There once was a Spanish colonial coin called a
Picayune that was commonly used in the New World. The city of Picayune was named for this
coin in a roundabout way.
Eliza Jane Poitevent Nicholson, owner and publisher
of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, a newspaper named for the Spanish coin, named the town
after the newspaper she owned. Nicholson was the daughter of Capt. J. M. Poitevent and
grew up in nearby Pearlington.
Today, Picayune is the only city in the world to
bear this unusual and historic name. A thriving city of approximately 12,000 inhabitants,
Picayune is a progress-oriented city that retains its small town southern charm.
Well-maintained streets, good schools, and an abundance of churches, stores and
restaurants combine with a mild subtropical climate to make Picayune an ideal spot to live
or visit.
The appeal of the area has always been obvious; so
much so that in the early years of European settlements, France, Spain and England all
vied for possession of the area that now encompasses Picayune and Pearl River County.
The Picayune area, long inhabited by the Choctaw
Indians, was first claimed for France and called Louisiana. The first capital of French
Louisiana was at nearby Biloxi, founded in 1669.
In 1763, the French surrendered all their
possessions I North America east of the Mississippi to the English. At the same time, the
Spanish also ceded to the English their claims to what were called East Florida and West
Florida.
The Spanish reasserted their claim to the area in
1799 by attacking British forts in Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola. The area was
returned to Spanish dominion until 1800 when Spain ceded the area to France.
Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Jerome is said to have
visited the area sometime during this period. Legend has it that he was headquartered on
the river below Picayune - hence the name Napoleon was given to a settlement there.
Napoleon sold the area to the young United States as
part of the historic Louisiana Purchase. Although the Americans claimed the area, the
Spanish continued to claim that West Florida extended to the East Pearl River, and the
area did not officially come under U. S. control until 1810.
In 1811, while the territory was yet the lawless
abode of pirates and Indians, Stephen Jarrell became the first permanent white settler in
what is now Picayune. Jarrell built a trading post on a bluff overlooking Hobolochitto
Creek.
The next year, 1812, a contingent
of General Andrew Jackson's army passed
through the area on its way to the Battle of New Orleans, and "Old Hickory" had a young quartermaster
named Moses Cook who was sent to obtain supplies at Jarrell's post. Cook was so taken with the area, that he returned
after the war to buy Jarrell out and take over the post. When Mississippi was admitted to
the union in 1817, the area of Cook's post was included in the newly formed Hancock
County.
In 1832, Cook was able to establish a post office at
his stand, which he named Hobolochitto. The area grew slowly in the antebellum years and
was still sparsely populated by the time of the War Between the States. Most of the able
bodied men in the area joined the Confederate Army and went away during the war, and those
left behind experienced hardships inflicted by jayhawkers and the occupying Yankee
soldiers.
In the years following the war, the area continued
to grow. The railroad line from New Orleans to Cincinnati, Ohio was constructed through
here in 1883 and greatly added to the local economy. A switching yard was located here
because the trains had to be broken into smaller units before entering the hilly terrain
which begins just to the north. For a time the settlement was known as Bailey Switch. In
1890, Pearl River County was formed, but it was 1908 before the area around Picayune was
added to the county.
Picayune was incorporated as a township in 1904, the
name having been given by Poitevent. In 1905 it was incorporated as a town, and, in 1922
it was incorporated as a city.
During the early years of Picayune, the area was in
the midst of a timber boom as companies harvested the immense stands of native loblolly
and southern pine. When the native timber was depleted, tung trees were brought in and
planted in orchards. The nuts from the trees were harvested for their oil, used in
furniture finishing and other applications.
Picayune soon became the tung capital of the world.
At one time, over 100,000 acres in the county were devoted to tung orchards. Along with he
tung trees, cattle became important. Cattle were used to graze the area between the trees,
and cattle farming and tung orcharding became mutually beneficent pursuits.
The tung industry was destroyed when hurricane
Camille destroyed most of the orchards in 1969. While the tung trees disappeared, the
cattle stayed on and thrived. Today, beef farming is an important part of the local
economy.
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