Page 100 - South Mississippi Living - March, 2021

HOME & GARDEN
BEAU CHENE
story by Lynn Lofton
photos by Katherine Sowers and Corey Neyland
The Gulfport home of Ashley Endris and her daughter Anna Claire is a lovely piece of history. To be more speci c, the home and two acres are what the former owner, Endris' grandfather, called “the last little pocket of historic homes in old Handsboro,” which predated the city of Gulfport.
Built in 1870 in the Creole cottage style, the home was owned for many years by George and Ann DeCoux, who named it Beau Chene for the beautiful trees on
the property. In addition to large Live Oak trees, the grounds have many classic Southern trees and shrubs, including camellias, azaleas, jasmine, nandina and spyria. These are accentuated with a fountain that has a Louisiana sugar cane cooker as a base, two arbors, a gazebo and a pavilion that has been the site of family celebrations. There's also an oddity, a raised water tank that looks like a small silo. It was there many years before the DeCouxs purchased the property and was used for hydroponic gardening.
The setting perfectly frames the home with its long front porch that seems to say 'come sit and relax.'
Endris and Anna Claire, 11, moved into the house
in March of 2020, just as COVID was shutting things down. “The pandemic did slow us down but fortunately I had already ordered many of the supplies needed for the renovation,” Endris said.
A REALTOR® with Century 21 J. Carter & Company, she was sad that her uncles wanted to sell the house after her grandfather's death. She bought it and started a major renovation on the interior. “It would have
been cheaper to have torn it down,” she muses, “but I wouldn't have had the character and all the history.”
100 | March 2021 www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living