Horn Island: The Wild Island That Inspired Walter Anderson 

Stepping foot onto Horn Island, we pulled the pirogue onto the sand and squinted into the horizon. Behind us gently rocked THE LILY FAITH, our transportation from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, now anchored in deeper water. The American flag hanging from its stern fluttered in the wind. Nearby, a pod of bottlenose dolphins rolled their dorsal fins through the Gulf waters. Ahead of us stretched miles of shoreline. Gently rising sand dunes mask the secrets that lie beyond.

Embracing the Colors and Wildlife of Horn Island

Once our eyes acclimated, the colors became striking. Under the blazing sun, the powdery white sand was pocked with a smattering of tiny footprints marking the morning trek of local birds. We followed them south across the island’s belly. As a cloud filtered the sun’s rays, the land turned a pale cream underneath yellow-green creepers, delicate yellow flowers and accents of white morning glories. Tufts of rounded, deep-green shrubs lay low in the shifting sand, and in the distance, pines and live oaks, stunted by harsh Gulf winds, stood like sentinels on alert.

On the south side, we peered at the vast expanse of sea before us, stretching endlessly forward until it kissed the sky. At the water’s edge, the compacted sand deepened to dark tan under the lapping waves and reflected the puffy clouds in its glistening sheen. Blue crabs scurried sideways just beneath the shallow water. Nearby, the normally elusive, nearly translucent ghost crabs hovered over the land as if daring us to approach.

This is what wilderness looks like, a pristine, secluded island where alligators roam the freshwater lagoons, pelicans skim the surrounding water in search of breakfast, and man is merely just a visitor. It wasn’t always this way. In the 1800s, the first of a series of lighthouses was built on the island, and the 1900s brought military facilities, including barracks and a railroad. Remnants of the past have all been washed away by hurricanes, and in 1978, Horn Island became part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and now remains protected as an undeveloped barrier island.

Walter Anderson and His Connection to Horn Island

Assuredly, other islands exist similar in their wildness. But none hold the mystique of Horn Island, largely due to it being intimately intertwined with the mystery of Walter Anderson. The middle son of three boys, Walter came from a family of talented artists. His older brother, Peter, founded Shearwater Pottery in 1928. Members of the family still work there today in Ocean Springs. His younger brother, Mac, was a painter and ceramicist in his own right. And then there was Walter, renowned for his brightly colored watercolors and murals depicting the nature along this area of the Gulf coast.

Yet, in his time, Walter was often referred to as mad. On his honeymoon, he contracted malaria and later spent time in psychiatric wards, one of which he escaped from by knotting his bedsheets into a rope. He would ride his bike thousands of miles across the country. He canoed down the Mississippi River not once, but twice. And he took countless trips rowing to Horn Island and camping underneath his overturned skiff for weeks at a time, including during Hurricane Betsy.

Art Inspired by Nature

Throughout it all, Walter painted, producing voluminous amounts of art. Whimsical, colorful, and deeply personal, his life’s work pays an astonishing homage to the natural world. His murals at the Ocean Springs Community Center detail the history of the town and its relationship to the area’s plants and animals. His famed Little Room, revealed only after his death, is an overlapping patchwork of creations that I envision bursting from his mind. And his inspiration for so much of his work? Horn Island.

His artwork draws you into his world and then challenges you to discover it for yourself.  It’s not an easy leap, though. Horn Island’s swath of wilderness is largely untouched because of the difficulty getting there. There are no ferries, no bridges, and access is only afforded through private boats. Walter took his own, rowing through all manner of weather to reach his private retreat roughly eight miles from Ocean Springs. Today, visitors without their own boat can hire a charter to drop them off or sign up for one of the multiday camp outs occasionally offered by the Walter Anderson Museum of Art.

Traveling Aboard THE LILY FAITH

We came here to this secluded island on board THE LILY FAITH, an historic Biloxi lugger. The boat itself is a treasure to behold. Its elements shine in white with a vibrant blue trim. Originally built by Covacevich Shipyard, the lugger was one of six survey boats commissioned by the State of Louisiana in 1954 to monitor offshore oil and gas exploration.

The boat passed through multiple hands, from a doctor who donated it to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (best known as LUMCON) to a fireman who bought the boat for his family and named it SHRIMP QUEEN after his wife who pedaled shrimp. In 2011, Andy Fountain purchased the vessel and spent years reconstructing it, tearing it down to the bare bones before putting it back together. He called the boat MA CHERIE, or My Darling.

The latest owner, Robbie Carter, picked up where Fountain left off. He took the restored vessel to new heights, transforming it into arguably the most beautiful boat moored in Ocean Springs Harbor. No detail has been overlooked, from the gleaming mahogany floors inlaid with abalone fleurs de lis to THE LILY FAITH painting by Stig Marcussen, featuring Carter’s three kids standing on the ship’s bow. THE LILY FAITH bears the name of his daughter, the youngest of his children.

Carter and his business partner, Gretchen David, now offer a heritage yacht experience aboard THE LILY FAITH. Their Captain, Paul Miller, brings small groups on sunrise, mid-day, and sunset cruises. The journey promises amazing views and their signature sea-cuterie board tastings. Carter also takes special requests, hence our voyage out to Horn Island.

Horn Island: A Pilgrimage Worth Making

As we left the island and paddled the pirogue back to THE LILY FAITH, the waves washed away our footprints returning the sand to its natural state. An osprey shrieked a piercing good-bye, soaring past with a fish clutched between its claws. It was a pilgrimage worth making, an expedition to discover first-hand the draw of this barrier island, perhaps made more special by the journey there.

 

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