BAY ST. LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI
In 1699, the French were sailing north and west along the east coast of the United States; they landed on Ship Island after failing to detect Mobile Bay. Contact was established with the natives at Biloxi, and before heading west to the Mississippi River, the French camped on the banks of the Bay of Saint Louis. After locating the river, the remainder of the time was spent exploring the mighty Mississippi as far north as Baton Rouge. The French returned to the Bay of Saint Louis, spending a month building Fort Maurepas at what is now Ocean Springs. Thirty-five men were left behind at the colony when the other Frenchmen returned to France.
The men left behind explored the Bay of Saint Louis, naming it for Louis IX, the King of France who led the Crusades into the Holy Land. A colony was established at Bay St. Louis—the third colony located on the Gulf of Mexico. Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the territory was opened up to homesteaders—within three years, 3,300 people moved into the area from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. Many settled across the Coast from Mobile to the Bay of Saint Louis, but there would be no bridge across the bay for another 110 years.
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