St. Tammany farmer., 1905-04-29
Our Mediterranean of the
South.

~ S~A AAA~NAAVS0 u S0AANSS4A VI 3AO
South.
Within the past few days visitor
to New Orleans has described the
shores OF Mississippi Sound, from
Lake Borgne to Mobile, as the Ri.
viera of the United States. Almost
as if by concert, William E. Curtis,
the well.khown correspondent of the
Chicago Record Herald, in its issue
OF April 5, uses, concerning this
coast, the following language:
While the gulf coast lacks the
rugged background furnished by the
Alps along the Riviera. and the
Cornish Road of Europe Is embel-
ished with cliffs and peaks, castles
and villas, and wonderful gardens,
the Riviera of America, as we may
call the coasts of Alabama and Mis-
sisslppi. has its own quiet pictur-
esqueness, and one of these days
will be as much frequented and ad.
mired as the resorts along the Medi-
teranean coast of France. The cll-
mate of the two places is similar.
Southern people have known Of the
attractions of the gulf coast for
centuries. Northern people are just
beginning to discover them, and are
buying land aud erecting winter
homes here. Hotels are springing
up to accommodate transient guests;
fishing snd shooting clubs are being
located in secluded places within
reach of the game, and within a few
years this will be populous as we'll
as popular resort for Northern
people during the winter and spring
months. There is no more interest
ing strip of country than that lying
along the gulf between Mobile and
New Orleans. 1t is rich in history
and romance, as we'll as in material
attractions, and still bears the inn
press Of the life and struggles of it's
first inhabitants.
These observations apply equally
to the shores Of Lakes Borgne and
Pontchartrain. where q bluff shore
sufficiently high above the water to
insure safety from such waves as
the sonth winds may give rise to,
fronts the entire reach of this be au.
tiful coast more than a hundred
miles in lineal extent. Although
at presen: it is studded with pretty
little towns, it is far from being
properly appreciated, but the time
cannot be far distant when from
one end to the other its entire ex-
panse will be lined with villas,
hotels, gardens and pleasure places,
making it as famous as Is that
stretch of French and Italian coast
upon the Mediterranean, from Nice
to Spezzia, with Genoa as it's center.
There is the winter resort for the
titled and wealthy classes of Europe.
The European Riviera is already
one of the most distinguished pleas
ure and health resorts in the world,
but it possesses no quality Of eli.
mate and no conditions of land and
sea that are more delightful than
are to be found along this coast of
our own American Mediterranean.
Our own people lack the money to
make the improvements that are re-
quired to take full advantage of
these charming conditions, but they
will not 60 long unknown and un~
sought.
One reason for the comparative
neglect with which they have been
treated is the lack of intimate rail-
road connection with New Orleans g.
There should be hourly trains in the
day time, and ln the evening 1t
should be possible for the dwellers
along the coast to visit the opera
and theatres and return home at
night. This can only be accom-.
olished by means of electric subur-
oan lines that can operate single
;ars or trains according to need.
What has been done to Florida
~ Northern capital will sooner or
ater be done on our coast on far
,rander scale, because there is so
much more here to warrant it. We
i've in an age when events follow
ach other in swift succession,
ringing results most startling and
wonderful, and here upon our
coast, kissed by the waves
+ the most beautiful of Southern
eas. will grow up paradise of
alaces and gardens for the use and
leisure of the democratic, kings
nd queens of the worlds greatest
,epublic--Picayune. |,
The f0llnwinu is what a man,s