David A. Farrell At-Large

• Time is running out to save The Hermitage
• No organization or rich donor has stepped forward so far to mount an effort
• Site was center attraction in historical drama for Picayune and surrounding area
• Eliza Jane Poitevant, a nationally recognized poet, woman’s advocate and newspaper writer and owner, was reared there

The Hermitage, which sits at the confluence of the East and West Hobolochitto creeks inside the city limits of Picayune, is ground zero for Picayune’s historical story and past.

The Hermitage - Picayune, MS - Photo courtesy of Mark Clinton Davis

But the large antebellum mansion and burial grounds of Picayune’s founders, which includes graves of the slaves who helped build the Hermitage,  might be headed for the dustbin of history unless residents here find someway to get the grounds into public hands and save and restore it.

It has had a long and troublesome history, but it has never been in greater danger of being irretrivably lost to the public and history than now. The grounds are slowly deteriorating, and the graves sit forlorn on a hill, barely discernible from a public road running by it.

Only a few decades ago the grounds were intact and well manicured, owned by the Crosby family, at one-time one of the richest families in the U.S., but developers chopped up the compound and sold it off for homesites. Now the Hermitage proper has dwindled down to a few acres, on which sits the house and gravestones.

Historical accounts say the grounds were once the site of a large Indian village that ruled this area. Indians used to locate villages near the confluence of rivers and creeks because they thought spirits hovered there.

The creek was named after a powerful chief, A’bolo, who ruled there. The site probably goes back into ancient times because diagonally about 200 yards away from the structure, across the creek, are the remains of an old Indian mound, evidently used for ceremonial purposes by the Indians who lived on the site.

It has never been explored or excavated by archeologists. An archeological spokesman at the University of Southern Miss. said they would be interested in exploring the old mound.

Historical accounts say that Moses Cook, who was a quartermaster in Andrew Jackson’s army, bought supplies from Stephen Jarrell, who had established a small trading post on the site around 1800. Jarrell supposedly bought the site from the Indians. Jackson’s army was marching to Chalmette to fight the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 at the time.

Cook was enthralled with the beauty of the place and swore that after the War of 1812 he would come back and buy the place from Jarrrell. He did just that. Cook was from Pennsylvania. The Moses Cook Masonic Lodge is named after him.

All historical accounts say that everyone who visited the site while it was in pristine condition and surrounded by virgin forests were smitten by the site’s beauty.  Cook’s grave and that of some of his slaves are still there, with their names on their tombstones. But weeds and briars are taking over the gravesites.

One historical account says one of the reasons the Indians themselves chose the site was because of its beauty. Even today one can catch a glimpse of what it might have looked like, the rolling hollows and hills covered with gigantic virgin pines and oaks. The streams back then were crystal clear, and the fish could be seen swimming in the deep-water holes along the two creeks.

Some have mentioned that if the grounds, gravesite and the Hermitage structure itself could be acquired by the public, a museum could be established there to highlight Picayune and the area’s history, to honor the founders and the slaves who were just as an important part in founding Picayune as the Jarrells, Cook and Kimballs. Along with restoration of the Hermitage and excavation of the mound, the site might become a big tourist attraction for Picayune.

And acquiring it will have to be done by a nonprofit, private organization, perhaps the historical society, since the City of Picayune is broke and unable to acquire it. Some have said there has never been any interest here for historical preservation. “People just seem not to care,” said one observer.

The site has added historical significance because Eliza Jane Poitevant, a nationally known poet, woman’s advocate  and the first woman in the U.S. to own and run a large metropolitan newspaper, was reared there by Judge Kimball and his wife, who was herself a Poitevant. Cook asked Kimball to come down here from Pennsylvania and take care of him during his old age, and Cook then  deeded the place to Kimball upon his death.

Eliza wrote poetry under the pin name “Pearl Rivers.”  She was published widely throughout the U.S. as a Southern poet and published several books of her poetry.

