St. Tammany Parish

General Information

• Established in 1811• One of the Florida Parishes• Named in honor of Chief

Tammanend, a Delaware chief of the 17th

Century, who during the American Revolution was adopted by his admirers as their patron saint.

• Early settlement in the parish took place along the rivers & bayous. Except for scattered homes along Bayou Bonfouca & Bayou Liberty, little settlement took place in Slidell area until the 1850’s

The First People

• Indian tribes since 10,000 B.C.

• Europeans arrived in 1699

• Count de Pontchartrain sent 2 brothers

• Iberville & Bienville to establish a permanent settlement on the lower Mississippi River Valley.

• Acolapissa Indians & later the Choctaw

Possession of the Land• French lost possession to the British due to the French &

Indian War• American Revolution Spain helps drive the British out of the

area• Spain claims the land east of the Mississippi River over to

Pensacola, Florida• 1810 small army under the direction of Philemon Thomas

captured the Spanish fort at Baton Rouge, create the Republic of West Florida.

• The settlers petition the U.S. for admittance to the Union.• Governor W.C.C. Claiborne & American troops take

possession of the area • 1812 Louisiana becomes a state• St. Tammany boundaries are established

Why is St. Tammany called a “parish?”

• The word “parish” is the term for the unit for local government in Louisiana.

• All other American states use “county.”

• Catholic Churches had already established districts of land that were assigned to the church clergy.

• 1845 counties were abolished

• 64 parishes

Covington• Founded in 1813 on the Bogue Falaya River• John Wharton Collins bought the land along the

Bogue Falaya River• Chartered in 1816• Named in honor of General Leonard A.

Covington, a hero of the War of 1812• Became the parish seat in 1829• St. Joseph’s Abbey is home to the Benedict

Monks.• St. Joseph’s is an accredited 4 year seminary

college.

Folsom

• 12 miles north of Covington• Established in 1904• Agricultural & timber center• Nurseries & Thoroughbred horse industries• Exotic animal farms including llama, ostrich, &

emu farms.• Global Wildlife located 10 miles west of Folsom

is the largest wildlife park of it’s kind in the U.S.• It occupies 900 acres & supports over 500 exotic

& endangered animals

Madisonville

• Located at the mouth of the Tchefuncte River• Founded in 1811• Oldest permanent settlement in St. Tammany• This nautical village is home to: the Maritime

Museum, an annual Mardi Gras Boat Parade, Wooden boat Festival, & Octoberfest

• The Madisonville Lighthouse is one of only 5 remaining lighthouses in LA.

• Fairview State Park located along the Tchefuncte River

Mandeville

• Founded in 1841• Named for Bernard Marigny de Mandeville• Sugar Plantation (remains can still be seen near

Bayou Castine)• Fontainebleau State Park• De Mandeville laid out the town, sold off lots, &

became the 1st real estate developer in St. Tammany

• Summer Resort Town• Gambling “Craps”- Friend & Foe• Today it’s home to the Annual Seafood Festival

July 4th weekend

Abita Springs

• The name “Abita” is a corruption of Choctaw word that means “fountain” or “source” or “fountain of health.”

• Built around an old mineral spring• After the Civil War the town was popular health resort with

hotels, boarding houses, & cottages filled with tourist from New Orleans.

• Abita Springs Pavilion built in 1888 on the site of the old Indian springs.

• Incorporated in 1905• 4,000 gallons of water a day flow• In addition to excellent drinking water, it is home to the

Abita Brewery, the water is the key ingredient to the Abita Beer & Abita Root beer

Lacombe

• Along with Abita Springs, Lacombe is a former Choctaw Indian Village

• Annual Crab Festival• Fish Hatchery that breeds catfish commercially• All Saints Day or All Hallows, November 1st

the day after Halloween• Bayou Lacombe Museum is dedicated to the

preservation and display of the cultural, historical, & physical aspects of the Lacombe area.

• Housed in one of the 2 rooms of the oldest school house in St. Tammany.

