PASCAGOULA, Miss — CCTI students were treated to an exclusive tour of the LaPointe-Krebs Museum and Home. 

The historic Pascagoula home was built in 1757 and is Mississippi’s oldest standing building - right here in our backyard! When the home was built and expanded, settlers used new construction technology and materials, like the pit saw, tabby and bousillage. The practices were revolutionary at the time, and now it’s rare to see them at all. 

When the home was restored, experts brought those construction methods back to accurately preserve the home - and lucky for our CCTI students, they got a hands-on experience of how it all works. 

After a tour of the museum, students were given a tutorial on tabby composition and bousillage outside of the home. Experts went through the process of mixing crushed oyster shells, sand, ash and quicklime together to create the concrete-like paste. 

Most rare of all - students were welcomed into the attic of the home - which has exposed wood that dates back to the original construction of the building! Volunteers said that normally only archeologists and researchers are allowed in the attic, so it was a treat for the CCTI students to be able to see and touch the product of life-changing technology from the 18th century.

To end the exciting tour, students were shown the quite intimidating pit saw. Workers would use it to slice the large trees used to build the skeletons of buildings in the 1700s. Students were able to safely participate thanks to volunteers’ hard work in setting up the tutorials and tour.