Alphabet File page 224
The old Koch homestead lay some distance eastward past the crossroad, among very large camellia trees. It was built by Christian Koch, a native of Denmark whose fascinating diary is available at the library. The house was lived in by Nettie Koch until her death at 94 years of age in 1955.
If you return to the river and once more proceed eastward, along the south (right) side of Main street were the homes of Coburn Weston, Judge Freeman Jones, the Marquez Family, Arthur Marshall, the Jopes family (in whose home was the telephone exchange), the Holleman family, Lamar Otis, John W. Baxter and the Methodist Church across from the cemetery. Then came the Sidney Otis family (V. P. of the mill), the Methodist Parsonage, Alfonse Evans (son of Dr. Thomas Evans of Bay St. Louis), Jim Mitchell and the silent movie house. Next, the Masonic Hall and recreation hall stood across the street from the Baptist Church. Then came the homes of the Parker family, John Weston, Harry Baxter, Elliot Casanova, Jules Casanova, Jense Nelson and William Koch. Also, there were other homes scattered back from the street and along the river but of all of these mentioned, only the Logtown Cemetery remains.
The first sawmill built in Logtown of which we have record was a small one erected by slave labor in 1845. A larger mill was soon built by E. G. Goddard of Michigan. Henry Weston came south from Sakowegan, Maine for his health and for a while worked at the W. J. Poitevent Mill in Gainesville for $45.00 per month. He was hired in 1848 to operate Judge Wingate's mill in Logtown and thus began his career from a wage hand to a multi-millionaire industrialist. In 1858 he and W. W. Carre and Henry Carre bought the mill from Judge Wingate. Mr. Weston also bought the Wingate home. In 1878 he dissolved the partnership with the Carres and later he bought out their interest, becoming sole owner. His operation continued to grow. He eventually acquired the Poitevent and Favre holdings, and thereby controlled the largest sawmill in the world with a production of 30 million board feet annually. However, the large forests within range of the mill were finally depleted, and with the coming of the depression, he ceased operation of the mill on April 1, 1930.
A few families remained in Logtown in the 1950's and the general prosperity of the time had begun to reach even to the secluded town so picturesquely nestled by the river that had nurtured it in its heyday. Then came "The longest week in history", a two day period between the publication of the first notice of the proposed NASA base with the meeting of Senator John C. Stennis and the residents of Hancock and Pearl River Counties on November 1,1962.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration facility now stands as a stairway to man's future while nearby nature slowly covers the steps of his past. It has always been thus, but for today at least, the long-silent woods around Logtown once more ring with the happy voices of people enjoying being a part of Logtown revisited. (Written by Charles Gray in 1988 for the HCHS booklet before the HCHS visit to Logtown)
LOGTOWN
The now extinct town of Logtown was situated on Pearl River about three miles north of Pearlington. The town faced the river directly opposite the famous Honey Island Swamp and was divided by one main road through the town from the river.
Running parallel with the road is Bougahoma Bayou which served as the dividing line between the White and Negro sections; the Negro section being known as Possum Walk.. Among the early settlers were the names of Goddard, Bailey, Tinkelpa, and Carre. Later, Horatio Weston came here from Skowegan, Maine and founded the H. Weston Lumber Company. He built two mills with slave labor and eventually employed 1,200 men. The population of the town including the adjacent territory was at one time more than 3,000 people. The sawmill on the banks of the river was operated continuously from 1850 for almost 100 years. During the days of prosperity the Weston Lumber Company paid its men on the first and fifteenth of each month. On these dates, luggers manned by Italian fruit peddlers from New Orleans would come up the river carrying fruit, vegetables, fish, oysters, and other foods. While one peddler stayed on the boat to keep store the others peddled their wares from door to door.
These were not the only ones who did a thriving business on pay day. There was a floating saloon which was operated on a barge moored on the west bank of the river under the protection of Louisiana. Since Mississippi Law forbade the sale of intoxicants within five miles of a school, the barges stayed on the Louisiana side. These were also flourishing days for the "taxis" of those times which were oar-propelled skiffs carrying customers to and from the saloon boat.
In 1962 the property of the entire town was bought by the U.S.Government as a site for testing rocket engines. Many old historic homes had to be torn down, including the Nettie Koch Home which had been built about 1840. The original part of the house consisted of two rooms constructed of logs. Lean-tos and ells connected to the house by latticed porches gave it a rambling appearance. The kitchen floor was made of timbers thirty inches wide and several inches thick, having been taken from a flat-boat that had drifted down Pearl River. The house was furnished with old relics, some of them having been brought from Denmark by Mr. Koch. (Hometown Mississippi by James F. Brieger)
LOGTOWN
THE OLD MILL by Mildred Otis Fountain
The H. Weston Lumber Company "Old Mill" on the banks of Pearl River and Bogue Homa Bayou, Logtown. this mill was approximately in the same location that Henry Carre', Henry Weston, and W. W. Carre' operated their first mill in 1857.
Mill Number One, better known as "Old Mill" completely burned on Monday, October 26, 1914, along with the company's 60 ft. combined passenger and freight boat "THE PELICAN", and a tug boat, THE "PALO PINTO". (VF - From papers in the SCE files compiled for a special edition and loaned to the HCHS)
LOGTOWN
On october 25, 1961, the national Space Administration (NASA) announced that it was aquiring Logtown as part of its space program. All buildings were mobbed or demolished. The people who lived and worked there were forced to relocate. By 1964, Logtown had become an uninhabited buffer zone. The history that follows honors the sacrifice, in the name of progress, of a small town and its inhabitants.
After the War of 1812, the United States Government decided to build forts to protect New Orleans from attacks similar to the one by the British in 1815. While building Fort Pike, soldiers came to the site of Logtown to procure timbers to lay in the marsh before beginning construction of a bridge. They called the place Logtown because of several log houses on the bank of Pearl River, and because they got logs there.
In later years, one of the mills in Logtown was the E. G. Goddard Lumber Company of Saganaw, Michigan. Mr. Goddard and co-owner, Mr. Judd, helped in developing the town by building houses for the company officials, a boarding house and a store. About 1893, this mill ceased to operate.
Information obtained from the 1850 census states that Judge D. R. Wingate owned a sawmill in Logtown. In July of 1848, he hired Henry Weston to manage his sawmill, because of Mr. Weston's extensive experience in lumbering.
Henry Weston, born January 9, 1823, in Skowhegan, Maine, had been trained by his lumbering father in his Maine mills, and came South to find a more healthful climate. On March 1, 1854, Mr. Wingate conveyed the sawmill and the Joseph Chalon Claim, comprising almost all of the land in Logtown on Pearl River, to his cousins, Henry Carre', W. W. Carre', and to John Russ. A short time later, John Russ sold his one third interest back to Wingate, who conveyed it to Henry Weston. On June 19, 1856, Henry Carre', W. W. Carre', and Henry Weston were owners of the mill.