That House in Pearlington: Part II

Much thanks to Danielle and all for their great articles. I wish I would have been there when they were at the house.

My wife and I purchased the house in 1995, had done a lot of improvements on it, and ran a small plant business called Gardner's Greenhouse. She did the planting, growing, etc and I did the leg work. She passed in 2003, and I kept the business going until the storm.

I was in the house when Katrina hit and the water went from my feet to over my head in about twenty minutes. I knocked out the window over the back door, swam out with three dogs out one at a time, and spent two days on my deck, which had broken lose until the water went down. There was a cat left in the house that somehow survived and we all are presently in Dallas. I do go down every couple of weeks and have just about gotten everything worth saving and brought it back to Dallas for refurbishing.

I plan to start working on the getting the rest of the junk out and see what can be done with the house after the holidays. The house itself is sound, but needless to say the inside is pretty trashed and will need extensive repair. I doubt in my lifetime it will happen, but I can try. The lady that sent me the article, also has a 100 year old house there and working on is as time permits.

There is a great deal of history in the area, and unfortunately I lost my books on the area which were rare and limited additions. The country's largest sawmill was located there at one time and during the Civil War solders camped there. Wonder how they survived the "Bugs"? When I was sown a couple of weeks ago, they ate me up.

We do appreciate and thank all the volunteers who have come to the area and there is no way we can repay your kindness. Everybody have a Merry Christmas and a Fun New Year and I'll be looking forward to meeting you one of these days should you pass our way again.

Above and below are pictures of my refugees.

With Love and Many Thanks Again,
Tony Gardner
Dallas, TX