“Architecture is invention, is innovation, but it is also remembering.” Fay Jones’s words accepting the American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal in 1990 are manifest in wood at his Pinecote Pavilion on the edge of Piney Woods Lake. While the building recalls the verticality and weightlessness of both Gothic architecture and the surrounding longleaf pine, it eschews any explicit ornamentation and relies on the varying moods of the trees, sky, and water to provide a constantly changing quality of light and shadow. Although reminiscent of Jones’s Thorncrown Chapel (1978–1980) in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, Pinecote spreads wider, responding to the flat landscape of the boggy coastal plain in which it is situated. Built of yellow pine with all structural members exposed, the pavilion seems to float above the water, its footprint and broad gable roof stepping out toward the center. The outer edges of the roof, with the rafters fully exposed pergola-like, and the skylit-covered gable ridge allow light to infuse the covered spaces.
The pavilion is the centerpiece of the 104-acre arboretum established by the Crosby family as a memorial to L. O. Crosby Jr., lumberman, mayor of Picayune, and philanthropist, who died in 1978. The pavilion serves not only as a gathering spot but also as the beginning of an extensive network of walking trails through the Pearl River basin ecosystem of longleaf pine forests, pitcher-plant bogs, and grassy savannas. Jones designed the wooden bridges, gates, and other secondary structures within the park, while landscape architects Andropogon Associates with Edward L. Blake Jr., the arboretum’s first director, developed the site plan. In 1990, the pavilion received an Honor Award for Design Excellence from the American Institute of Architects. When it was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2000, it was the youngest building ever to receive that honor.