And The Band Played On Some More!

Kathleen Johnson 8/23/07

I stumbled across it when I went searching for the sea about two weeks into my arrival. When I first saw it - it was in the midst of rubble. I remember the enormous oak tree roots that laid at its door for months deposited there by Katrina. I do remember the nice old chair that had been tossed during gutting that I rescued and still is in use in my office. The little wheels on the feet still do not work - the sea water did quite a number of the faux brass wheels. But its function is to hold my clients - not wander around the office floor.

Today the band played on - yes another business rises from the ruin. This time on the sea shore of Bay St Louis. It's the Hancock Bank - first built in 1899. And the first true business to come back to the beach. Eloquent that it is right next to the rail road tressle that was one of the first success stories at the beach - the historic old marriage of banks and railroads. This is almost the third September since the storm.

Some irony in that it is a bank with an insurance company using the upstairs quarters that is the first beach business to open. But the crowd didnt have comment on that at all. They had ambled back to the large tent that provided some shade in the oppressive summer heat in the absence of that old oak tree. They mingled with neighbors and friends as if this was an every day event - a beach party, another new beginning, another old friend that has come home.