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Before railroads entered the picture, Bayou Segnette served as a valuable waterway for 18th-century planters, merchants and traders.
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Photo by Tracie Morris
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Hey Blake,
Driving across the river I passed over Bayou Segnette. I'm sure there must be a story of how Bayou Segnette was named. I also seem to remember a set of locks at the Mississippi River leading to a bayou or similar stream.
Ed
Dear Ed,
Shortly after the founding of New Orleans, three families settled along the Mississippi River, five miles above New Orleans on the West Bank: the Harangs, the Zeringues, and the Senets.
Jean Louis Senet was first Captain of the Port in charge of shipping and the harbor, as well as first bar pilot. It was his son, Jean Baptiste Senet, who discovered the bayou, named -- with slight change -- for him. Bayou Segnette was of great interest to all of the eighteenth-century landowners because it connected to Lakes Cataouatche and Salvador. In 1730, John Baptiste purchased the land and passed it on to his son.
Other settlers to the Westwego area were planters; however, some were not satisfied with planting and in the years before the Civil War became merchants. It was these later businessmen who built the Westwego Canal to make trade easier.
Planters such as Zeringue, Harang, Lebreton, and Livaudais united in many business ventures to open the waterways to the coming truck markets that they thought necessary for the New Orleans market. In 1829, Camille Zeringue was one of the organizers of the Barataria and Lafourche Canal Company. While private enterprise began the canal, it continued only with state funds and labor, which enabled the canal company to build the locks at the Bayou Lafourche and Mississippi ends.
Then came the railroads which took business away from the canal system. It was the Texas and Pacific Railroad that founded Westwego in 1870 when it placed its western railroad yard and docks on the Mississippi River just above the canal linking the river to Bayou Segnette.
Hey Blake,
Where did St. Landry Parish get its name since there is no St. Landry?
Cecilia Giamnobile
Dear Cecilia,
There is indeed a St. Landry. He was Bishop of Paris from 650 to 661. In 660, he founded the Hotel Dieu of Paris on the Ile de la Cite.
St. Landry Parish was established on April 10, 1805, and when the Territory of Orleans was divided into counties shortly after the Louisiana Purchase, St. Landry Parish was a part of Opelousas County.
Today, the city of Opelousas is the parish seat of St. Landry Parish. The Opelousas Indians -- the name means "blackleg" -- had been carrying on a brisk business with the French traders at least as far back as 1690. While it's not certain, most believe that the first land grant in the Opelousas area was made around 1782. And in 1821, it was incorporated as a town.
St. Landry Parish and Opelousas have many claims to fame. During the Civil War, Opelousas was the state capital after Baton Rouge was captured by the Yankees. The parish is also proud of its native son, Paul Prudhomme, the internationally famous chef. And Jim Bowie lived in Opelousas after he moved from Kentucky and before he became the hero of the Battle of the Alamo.
If you like music, Opelousas is the place to be because in May 2000 it was proclaimed the Zydeco Capital of the World. The king of zydeco, Clifton Chenier, was born near Opelousas, and nearby Plaisance is the site of the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival.
In addition, there is a harvest celebration in Opelousas around the end of October every year -- the Louisiana Yambilee Festival. But my favorite is the International Cajun Joke Telling Contest that is held in April where you might hear such side-splitters as this:
Poo Poo Boudreaux was teased all his life about his name. Finally he got fed up and announced that he was changing it. When his friends asked what he was changing his name to he replied, "Poo Poo Arceneaux." -->
NOTE: In my column of June 12, you may have been confused by an editing mistake. When I referred to the rules for residents in Audubon Place, I wrote "the regulations applied to fences, outhouses, stables, and servitudes" -- not "servants."