Eliza Jane Poitevant Photo courtesy of Mark Clinton Davis

Eliza Jane was the daughter of the Poitevant who owned the sawmill in Pearlington. This was in the 1840s. Mr. Poitevant’s wife was Mrs. Kimball’s sister, and the Kimballs had no children.

Mrs. Kimball talked her sister, Mrs. Poitevant, into giving Eliza Jane to her to rear at the Hermitage. Mrs. Poitevant agreed since she had a whole houseful of children.

Eliza florished among the virgin pines and oaks at the Hermitage, and much of her poetry reflects her impressions of nature gained from roaming the virgin forests and streams of what would later become Picayune.

After the Civil War, and after gaining her education at the Amite, La., academy, she went to New Orleans and became the society editor of what was then “The Picayune,” later to become the “Times-Picayune.”

She developed the society section of the paper into one of the first major society sections of any metropolitan daily in the U.S. Most papers then had no society or family news, and covered only politics and business.  She later married the owner, Col. Holbrooke. Holbrooke died and she inherited the paper.

But the paper was broke and almost bankrupt, and she told the staff, “If you remain with me, we will come back and build this newspaper into a great paper.” The staff remained and the paper grew. She later married the paper’s business manager, a Mr. Nicholson.

Under her and Nicholson’s leadership, the newspaper grew into one of the largest metropolitan papers in the U.S., and she was the first woman in the U.S. to own and run a large daily. And this was done even before women could vote. Then, newspapers were a man’s domain and few women worked in the rough and tumble atmosphere of a newspaper. Tobacco-chewing, gun-toting reporters even fought duels over some of the stories they wrote.

Later, during most of the 1870s, Eliza Jane pushed for construction of a railway northeast of New Orelans through the piney woods area in which she had been raised. She was so successful in promoting the Northeastern & New Orleans railway that the company that built the railway gave her the honor of naming the first two stops in Mississippi.

Thinking Nicholson, which was then located on the main Pearl River, would became the largest town, she named it after her husband and renamed Hobolochitto, where she was raised, Picayune after the newspaper. The railroad was built through this area in the early 1880s, and prompted the region’s first economic expansion as little towns sprang up along the line.

Pearl River was diverted down West Pearl and the East Pearl soon dwindled and along with it so did Nicholson. The Crosbys came to Picayune in 1916, and the city during the lumber boom tripled in population and became a major city.

Mr. Nicholson died in 1895 from yellow fever and only a few days later little Eliza Jane succumbed to the same illness and also died. However, the Nicholson family continued to own the paper until 1963 when they sold it for $43 million to the Newhouse chain.

There have been rumblings of efforts to buy the place. Sources have said that the current owner wants $1 million for it. But no organization or no rich donor has stepped forward to mount the efforts to get it.

Time is running out for the old historical place, however, one of the most historic places in South Mississippi. Some have said that it will be a trajedy beyond comprehension if the gravesites of the founders and slaves and the house itself are lost, because it is truly “ground zero” for the history of Picayune and the surrounding area.

After the Kimballs died, the Hermitage passed through several owners. Lamont Rowland bought it and then sold it to his business partners the Crosbys, who refurbished the grounds. Rowland upgraded and refurbished the mansion while he had it. The Crosbys owned it and the grounds for about 40 years.

It was once donated to the University of Southern Mississippi by a land developer. Developers also chopped a lot of it into lots and sold them off. Successful car dealer Dub Herring once owned one of the Crosby homes in the compound, but sold it after his wife died. Besides the Hermitage, which was owned by L.O. Crosby Sr. when the Crosbys had the property and then his son Robert Howel, L.O. Crosby  Jr. and Thomas Crosby built gigantic beautiful antebellum style homes on the compound, too.

Today, the owner of Mossy Motors, a New Orleans attorney, owns one of them.

• (Editor’s Note: Be sure and checkout Part II about the lost half-century of history concerning the Hermitage.)