"Bay St. Louis Discovered" - by Dan Ellis The cover features the wooden-framed Hancock County Courthouse as constructed in 1874 and later renovated. The county seat was moved a couple of times before it was established in Shieldsboro, now Bay St. Louis. When Hancock County was first established - it included land between the Pearl River on the West and Biloxi Bay on the East. It was later reduced in several stages to create three new counties - Harrison, Stone and Pearl River. Sun-Herald book reviewer Nan Patton Ehrbright describes the book as including "chapters on Bay St. Louis, Old Town, Churches, organizations, and the builders who constructed the county's historic buildings. And, a section featuring the county's early hotels, businesses, and shop owners. A number of the current businesses in the Bay area are also highlighted." The book - liberally illustrated with photos, drawings, and maps - sweeps through the county's history from its first settlement to its current growth stages with such significant cities of Waveland and Bay St. Louis and community developments at the Kiln and Diamondhead - and the NASA complex. The material gathered from the earliest historic incidents - was garnered from many resource documents from the courthouse, newspaper clippings from the Historical Society and the Public Library, and from personal interviews of longtime residents. All of the early churches that still exist today are briefly described with accompanying photographs from the early times to the present. A history of the Bay-Waveland Yacht club is richly staged from the early regattas to its current reorganized club facility. Ellis, a former educator and business owner, has published more than a dozen books in his heritage legacy series, and is a contributing writer to several publications and an accomplished public speaker.
About the Author: Originally from New Orleans, in 1990, Ellis established permanent residence at his Pass Christian weekend home. His interest in writing lead to publishing vignette columns in local newspapers. Upon researching for his first community heritage book, he realized that a significant amount of misinformation abounded. This resulted in his seeking primary source information from archival records in Mobile, Alabama, Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, and from local courthouses and churches. Ellis's books are filled with treasured photographs and maps; and he takes special effort to seek out individuals, whether obscure or prominent - those who can add a touch of personal experience by revealing anecdotal interviews. Not being able to find a publisher, Ellis was determined to get his history books to the general public, so he learned to be a self-publisher and now distributes his history books through bookstores and gift shops and the Internet. He also publishes much information to his several web sites providing free access to information and photographs. Ellis's books are computerized in order to enable easy updating and error corrections. He calls himself an Historiographer and Scrutinier, which simply translates to a "writer of history with authenticity." Since Hurricane Katrina, Ellis has chosen Eureka Springs, Arkansas as his new home base.