Group seeks to restore a former home of Walter Anderson

GAUTIER, Miss. (AP) - A donation has enabled Mississippi Heritage Trust to buy a former home of artist Walter Anderson, known for his stylized paintings of wildlife and coastal scenes. The trust is looking for partners to help restore the deteriorating structure that dates to 1845.

The Oldfields property in Gautier has been listed as one of the 10 most endangered historic places in the state, WLOX-TV reported.

The white-columned home sits on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi Sound in Gautier. It was built for Alfred Lewis and his family. Lewis was a planter, merchant, politician and Civil War officer.

The property was later bought by the Grinstead family. Agnes Grinstead, better known as Sissie, married artist Walter Anderson, and the couple and their children lived at Oldfields for many years.

“I lived at Oldfields from the time I was three until I was 11. It was wonderful. It was in a world apart,” one of the children, Mary Anderson Pickard, told WLBT-TV in 2016 “It sits on the high bluff overlooking the sound and you can see Horn Island on the horizon, and I lived there for the part of my life that was very important in connecting to the land.

“It was the scene of a great deal of my father’s work,” she said. “At that time we could sit down beside him while he was drawing and watch. And he’d be drawing chickens and a chicken would go running across the page and it was like magic.”

Oldfields is among the few antebellum homes left along the Mississippi Coast and it received significant damage during Hurricane Katrina. Lolly Rash with The Mississippi Heritage Trust said the property needs a good deal of work.

“The porch was very badly damaged. It needs a new roof. Some of the interior floorboards were washed out,” Rash said. “We’re looking at complete restoration of the property.”

Walter Anderson created some of his most significant work while living at Oldfields.

“This is where he launched his boat to head out to Horn Island where he created so many beautiful works of art,” Rash said. “It’s an incredibly beautiful place both architecturally and naturally, and it just has a special place in Mississippi’s history.”