The Cathedral School parking lot is a sacred spot for some Natchezians.

White letters and a green outline mark the former site of D’Evereux Hall, a Catholic boys’ home that operated there from 1861 to 1966.

In its years of operation, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart who ran the orphanage cared for more than 1,500 boys, touching the lives of many.

One of those boys, James Shadnaigle, has now become the unofficial historian of the home.

“Out of all the 1,500 boys there, why me, to be doing this now?” James said. “But it needs to be done.

At 9:30 a.m., Feb. 23, Shadnaigle will give a presentation during a dedication ceremony at the site of D’Evereux Hall on the grounds of Cathedral School.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever end what I’m doing,” James said.

“It’s just a fantastic piece of history. We have stories to tell of things that happened. It doesn’t need to be lost.”

The home was built on land that was left to the Catholic Church by William Elliott after the Civil War.

The home originally had 37.2 acres, which included the dormitories, a football field and cafeteria.

James, now a retired science teacher, arrived at D’Evereux Hall in 1955 at the age of 10. He was not an orphan, but his parents were unable to care for their nine children at their home in Laurel.

“I was given a choice. My mom asked me if I wanted to go,” James said. “I went because I knew if I stayed at home, it wouldn’t get the education.”

James said his experience at the home was overwhelmingly positive.

“If the brothers were there now and I went back, I’d hug them to death,” James said. “I’m very emotional about it.”

The brothers who ran the school taught him a work ethic, respect and how to be a good student, James said.

“Everyone had a job to do every day,” James said. “And you were graded on it.”

Many of the boys raised at D’Evereux moved far away after graduation.

One D’Evereux boy is buried in the American cemetery in Normandy, France — Private Barney Bowden, who died July 7, 1944.

Another boy was wanted for questioning by the FBI following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

“They never did find him,” James said.

James Shadnaigle’s three younger brothers also attended the school: Donny, Billy and Paul.

Paul Shadnaigle arrived at D’Evereux the year after James graduated, but only stayed four years before the school was closed in 1962.

“My time there taught me to socialize with a bunch of different people,” Paul said. “We had anywhere from 25 to 40 boys, and you had to learn to get along and work together.”

That many boys in close quarters, Paul said, produced some funny stories.

“We had some crazy things happen,” Paul said. “One thing that I remember was stupidity on my part. I was at that crazy age, and we had tuna salad. I piled up my plate with just a whole mess of tuna salad. And the brothers made me eat it. I got sick, and I wouldn’t eat tuna salad for years.”

Charles Lusco, another alumni, had a similar experience with tobacco.

“Another boy and I decided we’d buy some cigarettes and smoke them,” Lusco said. “Well, of course, I was told on and Brother Pierre had a plan for me. He sat me down and I had to smoke every one of those cigarettes.”

However, the punishment wasn’t quite over.

“Then he pulled out a big cigar, and I had to smoke it. Boy, was I ever one sick kid.”

Lusco is still a non-smoker.

Billy Shadnaigle, who started attending D’Evereux at the same time as James, remembered the religious schooling the brothers provided.

“We were taught to respect women,” Billy said. “And how women were temples of the Holy Spirit.”

Though the boys at the hall were invited to attend daily mass, James said no one was ever forced to attend or punished for not being religious.

“I’d say it was 100 percent perfect parenting,” James said.

Billy also remembered the amazing food the brothers would give them to eat.

“We ate like kings,” Billy said.

Once, a local ice cream parlor received an incorrect shipment and donated the excess merchandise to the school.

“We had several hundred quarts of ice cream,” Billy said. “We had ice cream three meals a day for a while.”

James recalled his usual breakfast of 10 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cold cereal, hot cereal and a quart of milk.

“And I just couldn’t gain weight,” James said. “We were always active. Active all day long.”

Paul moved back home after the school closed.

“For any kids who needed a chance in life, that may have been on the ropes, it was a good place,” Paul said.

Billy, now a retired Lieutenant Colonel after 28 years in the Marine Corps, said he learned many of his values from the brothers there.

“I thank the Lord every day for D’Evereux Hall,” Billy said. “That saved us.”

Now, James said, it’s the hall’s memories that need saving.

The home was torn down in 1966, just as schools were beginning to integrate.

The city said it was torn down because it was in disrepair, but James said the building was kept up well.

“A lot (was) going on at the time, and, personally, I think the reason they tore it down was integration,” James said. “But people don’t like to talk about that. They should never have torn it down, it could have been used for extra (space for Cathedral.)”