ' er was left of the towns lay , ^-y^T^^C^tA^i^iration^ab'andoned and virtually dead -vieedea a huge	ich in the midst of the rich hard-
-$ts rockets™coultLJ)&«ruii«full»»jvood forests bordering1 the needed a river ..on' \t Pearl River; 1 "j .■"	.
>which to transRQiQlT^^age—^.Through t h e~ years,'.'those
oengm^nd;it.need<gbtojve£ . forests have. gradually~'c'rept'>; V.r eTnuir 'ctppq Y pimMr
eyer■ closer *- covering >eV^l'r ;
:^normous_sound • t. h eJracket-, gaping holes.; once filledjby.ltf ■’ '•'
1 "" "	”*	4	a	I	s	p(,,homes,,with,young trees and*; towTi,'-^ now full of holes and /those trees, is.a flightj>f.Storie»
"	•.. w.«w.»s«./- * traveled only’by hunters and steps^’leading'Sto^emptmess.'}
fishermen — 'visitors to the
make.
*-
... :£ests wou
rjieeded secjpsion^—. a ^ place^'' sturdy ' vegetation, -. • winding ■, :^’ith as few people as^poss}-^ thick vines about azaleas .and
Around'a'point a few-, rose bushes’an'd crepe myr-ijtfiiles upriver from Logtow'n, ties which once adorned ;4he. government ’Deople swung carefully tended gardens, and _ mile radius,'— the covering the rusting, decaying”
And 'across the^oad/.'some^. thing ’ gleams^'in'-the^autumn sunlight: ‘a_ cracked^'and leaf-littered concrete ■'floor, which; once served as'the''foundationv
stood on the edge. With -?e population, of only ^JD,' the Jferea was idegj-
fSct on the people V .£% -^vas stunning. They were "in •’!vC state of shock, like some?-■ Vbj ^ody told you-your best friend-J • $ rSiad been shot,” said one red'
and fallen strands of Spanish moss.~ .' -Walking along what w a s once t K e main road of Log-
area' experience all the soothing sensations of a woodland stroll. . - Massive oak trees' reaching across the road cre-’L ate patches of deep shade, the; ;for ^meone’s■garaget^A^Sjr^r’ cries of huge crows are heard ^ Shoved against^the“trui3c of, high in the pines overhead,f \a century-old),oalcvisJ'a nisty,'-and the delicious smell of broken stove,’ full of holes left. damp pine needles is every-': by-a practicing' marksman; where. •	U'^.At.the end of a lovely,
” Yet — over there, beneath^' ‘ meandering* lane,''^bordered


Logtown Nature reclaims its own in MS ghost towns (1)
© 2008 - 2024
Hancock County Historical Society
All rights reserved