Another one of those days-December 30, 2013

When I say it was another one of those days, I mean that in a good way. It was gloomy so we wanted to be out and about. We drove around a little and then had a very late lunch at a wonderful restaurant in rebuilt downtown Bay St Louis. It is called 200 North Beach Restaurant. While we were relaxing and enjoying the really unique building I spotted a picture leaning against the wall. So I asked about it. The waiter brought it to me.

For once I was glad I had my iPhone to take a picture of a picture. This was the building just after Hurricane Ivan roared through the Gulf coast on August 29, 2005. I could not get it all in the picture so what you don't see is that the street is gone. Only the sewer and a few broken pipes were left standing. Everything else is gone.

 

A family named Tidwell bought the building and restored it as soon as construction was allowed and possible. They salvaged the beams of the damaged building, cleaned them and used them in the restoration. All of the wood they could save was cleaned and used in this building.

 

This wall is some of that recycled storm damaged wood. It was really very pretty.

 

As we sat there waiting on our meal we realized that we were sitting on a street that did not exist after Ivan blew through and we had actually seen it a few days afterward. We had driven to Ocean Springs to help friends, Brian and Carolyn, clean up after the storm. We took a break and they took us to see what we could. We drove to the point where the road ended and all that was there was a huge hole in the ground about 25 feet deep. All of the businesses that were there were non-existent. We stood by the Hancock Bank which is less than half a block from where we ate tonight. It brought back so many memories. We were amazed that this beautiful building had almost been lost to the ravages of an evil storm. Bless the Tidwell family for bringing it back to life.

 

I will add that the food was so delicious that it will remain a memory of ours for a very long time to come. There's no way to tell you how wonderful it was. What a great day. And oh so interesting.