Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-15
By Chorles Mercer
As.oeioied Press Newsfeoturss WrissI

When II came to having good
vacation, the Southern planter
used to pack a real punch. And
he knew where to go to drink it.
Every summer. a century and
more ago, he'd get as bored with
raising cotton as father does
raising the mortgage money to-
day. So he'd bundle the family
into a coach or Mississippi pack
ct and come down here to the
Gulf Coast to raise a little polite
Cain.
A visitor. slipping the drink
those planters made famous.
can't help but feel they were
smart gentlemen.
A lot of folks from the Middle
West have been following in their
tracks for years. Now it's time
they shared their restricted Sc
cret with the rest of the country.
There, are all sorts of ways of
getting to the Gulf Coast-good
highways, trains. fast planes. It
happened that this traveller came
by modern Mississippi River
boat from Cincinnati, Ohio, to
New Orlean on the only over
night passenger vessel still afloat
on the inland rivers-the Delta
Queen. owned by Green Line
Steamers. Inc, Of Cincinnati.
Mansions RecoIl Old Days
On the way the Delta Queen
stopped at Natchez, Nissan
absorbing spot to the historical
minded. There are a score of
old mansions, whose white COL
umns, curving stairs, SPRAYING
bright gardens preserve the age
when Southern knighthood was
in flower.
Ramble through such houses
as Stanton Hall, Linden Rosalie,
Melrose and Dudleith. Go down
river to Oak Alice Plantation, a
huge house several miles north
of New Orleans. hidden behind
the levee at the head of a half
mile vista of 300-year-old live
oaks. Such places win make you
wonder why the planters ever
left home to vacation on the
gulf.
But when you reach the Gulf
Coast you'll see why: It's cooler
here.
The Gulf Coast, as defined
here. is the rs miles of Mississippi
soil fronting on blue salt water.
1t embraces, among other things,
the worlds longest man-made
white sand beach, multitude of
winding bays, a host of modern
motels and hotels strung among
Southern mansions old and new,
and seven sprawling towns. OF
course, the largest is Biloxi, a
city of 37,425 contented souls
by the 1850 census.
Popular as Early as l840s
History clings to the Gulf
Coast like Spanish moss.
Carl GARNER, the historian,
points out that seven flags have
flown over the Gulf Coast: Those
of France. England, Spain, the
74-day Republic of West Florida
Tin 1900. the Stars and Stripes
the 1861 Republic of Mississippi.
and the banner of the Confed-
eracy.
In the 1840s the coast became
the popular resort for Southern
planters and their families.
They built large homes. some of
which still stand. Here they
loafed and had fun. And here,
with an occasional hiatus for
war, vacationers have been loaf
ing and having fun ever since.
This traveller left New Orleans
by auto for the coast itself along
Route 80, the old Spanish trail
to Mobile.
Eastward from New Orleans
for many miles the land Is fat
and monotonous. But drop down
to Waveland. the first Of seven
towns of the coast, and you'll
begin to see people living quiet
lives by blue water. At Bay st.
Louis you rejoin Route 80 and
cross the bay by bridge to Pass
Christian.
Studded With Hotels, MoteIs
Here Route 90 becomes dual
lane highway running between
the gulf and old homes studded
with luxuriant hotels and motels.
Here begins the long. beautiful
white-sand beach laid down by
the Army Corps of Engineers
with local help. It runs through
Gulfport to Biloxi.
The gulf waters are shallow
and warm. Fish are plentiful,
so plentiful that they compose
a staple industry in Biloxi. From
its wharves puts out a fleet of
nearly 1000 shrimp and oyster
boats. They range fal into the
gulf.
The vacationer has no trouble