25 Days of Christmas: Coast landmarks recall Christmas past
South Mississippi treasures its landmarks that survived hurricanes and time and decorates them for Christmas.
The tinsel around the Biloxi Lighthouse and the miniature village set up on the D'Iberville Town Green help recall Christmas long ago.
Last week, with the flip of a switch by a Christmas elf, the lights came on at the Biloxi Lighthouse and took the Coast back decades. Bill Raymond, historical administrator for the city, had the lights and tinsel replicated from a 1963 photo that hangs in the Lighthouse Visitors Center.
A limited edition Christmas ornament released this week shows the historic lighthouse and another Biloxi "landmark" -- a Hurricane Hunter airplane on a flyby.
Pascagoula's recreation of the Round Island Lighthouse gave the city the opportunity to decorate the landmark that now stands along U.S. 90. And Gulfport's lighthouse at Jones Park is surrounded with lights this year as part of Gulfport Harbor Lights.
After Hurricane Katrina, South Mississippi is fortunate to have still standing inns, banks, train stations and other buildings that are decked out for Christmas.
D'Iberville's Old Town was ravaged by the storm and little remained until Mike Mullins and his Public Works Department recreated the town for a display that extends along the Town Green each Christmas.
The miniature D'Iberville started taking shape about 4 years ago in 1/8-scale.
"A lot of memories here," said Ralph Borries, who spends several days each year crafting new buildings. There is Sacred Heart Church, where he was baptized and married, the old D'Iberville school where he went to school, and Madeline's General Store, where he got his first shoes.
His father and other residents had taken a collection to rebuild the church after it was damaged, but it never happened.
"I'm going to rebuild that church," Borries said, and he built the replica for his father and so many others in town who wanted to see the original restored.
This year he added the city's first library in what looks like a log cabin, Quave Brothers Hardware and C.F. Gollott Seafood complete with a boat and skiff.
He's gotten most of the photos to recreate the buildings from D'Iberville historian Dale Greenwell, but Borries said, "It's hard to get the pictures now."
Most of the photos, like the buildings, were destroyed by hurricanes.
City Manager Bobby Eleuterius and the D'Iberville Historical Society, together with August Taconi Productions, produced a video called "Remembering D'Iberville -- Then and Now."
"The video tells the story of our heritage, growing up in D'Iberville from oyster shell roads to the destination we are now," Eleuterius said.
Interviews and family photography take people back in time. The DVDs are available to buy for Christmas gifts at D'Iberville City Hall and through the Historical Society and proceeds will fund a historical marker project with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 9:27 PM with the headline "25 Days of Christmas: Coast landmarks recall Christmas past ."