The Golden Coast actually ages well

The Golden Gulf Coast is a designation for the Mississippi coastline that has existed in various forms for nearly a century.

Is it “gold” for the spectacular sunsets? Gold for the people and their fascinating cultures? Gold for the seafood riches from the Sound, estuaries and bays? Gold for the economy? Gold for the natural and manmade offerings for tourists and locals? I suspect no definitive answer exists.

The Golden Coast, or more commonly through history “The Gold Coast,” is a fitting if sometimes elusive appellation for this region, as we’ve discussed earlier.

What put this debate back in my mind is the rediscovery of a booklet published in Autumn 1970 by two long-time Mississippi Coast denizens who became my friends as well as mentors. Colleen and Joe Scholtes were there when three decades ago this journalist began baby steps as a writer of the region’s sense of place, or that which makes us unique and seals our fate as Coast loyalists.

The Scholteses shared their vast experience, history research and photograph collection, bringing depth and illustration to my writings and an understanding of what makes our Coast special.

After spending my early years as a traveling Navy brat, I adopted the Coast as home at age 11, not long after we moved to Gulfport. Then while in J-school (for the uninitiated that’s “journalism school” at Marshall University) I did my newspaper internship at this newspaper, then called The Daily Herald.

After a stint with another paper in the Washington, D.C., area, I returned to the Coast to what is now the Sun Herald. Like many young folks I thought I’d never return “home” again, that I was destined for bigger places. Because of people like the Scholtes I stayed put in the DeBuys Road newsroom for three decades.

Leaving a legacy of words

Joe and Colleen passed on to their rewards in the 1990s but their influence lives, not just in people like me but in several publications now used by history researchers. Colleen was a prolific contributor to Down South magazine, writing under the pen name Hazel Holt. She finally used her real name when in 1984 she and Joe wrote the book, “Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast: A Pictorial History.”

I chuckled to myself recently when I rediscovered the copy of the earlier 1970 publication that is credited to “Captain Joe Scholtes and His Mate.” No mention of the mate’s name. This one is called “Tour Guide & History of Mississippi’s Golden Gulf Coast,” and it is a substantial pamphlet of 76 pages. This is the one, of course, that got me again contemplating a goldish nickname.

The pamphlet was sized to fit in a large pocket or a purse, intended as an easy-to-carry reference guide of where to go, what to see and what to know about what you see. This is one of the first well-done Coast guides, for it tells a bit about each of the cities from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, the islands, the early history and such biggies as then-Ingalls Ship Building and Keesler Air Force Base, which in 1970 added 20,000 to Biloxi’s population.

It lists restaurants, hotels and things to do such as charter fishing, goofy golf and bowling. It also gives a plug to the Sailfish harbor tour boat. In the early 1960s, Joe bought the boat and wowed visitors with the sea life captured in his trawl as he motored the coastline and talked about the passing scenes.

Joe bought the Sailfish from the widow of Capt. Louis Florence, who launched the tour boat years earlier,not realizing he created an iconic attraction that continues today under several ownerships.

The captain and his mate

Joe was a consummate storyteller and his mate was a good researcher and writer. The tourists wanted something small to take with them or to use as they further explored the Coast on their own. The Scholtes obliged with “Golden Coast.”

The publication date, 1970, is significant because Hurricane Camille a year earlier had ravaged and reshaped the Coast in many ways. National stories abound that nothing was left. This was the Scholtes way of saying, “Hey, folks, we’re still here and we still have a lot to offer visitors — and locals.”

The pamphlet was also their way of thanking the nation for helping at the Coast’s hour of worst need.

“While we tried to work, so stunned and bewildered we hardly knew what to do, it was very reassuring to hear on our battery radios that help was on the way — a fact well borne out by the flood of supplies that followed. We appreciate all you did for us — now we will try and return the favor by doing what we can to make your visits with us both pleasant and memorable!”

That was the last paragraph in a book that is otherwise all storytelling and scene setting for visitors, including walking and driving tours. As for their opening paragraph, it also came straight from the Coast loyalists’ hearts:

“You are about to take a journey through one of the most interesting sections of our country, whose history has been more varied than that of any other part of the United States.”

Chapter 1 begins:

“You will enjoy your visit more if you know something about this Golden Gulf Coast and its Seven Sister Cities, and so this booklet has been compiled to help you on a self-conducted tour of the most interesting 150-mile strip in the South.”

Words that age well

A booklet intended for yesterday’s tourists is a delight for today’s residents.

Such compilations of photographs and words remind us of the tangibles lost, but more importantly of the intangibles that continue to nurture our love of a region that perseveres through disasters and changing times. That is the marvel of studying such a publication, to realize how much of the good stuff is still here if only we look.

To find copies of the Scholteses’ booklet, check internet search sites, used book stores and antique shops that specialize in the Gulf Coast. Especially check the local history departments at public libraries.

In fact, don’t stop with your search for the Scholteses “Mississippi’s Golden Gulf Coast” booklet. Many other word treasures await, among them Carter & Agustin’s 1951 “Gulf Coast Country” and Dyer’s 1895 “Along the Gulf.”

You don’t need a Pokemon Go app to find these treasures. You just need good old-fashioned detective work followed by self-prescribed downtime in an easy chair with an old book.

This story was originally published July 31, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "The Golden Coast actually ages well."