At the corner of Second and Market streets in Pass Christian, Mississippi, stands a
post that holds wooden pointers directing traffic to the church, senior center, school,
funeral home, and chiropractor. The Pass, as it's called by locals, is so quaint it might
be mistaken for a movie set. But this town is the real thing. Walker St. Paul, who owns
St. Paul's Martin Hardware downtown, describes it as a "true waterfront village."
"We're a baby of a town, but we like to keep it that way," he says, smiling at his
customers, whom he calls by first name. "We just got our second red light a few years
ago."
Built by wealthy New Orleanians who wanted an escape from the city, Pass
Christian (pronounced "Chris-chan") was home to the South's first yacht club,
established in 1849. The marina boasts a healthy supply of boats, and the annual
blessing of the fleet celebration draws visitors.
Unlike nearby Biloxi and Gulfport, the Pass lacks casinos and the crowds they foster.
Specialty shops, antiques stores, and art galleries stand their ground here, while strip
malls and T-shirt shops dot neighboring coastal cities. Even a local grocery store defies
the laws of commercialism: It's an organic market, no bigger than a bungalow, the result
of one backyard garden.
"My neighbors were interested in buying my vegetables, so I began selling them out of
my house," says Janet Gordon. "Then I started having a farmer's market day, just once a
week in town, and that still wasn't enough. So I eventually opened the Morning
Market."
On the store's steps, a family of four finish their bottled exotic juices and climb on
their bicycles. They head down East Scenic Drive, once the third-wealthiest street in the
country. Spanish moss hangs on the live oaks' branches like charm bracelets, and front
porches larger than most Manhattan apartments beg for company.
I'm from Missouri, but I have always vacationed here in the Pass," says transplant
P.J. Hughes. "It was as if my car just came here on its own, with no direction from me.
When I'd arrive, I'd drive down East Scenic and wonder what it would be like to live here.
Now I know."
