by Calvin Ishee
This month’s Pass Christian Historical Society’s luncheon featured Mississippi historian MC Wixon on the topic: “The Historical and Current Status of the LaPointe-Krebs House”. Wixon took the 40 plus audience members on a chronological journey from the early 1700’s pre-Krebs house, to the current 2018 version of the house.
The La Pointe-Krebs house, located in Pascagoula was originally built in 1757 and has been scientifically confirmed as the oldest house in the entire state of Mississippi. This was proven via scientific tests involving core samples from the wooden structure.
The core samples validated the age of the house by determining the age of the trees used during it’s original construction. It’s age was further validated by the construction methods used during the 1700’s, specifically the use of tabby. During the 1700’s builders created tabby concrete by burning oysters, thereby dehydrating them and then rehydrating whereby it created a lime like substance that was used to keep the house together, thus the name tabby concrete.
Of interest was how the original house remained in the hands of the LaPointe Krebs families from 1757 to approximately 1936. It appears that Hugo Krebs, property manager under LaPointe married one of LaPointes daughters and took control of the property. Legend has it that the couple had seven children together and when she died, he remarried and had another seven children.
Fast forward to 2018 and this old house has been given a facelift and is alive and well. So if you want to check out the oldest house and hear some interesting stories about Pascagoula and the role this house played in those stories, suggest you drop by the La Pointe-Krebs House and Museum located on 4602 Fort Street, Pascagoula, 39567.
Upcoming events for the Pass Christian Historical Society include their Membership Meeting on September 10th at 7 p.m. featuring Dr. Judith Bonner, “The Artist William Woodward-his Gulf Coast Years”, and their monthly luncheon on September 24th at 12 p.m. For more information, please call 228-452-7254 or visit www.passhistory.org.
