Logtown

Overview

The sawmill town NASA bought out

Logtown stood on the banks of the Pearl River in western Hancock County, near the Louisiana line. The first sawmill went up in 1845, and the town grew around the timber trade until the H. Weston Lumber Company dominated it. Weston employed 1,200 men at its peak, ran more than 20 barges and four two-masted schooners, and had its own electric plant and ice factory. Wikipedia and the Hancock County Historical Society both put the town at about 3,000 people in its best years, with a hotel, a swimming pool, a big commissary, two churches, a school, a Masonic lodge and its own telephone exchange.

The pine and cypress ran out, and the Weston mill closed in 1930 (a NASA caption says 1928). The town shrank to about 250 people by 1961. That October, NASA chose Hancock County for a rocket test facility, the future Stennis Space Center, and the land around it was to become an acoustic buffer. Construction began in 1963, and by that fall, NASA says, Logtown, Gainesville, Westonia, Napoleon and Santa Rosa had been moved out; 660 families gave up their homes. Houses were moved or torn down, and the Picayune Item says even graves were moved.

All that remains, by the Picayune Item's 2016 account, is a cemetery and a historical marker. Wikipedia adds an artesian well and concrete and brick foundations along the river, and in 2010 the historical society saw concrete and rusted iron from the Weston mill on an old shell midden at the water's edge. A visitor's video from April 2025 shows the Logtown Cemetery still kept up and still used for burials.

Timeline

Palmetto camp, mill town, buffer zone

1. 1788A land grant on the Pearl River at a place called Cabanage Latanier, "palmetto camp." Wikipedia names Jean Baptiste Rousseve, who passed the claim to Joseph Challon in 1805; the Hancock County Historical Society names Joseph Chalon as the grantee.
2. About 1815The town is founded, by the Picayune Item's account.
3. 1845The first sawmill goes up. Wikipedia credits E. G. Goddard of Michigan; the historical society says the Weston mills were built with enslaved labor.
4. 1884A post office opens under the name Logtown, by Wikipedia's account.
5. 1889Henry Weston founds the H. Weston Lumber Company, by Wikipedia's account. A NASA photo caption dates the company to 1848.
6. Peak yearsThe company employs 1,200 men and runs barges and schooners. Wikipedia and the historical society put the town at about 3,000 people; Wikipedia counts about 500 in 1906.
7. 1928–1930The timber runs out and the Weston mill shuts. NASA's caption says 1928; Wikipedia and the historical society say 1930.
8. 1961About 250 people still live in Logtown (NASA counts 250 left when land negotiations began in 1962). On October 25, NASA announces its rocket test facility for Hancock County.
9. 1963Construction starts at the test site, and by fall the last of the five river communities has been moved out, by NASA's account; 660 families gave up their homes. Postmaster Lollie Bell Wright lowers the post office flag for the last time, on September 30 by the Hancock County Historical Society's photo record.
10. 2013–2016The Possum Walk Trail opens between INFINITY Science Center and Logtown: its first three miles in August 2013, by INFINITY's account, or six miles in April 2016, by the Picayune Item's.
11. 2019–2020Hancock County closes the trail for a while in 2019 after a fire, by the account of a visitor who biked it in late 2020.
12. 2025A visitor's video, posted April 30, shows the Logtown Cemetery kept up by volunteers and families, with a sign welcoming visitors.

1961–1963

Moving out for the rockets

NASA announced on October 25, 1961, that its rocket test facility would be built in Hancock County. The test stands needed empty land around them, and the government took an easement over the private land around the site. NASA says it bars houses and other habitable buildings, and that owners keep all their other property rights. NASA puts the buffer zone at about 125,000 acres (125,442 acres of easement) around the 13,800-acre core of the center.

The Picayune Item counted fewer than 3,000 landowners affected. Land and home prices were frozen when the plan was announced while prices outside rose, and about 250 owners protested until they won concessions such as payment for moving their houses. Logtown's postmaster, Lollie Bell Wright, had run the post office for 36 or 37 years, depending on the source, when she lowered its flag for the last time in 1963.

The buffer zone is still private land. NASA reminded the public in 2013 that cemeteries and hunting camps there are privately owned.

Site map

Where the town stood

The 1914 USGS sheet in the historic maps below shows Logtown at its height: dozens of buildings along the road, a church, and a rail line running down to the river. The 1958 sheet still has a string of houses along the road, with the Logtown cemetery at the west end. By 1993 the road is still there, but the houses are gone and only the label and the dashed outline of the cemetery are left. The 1982 sheet shows the setting: the Pearl River and its wildlife management area to the west, MS 604 to the east, Westonia Lookout to the northeast and Pearlington to the south.

