Peaceful retreat
Bayou Sauvolle neighbors enjoy water, wildlife, each other
Water is the backdrop to the graceful homes of Bayou Sauvolle, a collection of homes along Davis Bayou, about four miles east of downtown Ocean Springs.
The small neighborhood consists of just two streets, Perryman Road and Sauvolle Court, with a total of 38 homes, and residents say they enjoy the small, close-knit feel of the subdivision. Betty and Bob Oswald, newer residents to the neighborhood, moved into Bayou Sauvolle just before Christmas of last year. “Even before we moved, we had invitations to several of the neighborhood Christmas parties,” Betty says. “It’s a very close-knit community… . We feel very blessed to be here.”
The Oswalds, who are both retired, moved to Ocean Springs after their Pascagoula home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. They first moved to another, land-locked, Ocean Springs neighborhood, but wanted to return to the water. So when they saw one of the neighborhood’s homes for sale, they made an offer and quickly moved. They now enjoy beautiful bayou views, along with the lovely birds and other interesting natural neighbors (including an alligator). “It’s just a wonderful place,” Betty says.
Her neighbor, Gloria Compton, agrees that their neighborhood is a “peaceful retreat. You can watch the cranes, birds, eagles and owls; there’s lots of wildlife.”
“I had a wild pig come through once,” she recalls, laughing. “He loved my garden. He thought he had found Beulah Land.”
Gloria and husband Joe share a pier — a kind of u-shaped little harbor — with their neighbors, the Oswalds. A tranquil, verdant garden, with garden gates and bridges, leads from the water to the Comptons’ home, which they built eight years ago, after Hurricane George compelled the native Biloxians to seek higher ground (their Bayou Sauvolle home took in no water during Hurricane Katrina, though the water came all the way up to the back-porch step).
The Comptons, also retired, love the outdoors and boating, a bond that they share with many of their neighbors. Neighbors tend to gather informally, though there are Ocean Springs-wide clubs, such as a gourmet lunch club and gardening club, in which some residents participate. At least once a year, the whole neighborhood gathers for a meeting of the Bayou Sauvolle Homeowners Association to discuss mutual concerns. “It’s always at someone’s home, and we have a wonderful turnout,” Gloria says.
The subdivision’s homeowners association helps take care of common spaces and neighborhood improvements, such as the entrance way, street signs, lighting, street parking and so on. Morris Strickland, president of the association this year, said residents exchange ideas for neighborhood improvements. Strickland moved to Bayou Sauvolle in 2001 when he retired to the Gulf Coast from Jackson, Miss. “I checked everything from Pass Christian to Pascagoula, and I kept coming back to Ocean Springs,” he says. He wanted to build on the water, “and Bayou Sauvolle was the best place.”
“I love the quietness of it, I love the layout,” he says. There are no through streets in the neighborhood, keeping down traffic. “Also, it’s right on Davis Bayou, which is a wonderful way to get the Gulf.”
But the best thing about the neighborhood is the people. “The people are very friendly, we all get along,” he says. “We all enjoy each other. It’s a good, quiet neighborhood with good people. A house is a house, but the people are what make a neighborhood.”
The small neighborhood still has 14 vacant lots, Strickland says, and building continues; a new house was finished this year. Hurricane Katrina caused some damage, but not as much as in some areas; a few homes didn’t get any water, but others were flooded. None of the houses were destroyed, however.
Adelia and Jim Smith’s home, which they built themselves in 2001, took in about four feet of water during Katrina. They still love living on the bayou, though: “I tell everybody we own everything all the way to the other side of the bayou,” Adelia jokes. “I love the beauty of it.” Adelia is a retired schoolteacher; her husband Jim is a businessman, deep-sea fishing charter boat captain and vice president of the Bayou Sauvolle Homeowners Association. The Smiths left snowy Ohio to retire here on the Gulf Coast, and Adelia’s sister, who lives nearby, introduced them to Bayou Sauvolle. They liked the area, the layout of the subdivision, the streetlights — and Jim “loved the idea that he could park his boat right in the backyard,” Adelia says.
The Smiths’ three grandchildren, ages 11, 14 and 16, also live with them, and Adelia says, “It’s a great neighborhood for children.” The friendly neighbors help each other out, giving their kids and their neighbors’ kids lifts to and from the bus stop. “We look out after each other. Everybody cares about everybody.”