Hometown History: La Pointe-Krebs House

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WXXV)-Tucked away in Pascagoula near the historic Singing River, the La Pointe Krebs House has stood for nearly three centuries, making it the oldest surviving building in Mississippi.

In this month’s Hometown History, WXXV’s Megan Fayard takes us inside.

La Pointe Krebs House and Museum Docent Erin Wainwright said, “I just think it’s a great deal of luck that we still have it. Because it’s so easy, and we see that now, it’s so easy to tear down old buildings. It’s so easy to say ‘oh, well we can’t put in the new air conditioning in that building. It would just be too tough. We just need to get rid of it.’ somebody said ‘no, no, no. Let’s hold onto it for a little bit longer and a little bit longer. Because of previous generations that said ‘let’s hold onto it for a little bit longer,’ we get to have it today.”

Joseph Simon De La Pointe came to the Coast from Canada in the early 1700s. His daughter, Josephine La Pointe married Hugo Krebs and they obtained the land where the La Pointe Krebs Home still stands.

The house was first designed and constructed for industry, serving as a sawmill, but over the years, its purpose evolved. The building was updated and families began residing in it in the early 1800s. “We call it a house, of course, because people did live there. So, while it may have originally been built as a sawmill, people did live in it until the 1920’s. It was a home until then.”

The exact dates are unclear, but at one point in time, the property did house an estimated five slaves, all of which have not yet been identified as records are limited.

And to put the time frame into perspective, the home has existed in regimes of and been owned and occupied by German, French, Spanish, English, and American occupants through its time.

And in the 1940s, the home was given to the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area for preservation. “You went through the Great Depression, you went through the Civil War, you went through slavery. All of that happened and crossed this land, so I think that is really important. What do they say? If you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it. And so, there’s so many lessons that can be learned by preserving this kind of history.”

It is the only home on the Gulf Coast built with a tabby structure.

Tabby is concrete created by mixing together quicklime and water with sand, ash, and oyster shells. It is then packed into forms and allowed to harden into 12-inch-thick walls that are still standing today – a process that takes months to complete.

The areas between the timber framing of the home were filled with a material called bousillage. This is made by mixing Spanish moss and silty soil. It was wetted and packed into the spaces to act as insulation. The walls were then coated in a lime-based stucco plaster and lime wash. “It was kind of a three-layer deal. You can kind of see the bousillage, then tabby, then the lime wash. I mean, you can tell it’s a strong concrete, and that’s why this has upheld as long as it had because of the materials used.”

When Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005, the house was left with extensive damage. For years, the historic home sat waiting for the funding and care needed to bring it back to life.

When restoration finally began, preservationists took great care to honor the home’s original craftsmanship. Sections of the walls were rebuilt using the same techniques and materials — preserving the authenticity of a structure that has stood for centuries.

After years of painstaking restoration, the La Pointe-Krebs House fully reopened to the public in 2021. “It’s been really impressive. The community that’s come together and helped make sure that this was maintained and able to be preserved, because it is the oldest structure in Mississippi. It’s really important to keep these kinds of things. For kids to be able to see the history. For adults to be able to see the history, and to see how it was done back then.”

The Krebs Cemetery, sitting just steps from the home, also bore the full force of the storm.

Today, it’s an image frozen in time, bricks from mausoleums lie in piles, while headstones stand displaced, damaged, or broken.

The cemetery is the final resting place of a long line of Krebs descendants.

Some of the oldest markers date back to 1818, while others belong to family members who died only within the last few years. “This is the oldest interred, buried here, and it’s 1828. He was 15 years old. And it’s got a whole poem about how much his family missed him.” “It’s not names, but it’s French. I got it translated and it said ‘here lie the seven children of Rene Krebs and Marie DuPont.”

As for today, descendants of the original Krebs family still fill the Jackson County area. In fact, Erin Wainwright spends her days at the home working in genealogy, as she herself is a direct descendant of the family.

She and the team at the La Pointe Krebs House are still uncovering stories and working to piece together the historic home’s full history. “When I walk across the grounds, I think things like ‘they never could have known.’ I’m a seventh great granddaughter of Joseph Simon De La Pointe. My grandson came here, so now we’re at nine generations. We’re at nine greats, which is 11 generations, 12 generations of people from the same family have walked these grounds. I don’t really know how to put that into words.”

If you’re interested in learning more about the extensive history of the home as it continues to be uncovered, the La Pointe Krebs team shares updated information and local stories on their social media pages.