• Logtown cemeteries (private family plots)
• Historical marker
• Artesian well
• Concrete and brick foundations by the river
• Mill debris on a shell midden at the water's edge (2010)

Historic maps

Logtown on USGS maps, 1914–1993

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19141:62,50019581:24,00019821:100,00019931:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Bay St. Louis is the closest city, and New Orleans is the nearest metro. Both routes end on MS 604 and a 1.6-mile side road west to the townsite that the router times slowly. They were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. A visitor's video posted in April 2025 shows the drive in to the Logtown Cemetery, but we have no source on the last road's surface. Coastal Mississippi's undated trail listing says to take MS 607 to MS 604 and follow the signs to the boat launch.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

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Visitor reports

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Nearby

Other sites near Logtown

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Mississippi index.

• Napoleon3.0 mi N · Hancock
• Gainesville4.8 mi N · Hancock
• Brewton62.2 mi NE · Jackson
• Holmesville75.6 mi NW · Pike
• Riverside76.0 mi N · Forrest
• Mount Carmel94.7 mi N · Jefferson Davis
• Woolworth101.0 mi N · Lincoln
• Westville111.0 mi N · Simpson

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Logtown, Mississippi", retrieved October 2026: Cabanage Latanier, Rousseve and Challon, the 1845 mill, the Weston company, 1,200 men, population figures, post office 1884–1963, the 1930 closure, the 125,000-acre buffer zone, the cemeteries, well and foundations, the Possum Walk Trail, coordinates and elevation.
2. Hancock County Historical Society, "A Slow Drift down Pearl River", Russell B. Guerin, January 20, 2010: the Chalon grant, the Weston mills, about 3,000 people, the town's amenities, the 1930 closure, the mill debris on the shell midden, the cemetery kept by former townspeople.
3. Picayune Item, "Cemetery is all that's left of Logtown", Cassandra Favre, February 12, 2016: the founding about 1815, the Weston company and the town, the post office and Lollie Wright, the 1961 announcement, the 1963 buffer zone, landowners and concessions, moved houses and graves, the cemetery and marker.
4. Picayune Item, "INFINITY's possum walk adds tram tours", Taylor Welsh, June 17, 2016: the six-mile trail, the Logtown entrance, the October–February hunting-season closure.
5. NASA, "Stennis Officials Issue Buffer Zone Reminder", October 28, 2013: private ownership of buffer-zone land, cemeteries and hunting camps, trespassing, the easement's limits, the 125,442 acres of easement and the 13,800-acre fee area.
6. NASA, "Stennis Selection Ushers South Mississippi into the Space Age", June 6, 2013: the October 25, 1961 announcement, the 125,000-acre buffer zone, 250 Logtown residents when negotiations began in 1962, construction in 1963 and the communities moved by that fall, 660 families.
7. NASA, "Lumber Mill at Logtown" (GPN-2000-000541), caption via Wikimedia Commons: the H. Weston Lumber Co. founded in 1848 and closed in 1928 (photo not used).
8. Hancock County Historical Society, "Logtown Post Office, last day flag lowering Sep. 30, 1963", photo record: the date of the last flag lowering.
9. Wade Rathke, "Another Side of NASA: Possum Walk Heritage Trail", Chief Organizer blog, December 24, 2020: a bike ride on the trail, the county's 2019 closure after a fire, no hunting-season closure posted.
10. Passing Through Productions, "The Haunting Beauty of a Mississippi Ghost Town. Exploring Logtown, MS", YouTube, posted April 30, 2025: a visit to the Logtown Cemetery, kept up by volunteers and families, its sign welcoming visitors, burials still taking place.
11. INFINITY Science Center, "Outdoor Offerings", read October 2026 (undated): the Possum Walk Trail from INFINITY to the Logtown Cemetery, its August 2013 opening, tram tours closed.
12. Coastal Mississippi, "Possum Walk", read October 2026 (undated): listed as currently closed, directions via MS 607 and MS 604.
13. NASA Stennis Space Center photo 63-448, 1963, via Wikimedia Commons (in the history section): the last flag at the post office, Lollie Bell Wright and Roy Baxter, her 36 years there.
14. USGS Nicholson sheet, 1914, Logtown sheets, 1958 and 1993, and Gulfport sheet, 1982 (in the historic maps below): the buildings, church, tram line, cemetery and neighboring places.
15. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Postmaster Lollie Bell Wright, post office owner Roy Baxter and two others lower the flag at the Logtown post office for the last time, 1963: NASA Stennis Space Center, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Nicholson 1914, 1:62,500; Logtown 1958, 1:24,000; Gulfport 1982, 1:100,000; Logtown 1993, 1:24,000.