BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss.—Colorful buildings, moss-covered oak trees and a variety of art galleries and shops line the streets of Bay St. Louis Historic District, a neighborhood in the quaint coastal town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. When Rachel Dangermond first moved to the Hancock County town, a friend looked her in the eye and told her, “Mississippi is magic and tragic.”
Now, in her position as director of the 100 Men Hall, she does her part to add to the former. “Here in this town, we make the magic,” Dangermond told the Mississippi Free Press.
Earlier this year, the Justin Havre Real Estate Team conducted a survey that asked 3,021 respondents to name the residential area they think serves as the most quintessential representation of the state in which they live. In Mississippi, the Bay St. Louis Historic District topped the list, earning the real-estate team’s designation as the most “unmistakably Mississippi” neighborhood in the state, by their metrics.
A Town Rich With History
As part of the Hancock County Historic Society, Georgie Necaise-Morton and Eddie Coleman have been at the helm of documenting the rich history of Bay St. Louis and Hancock County.
Necaise-Morton, who serves as secretary of the Hancock County Historic Society, said most of the work they do includes keeping historical records of the town and helping people trace their genealogy to learn more about their family’s history.
The Hancock County Historic Society is housed inside the Lubrano House, a historic family home that Coleman, who serves as director of the Lubrano House, said Kate and Frank Lubrano owned but later donated the property to the society to serve as the site for documenting and preserving Bay St. Louis’ history.
French explorers Bienville and Iberville came to the Gulf Coast in 1699 hoping to claim the area that is now Bay St. Louis for France, Coleman said. They originally set up Fort Maurepas in what is now Ocean Springs before making their way across the coast to Bay St. Louis.
Between 1813 and 1816, more than 3,300 Anglo-Saxon Protestant families moved to the area, most from Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. By 1875, the town became known as Bay St. Louis.
Bay St. Louis has always been majority-white, though Black people have settled in the city as early as the 1880s, with Sycamore Street becoming a Black community in the town. In 1894, 12 African American men founded the One Hundred Members’ Debating Benevolent Association with the mission to assist Black families in the community with burying the dead with respect.
“There were things called societies. The Sheltering Rock Society. The 100 Men’s Hall. The Prince Albert Men’s Association. Children of Charity was another one. One Hundred Men housed many of these groups because we could not use the white ones,” Bay St. Louis native Calvin Smith told the Mississippi Free Press in a 2025 interview.
A Stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit
The 100 Members D.B.A. Association built the 100 Men Hall in 1922, and it has served as one of the most integral parts of Bay St. Louis’ history and community ever since. The hall was a stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit and served as a music venue and cultural center for the Black community for more than 100 years.
Throughout its history, the 100 Members D.B.A. Hall sponsored events including performances by James Brown, Ray Charles, Etta James, James Booker and more.
Following the end of Jim Crow laws and segregation, the Disabled American Veterans acquired 100 Men Hall in 1982 when the organization disbanded. It changed hands again in the early 2000s and yet again after Hurricane Katrina when Jesse and Kerrie Loya owned the building from 2011 to 2014.
100 Men Hall Director Rachel Dangermond purchased the hall in 2018 and said that although the space has changed hands throughout the years, it has remained a space for dialogue.
Lumber was a major industry in Bay St. Louis’ history, Eddie Coleman said, with large amounts of lumber being shipped south from towns along the Pearl River. In the mid-1920s to early 1930s, depletion of local forests caused lumber to die out as a primary industry. Since then, Coleman said casinos have become a major contributor to the town’s local economy.
Although Bay St. Louis is known for its historic charm, Hurricane Katrina completely devastated many of Bay St. Louis’ original historic buildings in 2005, and the ones that survived suffered heavy damage. “Anything on North Beach that’s sat on the water has been destroyed,” Coleman said.
Following the losses, he said many people came to Bay St. Louis to help rebuild and stayed because they loved the community.
‘Community Is Paramount’
Today, Bay St. Louis is best known for its thriving arts and music communities and the scenic waterfront along the coast.
Rachel Dangermond operates 100 Men Hall as a nonprofit event space that’s open to people of all backgrounds, she said. The Hancock County venue, which Dangermond describes as an “integral” part of the town’s “cultural economy,” also hosts writers workshops, cultural programming and other events for the community. People frequently tell Dangermond that the hall is one of the main reasons—if not the primary reason—they choose to live in Bay St. Louis, she told the Mississippi Free Press.
“Now more than ever with such divisiveness that exists, community is paramount to our well-being, and we have a beautiful community here,” Dangermond said.
Jazzalyn Gelinas, arts education coordinator at the Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum, grew up in Bay St. Louis and has lived in town her whole life. In her position, she helps bring art programming to local schools across the Gulf Coast and shares the legacy of Alice Moseley—one of Bay St. Louis’ most well-known artists.
Moseley was an English teacher and folk artist who began painting at age 65. Gelinas said Moseley moved to Bay St. Louis later in life, shortly after her husband and mother had passed away, when she received an invitation to do an art show from Jerry Dixon, a prominent artist in Bay St. Louis.
Gelinas described Jerry Dixon as “the god of the art community” in Bay St. Louis. His invitation brought Moseley to the town, and she fell in love with the town and decided to relocate.
“When she came down here, she said that the people that she met were so kind and welcoming,” Gelinas said.
A Place for Art and Music
With artists like Alice Moseley and Jerry Dixon paving the path, Bay St. Louis has since become known as a place where artists can thrive. A growing community of creatives have moved to town to open studios and galleries, with roughly a dozen art galleries and creative spaces calling its Historic District home.
The Arts Hancock County organization puts on multiple community events including open receptions, social gatherings, art workshops and classes—in both the Historic District and beyond.
One upcoming event is the 2nd Biennial Juried Exhibition, which will feature work from artists from across the nation and focus on showcasing diverse artistic voices and creating connections between local and national artists. The exhibition opening is from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2026.
In March, the organization typically hosts Arts Alive in Bay St. Louis’s Depot Arts District. The festival lasts two days and brings together artists, creatives and performers for live demonstrations and events where visitors can interact with artists while they work.
Additionally, numerous visual artists, craftsmen and musicians gather in downtown Bay St. Louis each spring for Bay Fest, which local resident Mary Brooks established in 2025. Vendors line Main Street, selling artwork as well as artisanal soaps, pottery, consumable goods and more while an assortment of live musicians perform throughout the day-long annual event.
“People are always looking for a good weekend festival, and we managed to get a good following together of people who wanted to help out in any way they could,” Brooks told the Mississippi Free Press in May.
The Mamie Hillery Arts Center, which houses The Arts Hancock County organization, is also home to the Bay St. Louis Sculpture Garden, an outdoor installation featuring both permanent and rotating works from local and national artists. Current works on display are from artists Ron Rosendahl and Erika Larkin Gaudet.
The installation was established through a grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission and brought to life by the organization’s board. Annually, The Arts Hancock County invites artists to apply for its call for sculptures, which typically opens from early March to late May. New pieces from this year’s annual call for sculptures are set to join the garden in December of 2026.
Learn more about the Bay St. Louis and greater Hancock County arts scene at hancockarts.org, which contains information about upcoming exhibitions, art markets and more. For more on the 100 Men Hall, visit 100menhall.com.
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