Always finding new and exciting ways to promote Picayune with the hopes of luring in more businesses and tourists, Picayune Main Street is now introducing collectable history cards at the upcoming sidewalk sale next weekend.

“They are now available in shops downtown at participating merchants,” said Reba Beebe, manager for Picayune Main Street, adding that the baseball card-sized history cards will be printed in a limited number.

According to a press release from Beebe, the cards will help residents and tourists know more about the cultural and economic history of the city. “Does everyone know who first settled Picayune or the names and contributions of our historic figures?” Beebe wrote. “In an effort to acquaint the community, Picayune Main Street, Inc. has initiated the program of “Know Your History,” by introducing History Cards… that will chronicle our heritage.”

Each card will be numbered, Beebe said, adding that although the first three cards would only have the information, the fourth one featuring Eliza Jane Nicholson would have an image as well. Nicholson went by the pen name of Pearl Rivers and was the literary editor for the Daily Picayune, which later became the Times Picayune.

Continuing, Beebe said the first card being offered was on Stephen Jarrell, the first known settler in the area that was not a Native American. Though not much is known about Jarrell, his settling in Picayune in 1811 was the start of the area beginning to appeal to settlers. He later built a trading post on an outcropping that overlooked the Hobolochitto Creek.

Other plans for the collectable cards include Moses Cook, who followed right after Jarrell, and then Leonard Kimball, as well as families such as the Simmons, Crosby, and Thigpen.

“Further plans will introduce historic places, artifacts, and delve into others who have made major contributions to Picayune,” wrote Beebe.

Each collectable card will be printed on 2 3/4 by 3 3/4 card stock, featuring one glossy side and will be limited to 1000 for each issue.

Noting that the cards were another effort on the part of Picayune Main Street to attract businesses and tourists to downtown Picayune, Beebe said she hoped the movement would carry on to a greater level.

“Combining history with tourism and commerce serves everyone,” Beebe wrote. “… It is expected that the program will receive strong support from our community and even grow statewide and maybe even nationally.”

Adding that she hoped the program would spark a growing pride and interest in not only the area’s history, but a pride in the heritage left behind by the early settlers. “These efforts, while presently small in stature, will make available the seeds of knowledge to every household and engender pride in our heritage and cause for further study,” she wrote.

For more information on the cards, contact Beebe at 601-799-3070.