The new stamps this month are dominated by the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area, which I’ll divide up into two groups for reaons I’ll explain in a moment:

Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area |

• Dizzy Dean Welcome Center
• Headquarters
• Fly GPT
• Lucedale – George Co. Library
• Hancock Co. Welcome Center
• Jackson County Chamber
• Jackson Co. Welcome Center
• Pearl River Co. Welcome Center
• Stone County
• Visit MS Gulf Coast

• Charnley Norwood House
• DeSoto National Forest
• Gulf Islands NS Davis Bayou
• INFINITY Science Center
• LaPointe – Krebs Museum
• Lynn Meadows Discovery Center
• Pascagoula River Audubon Center
• Walter Anderson Museum of Art
• Waveland Ground Zero Hurricane Museum

There are just three other new stamps to list:

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail | Lake Perris SRA

Ohio & Erie National Heritage Canalway | Mustill Store Museum, Akron, OH

National Parks of New York Harbor | Northeast Regional

 

The Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area includes the six southern-most counties in Mississippi that comprise the “foot” of the State of Mississippi.   This Heritage Area joined the Passport Program in 2011 with an initial allocation of 20 cancellations.  This month, they have ordered replacement stamps for each of those 20 original cancellations, along with the 19 brand new cancellations listed above.

I’ve broken up the new cancellations into two groups for convenience.  The first group are stamps for locations providing general tourist information.   There are cancellations located at the headquarters offices of the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area, as well as the offices of the Gulf Coast Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau (Vist MS Gulf Coast.)   Both of these are located in Biloxi in the heart of the Heritage Area in Harrison County.  In addition, there are new cancellations for each of the five surrounding counties, including two for Jackson County.  There are also two new cancellations for welcoming visitors entering the Heritage Area, including one at the Biloxi-Gulfport Airport, and another at the Dizzy Dean Welcome Center located on US Route 49, the primary route for travelers heading into the area from the north.

The second group of stamps represent  highlight destinations within the Heritage Area itself.  Gulf Islands National Seashore includes parts of coastal Mississippi and Florida (but alas, does not include any part of Alabama in between.)   The Davis Bayou protects the natural coastal environment near the main visitor center for the Mississippi portion of the park in Ocean Springs.  Also protecting the natural environment of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and nearby environs are DeSoto National Forest and the Pascagoula River Audubon Center.

Two historic houses are also among the new locations.  The LaPointe-Krebs House in Pascagoula dates back to 1757, and is the oldest building in the entire Mississippi River Valley.  The Charnley-Norwood House in Ocean Springs “only” dates back to 1890, and was designed by architecht Louis Sullivan, who may have had a helping hand from a young draftsman in his office, Frank Lloyd Wright.

The INFINITY Science Center on the Mississippi-Louisiana border opened in 2012 and serves as the visitor center for NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center.   The Stennis Center is NASA’s largest rocket engine testing facility.

The Walter Anderson Museum of Art is located in Ocean Springs, and is dedicated to the art of the namesake artist.   Walter Ingliss Anderson was active in the early-to-mid 20th Century, and is known for his depictions of life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.   The Lynn Meadows Discovery Center is a children’s museum located in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Finally, the Waveland Ground Zero Hurricane Museum is dedicated to more-recent history.  The museum tells the story of the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in Waveland, Mississippi.

As mentioned before, these 19 new additions join 20 earlier cancellations.  Of those, 12 were also at local chambers of commerce, city halls, or visitor centers.  The other eight sites include:

• • • • Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, in Biloxi,
      • the Biloxi Lighthouse,
      • the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi,
      • the replica Biloxi Schooners, which are operated by the maritime museum,
      • the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, preserving coastal habitat in Moss Point,
      • the Crosby Arboretum Nature Preserve,
      • the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center in Ocean Springs, and
      • the Frank Gehry-designed Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, dedicated to the pottery of George Ohr.

The Lake Perris State Recreation Area is located in southern California and has a new cancellation this month for the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.  A wayside exhibit at the southern end of the lake marks the approximate spot of the de Anza Expedition’s 58th encampment out of some 100 encampments on their way to San Francisco Bay.  Shortly after passing by this area, the Expedition would cross what is now Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is also a passport location for the trail.  While crossing that area on December 30, 1775, a member of the expedition became the first person European descent to give birth in present-day California.

The stamp for the Mustill Store in Akron is a replacement for a previous stamp that simply read “Akron, OH” on the bottom.  The historic building is now operated as a visitor center for Canal Locks Park and the Ohio & Erie Canalway Towpath.

The National Parks of New York Harbor is a National Park Service management unit overseeing all the National Parks in New York City and the immediately-adjacent areas.  The new stamp for Amtrak’s Northeast Regional Train is for use in the Trails and Rails Program providing information on national parks to Amtrak passengers.

Finally, a special stamp was discovered this month at the National Park Service outreach tent at the Boy Scouts of America’s National Jamboree.  This is the second quadrennial National Jamboree held at the Boy Scouts of America’s new Summit Bechtel Family Scout Reserve facility, located adjacent to the New River Gorge National River in southern West Virginia.   Although it doesn’t appear that there was a Passport cancellation available at the 2013 Jamboree, a special cancellation marking the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America was available at the 2009 National Jamboree, which was the eighth and final jamboree held at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia.  As of this writing, that stamp can still be obtained, upon request, at the Fredericksburg Battlefield Bookstore at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park.

With these new additions there are now  2,200 regular Passport Cancellations available!  Including stamps for special events and programs, like the Scout Jamboree and Trails Rails, that total rises to 2,428.  Happy stamping!

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