This book makes history come alive!

This historical volume has been extremely well-researched, well-documented, and well-written. It is an excellent resource for history aficionados, especially those with a focus on Mississippi and Louisiana. It describes the people, places, and events that shaped Hancock County, Mississippi -- on the Gulf Coast -- from prehistoric times to the present.

There are countless interesting (and very descriptive) stories contained in the book; the author's writing style makes you feel like you were there -- this isn't just a "dry" history book. The people and places really come alive through the well-chosen words.

After reading the book and then visiting Mississippi and Hancock County for the first time, I felt like I was already in familiar territory!

Hancock County is located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, between New Orleans and Biloxi. While its history is intimately connected with that of both cities, it is also unique, with its own people, European explorers, extermination of the buffalo, pirates, a naval battle in the War of 1812, Indians, settlers, the county's role in the Civil War, timber barons and their company towns, the testing of Saturn rocket motors, and casino gambling.

These stories and many others are told in the book's 35 well-documented chapters. This volume is, by far, the most authoritative history of the county written to date, and should be of value to genealogy buffs as well as those with an appetite for local history. It is a BIG book with over 700 pages and with 100 pictures.

Foreword by Stephen E. Ambrose

Preface

Introduction

1. Prehistory of the Gulf Coast Area
2. Early European Explorations of the Gulf Coast
3. French Exploration and Exploitation of the Hancock County Area
4. Indigenous Coastal Indians
5. Settlement During the French Colonial Period
6. The English Colonial Period
7. The Spanish Colonial Period
8. The West Florida Republic and the Orleans Territory
9. The War of 1812
10. The Mississippi Territory and the Birth of Hancock County
11. Early Statehood
12. The Late Antebellum Period
13. The Civil War
14. The Reconstruction Years
15. Railroad and Resurgence
16. The Ascent of the Lumber Barons
17. To Partition or Not To Partition
18. The Coast in the '80s
19. The Nineties -- Gay and Otherwise
20. When Lumber Was King
21. Growth of Northern Hancock County Along the N.O. and N.E. Railroad
22. The Twentieth Century Dawns on the Coast
23. The Decline and Fall of the Primeval Forest I
24. The Temperate Teens
25. The Decline and Fall of the Primeval Forest II
26. The Roaring Twenties
27. After the Ball Was Over
28. Rural Hancock County after the Sawmill Period
29. Through War and Storm
30. Rural Hancock County at Mid-Twentieth Century
31. The Mid-Twentieth Century Boom on the Coast
32. Entering the Space Age
33. Camille!
34. Resurrection
35. The New Era

Epilogue

Appendix A: Index to Personal, Family, and Institutional Histories

Appendix B: List of Hancock County Geographical Names

Appendix C: Population of Hancock County, MS

Appendix D: Index to Wills Filed in Hancock County, 1814-1900

Appendix E: County and City Officials

Bibliography

Index