Sun, Bush, & Waldheim• Rural areas

• Canoeing, camping, bicycling, & swimming

• Blueberry, peach, & Christmas tree farms

Pearl River

• Named by the Indians who lived there.• The Acolapissa named the river for the pearls found in

the rivers oysters.• The town took the name as well.• Honey Island Swamp• Located between ???• 40,000 acres of alluvial plans, twisting bayous, marshes,

and grass hummocks.• Owned by the state since 1971,the swamp is part of the

Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Pearl River Management Area. I t is one of the least explored swamps in America.

Slidell

• Settlements along the bayous, streams, & rivers provided early settlers with a source of drinking water, food, & a means of transportation.

• Slidell was settled in the 1800’s but did not become a town until the expansion of the railroad system.

• 1881 the 1st train depot is established• 1888 the town is incorporated & named Slidell• Named for John Slidell, a Confederate emissary

to England during the Civil War

• Salmen Brothers Brick Yard-supplied most of the bricks used to build homes in New Orleans.

• Fred Salmen- Salmen High School• St. Joe Brick Works- The bricks are made from wooden

molds, a process used by only 1% of the U.S. brick manufacturers, for over 100 years & made from local clay.

• Black spots on the bricks make St. Joe Bricks easily recognizable due to the iron pyrite that turns black during the firing process.

• 30,000 bricks a day• Bayou Liberty lined with family homes that have existed

for over 100 years.• St. Genevieve Church is the starting point for the Bayou

Liberty Pirogue Races, the oldest pirogue races in Louisiana.

Fort Pike• Built between 1819 & 1828

• One of five similar forts designed to defend the waters of the Rigolets & the city of New Orleans.

• 12 miles east & south of Slidell

• Named in honor of American Brigadier General Zebulon Pike

• Many colonial forts were designed in this style.

• Bastion-part of a fortification that sticks out so that defenders can fire at attackers from as many angles as possible.

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

• World’s Longest bridge over water (approx. 24 miles long)• 1st span was open to the public in 1956 (2 lanes only)• The 2nd span was opened in 1969• Lake Pontchartrain is a 610 square mile body of water

which the causeway bisects, was named for Count de Pontchartrain who served as a financial minister of France during the reign of King Louis XIV, the Sun King.

• The smaller lake to the west of Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, was named in honor of Pontchartrain’s son.

Live Oaks

• Live oak tree is native to southeastern United States• It is a wide spreading evergreen that bears leaves 2 to 4

inches long.• The leaves are thick, leathery, and glossy, and the bark

is almost black.• In order to preserve, protect, & instill appreciation, Dr.

Edwin Lewis Stephens organized the Live Oak Society.• Over 1,250 members which is composed of the trees

themselves, who are introduced by their human sponsors.

• Requirements for membership:– The tree must be at least 100 years old– Have a girth of 17 feet– Pay annual dues of 25 acorns– The ONLY human member is the secretary.

• The largest oak has the honor of being President of the society.

• On May 11, 1968, the Seven Sisters Oak was installed as president.

• Girth 38 feet and a 132 foot limb spread• Located in Mandeville in the Lewisburg

Subdivision

• St. Tammany has more than 25 live oaks in the Live oak Society.

• The Dueling Oak in City Park in New Orleans, was the site of many duels.

• The Evangeline Oak in St. Martinville, is the alleged site of the infamous meeting between Evangeline & Gabriel in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem.

Spanish Moss• Spanish moss is an epiphyte.• An epiphyte is a plant which grows on another plant, but

does not take food, water, or minerals from it. It is NOT a parasite.

• Spanish moss is actually a member of the pineapple family.

• It is an air feeding plant.• Requires moisture & dust from the air to produce it’s

nourishment.• The use of Spanish moss can be traced back to the

Indians.• Mixed with mud & used for plastering Indian dwellings.• A mixture of Spanish moss, mud, & animal hair is called

“bousillage.” this was used to insulate plantation homes.

• Bricks were made from bousillage as well, and sometimes the walls were 8 inches thick.

• Spanish moss is also a suitable weaving material.

• It was once used for infant swaddling & as a wrap for patients during sweat bath treatments.

• Cured moss served as a stuffing for mattresses, chair bottoms, & even car seats.

• Presently, Spanish moss is used in fish hatchery ponds because it provides protection for the young fish.