Round Island Lighthouse — Pascagoula

The lighthouse dates to 1859 and stands on the National Register of Historic Places. It was relocated in 2010. The Pascagoula people, whose name means "bread eater" in Choctaw, lived along the river when Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville encountered them in 1699. Local legend says they walked single file into the water singing a death song, fearing enslavement by the Biloxi tribe after a chief's elopement sparked war. The river became known as the Singing River — the song reportedly still heard at night. Iberville landed on Ship Island that same year and built Fort Maurepas three days later, establishing the first capital of French Louisiana. The French found the coast difficult to hold: crops died, fresh water was scarce, illness spread. The capital moved to Mobile in 1701; the fort was abandoned by 1702. At statehood in 1817, only 2.5% of Mississippi's population lived on the coast. This was frontier — culturally Mediterranean, tied to the wider Gulf more than to the state's interior. Hurricane Camille struck August 17, 1969. Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005. Both caused historic destruction. The lighthouse now stands as evidence of what the coast gives up and what it saves. A building that once marked an island. The name of a people who spoke a language no one documented. A river that sings.