Navigation Back Search
Search

Gulfside Assembly 20 years after Katrina

By Lilla Marigza
Aug. 13, 2025 | WAVELAND, Miss. (UM News)

The buildings of Gulfside Assembly are gone, but the memories of decades of joy are still vivid for those who grew up spending summers at the African American Methodist camp. Video by Lilla Marigza, UM News.

E. Dwight Franklin helps with the gutting of his parents’ home in New Orleans six months after Hurricane Katrina. Virginia Tech student Ivy Gorman (background) was part of a team from her school working through the Louisiana United Methodist Storm Recovery Center during their spring vacation. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

In Waveland, Mississippi, on the Gulf of Mexico, there’s an oceanfront paradise that’s also a United Methodist Heritage Landmark. For decades during segregation, Gulfside Assembly was a retreat for African American Methodists who spent summers enjoying tent revivals and recreation. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina washed away the summer retreat, but those who remember Gulfside Assembly hope to see this hallowed place restored.

Support the current work of the Gulfside Association in the Community of Waveland, Mississippi, through Advance #760235.

Learn more about the documentary “The Sanctuary by the Sea: The Gulfside Assembly Story.”

Read related:

After hurricanes, Gulfside ministry marches on

Gulfside Assembly re-imagining future of historic site

‘We have to rebuild Gulfside,’ United Methodists say

Marigza is a multimedia producer for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.

Related Tags

Sign up for our newsletter!

Subscribe Now
Church History
A 1961 map shows the location of churches and the borders of episcopal areas within the Central Jurisdiction, which the Methodist Church established to segregate Black members from the wider church. The union that formed The United Methodist Church in 1968 dissolved the Central Jurisdiction. During the Council of Bishops spring meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., bishops explored the legacy of the Central Jurisdiction as denominational leaders consider changes to the geographic jurisdictional system. Image courtesy of Archives and History.

Lessons from past shape jurisdictions’ future
United Methodist bishops learned more about the legacy of the segregated Central Jurisdiction and history of the jurisdictional system, as leaders contemplate possible changes to that system.
Worship
The Rev. Cynthia Wilson (center, front) sings with choir members during a performance of “Gospel Mass” at the Shifting the Atmosphere conference May 2 at Hamilton Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. The Junius B. Dotson Institute for Worship and Music in the Black Church and Beyond, which is led by Wilson, partnered with The United Methodist Church’s Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century for this year’s event. Photo by John W. Coleman, UM News.

Black church leaders learn worship wisdom at institute
Junius B. Dotson Institute for Worship and Music in the Black Church and Beyond and SBC21 team up for “Shifting the Atmosphere” conference.

United Methodist Communications is an agency of The United Methodist Church

©2026 United Methodist Communications. All Rights Reserved