A Mature Lake, Blazing Beauty, Old Cypress Trees and Spanish Moss

By Cliff LeGrange 

Recently I made a  trip  with  my friend Grady Robinson to his Camp at Stephenville, LA.for some Cat-fishing...

We arrived on a Wednesday evening around 5 P.M.  Instead of just sitting on the fishing pier and taking in the sunset  from his camp site we decided unplanned, on the spur of the moment to make a late evening ride from Grady ‘s Camp on  old Bayou Long to Lake Verret.  I had not been in that area for a number of years and I wanted to go check out the Lake and  Shell Beach.

Not well known by a lot of our 'book' friends, Bayou Pigeon Book  Co - Author  Adam Landry and I have a special Voisinage with Lake Verret.  That is the Solar family of Bayou Pigeon, they are originally from Lake Verret...  For me that Voisinage would be family connection… ie., that would be my Cajun bride, Diane Solar. For Adam's it is his half - brother Reuben Solar (son of Everett Solar and his mother Vivian Hebert Landry Solar,  second marriage). Reuben and Diane have the same grandfather, Casimir Solar, who originally hailed from Shell Beach on Lake Verret. Reuben owns property at Shell Beach on Lake Verret, to this day

For those  not familiar with Stephenville, LA. it is south of  Lake Verret, but north of Morgan City.

It is a short ride  from Grady's Camp to Lake Verret via old Bayou Long and Bayou Magazille. 

When we got on the Lake, I knew there  was something special about being there at that time, not a boat visible on the lake... just after a thunderstorm...calm waters and an incredible sunset coming. I was thinking... just great, no camera, nothing but my Galaxy S-5 smart phone...

We headed to a point of  cypress trees ahead of us on the right.

My Co author... Of the Bayou Pigeon book… Adam Landry called  these  photos… 

 A Mature lake, Incredible Blazing Beauty, old Cypress Trees and Spanish moss... here are those pictures....

Blazing Cypress Beauty 1

Blazing Cypress Beauty 2

Incredible Blazing Cypress Beauty

Old Cypress Trees 1

Old Cypress Trees 2

Legend of the  Spanish Moss

Lake Verret and The Atchafalaya National Heritage Area  

Yours to Explore !

Secret Trails of The Atchafalaya 

'Henri Road'

The Bayou Pigeon / Grand Lake  vector  of Atchafalaya River Basin has many hidden, little-known places and trails. One such trail in the Bayou Pigeon area is called Henri Road, or “The Road” for short.

Once you know the “the Road” you discover that's its a pretty decent path not just a  blaze / painted line through the swamp. However it looks different at different water levels and you can get turned  around easily. It is not navigable  year around.


The primary reason  the Swamper's maintain 'Henri Road'  ie., cleaned out and marked each year is to enable a shortcut  for them to travel to the Big Bayou Mallet / Little Bayou Mallet / Lost Bayou area, versus traveling the long meandering Big Bayou Pigeon.

‘The Road’ will save 20 minutes by boat to the Bayou Mallet area. In the old days of slower boats it was as much 45 minutes.

On page 662 of the book, we give a brief description Henri Road. The purpose of this posting is to provide a better understanding of the importance Henri Road in the history of  the Bayou Pigeon commercial fishermen.

We will start  explaining  the trail / path / route from the Big Bayou Pigeon end of the trail.

The  Road starts as an old log skidder run  on Big Bayou Pigeon then appears as a man made cut trail, intermittent  natural  sloughs  and  / or long ‘Mares’. The route   was marked by tree blazes in the 1950’s. In modern times, ie., 1970’s  on  by paint and / or ribbon flagging are used.

The route  cuts several miles off the route from  the Bayou Pigeon Boat Launch to Bayou Mallet fishing waters for Commercial  fishermen.  Henri road has been marked maintained for sure since the early 1950’s.

Most of the land, ‘The Road” transverses is privately owned property owned by Williams Inc. a land management company that started as the F.B. Williams Cypress Company, in the late 1800's.  The Williams Inc. home office is in New Orleans, LA.

The above Google earth satellite image provides big picture perspective  of the location  of Henri Road  and why it is  so unique, ie., it is an isolated path across the center of the swamp. At night it seems like a haunted place.

Henri Road is approximately 2.3 miles long.  The path in places is only one boat width wide.  The GPS coordinates document the exact route.  Until the technology of satellite photography and GPS technology became available the exact route could not be  designated.  The amazing thing about the route of Henri road is that the old commercial fishermen actually marked the shortest route based on their knowledge of the swamps with no technology other than a compass, maybe.

This first section  of Henri Road, was part of a an old Log Skidder Run.  Straight as an arrow,  it is clearly evidence of a non random man made path.

This second section  of Henri Road, crosses a major ‘Mare” and continues on a Northeast vector and  the path is very clear in the satellite picture.

This third  section  of Henri Road, is still very clear  from the satellite picture and continues moving at a distinct 45  degree N.W. vector. 

This fourth section  of Henri Road, is where it connects to Levy’s slough,  named after Mr. Levy Settoon. 

This fifth section  of Henri Road, is where it leaves Levy’s slough,  and goes to the ICWW.

In these hidden places of  the Atchafalaya,  where  the Alligators, Snakes,  and Turtles roam, this is where Bayou Pigeon ‘Swamp People’  chase the Crawfish and move around... 

Caution,  Enter at your own risk, it can be a long walk out !

ToBY’s (2 b’s) Point  

I have always enjoyed learning the lingo and pronouncement of bayou names and place names used by the Bayou Pigeon people.  

Loss of knowledge about place names reminds us that we can never know everything about the past.

Place names for certain features / landmarks in the swamp are very important because they can be related to each other in terms of their physical position which is used in communication with others. 

I quickly learned from my Bayou Pigeon native Cajun friends growing up the names of these important reference points.

These names usually serve as a reference point in a conversation. For example, "The other day i caught a big turtle on To_BY 's point". 

You know exactly what / where the person is talking about,

Since it is not on an official map anywhere, an outsider might not have a clue where we are talking about.

To_BY's Point

The origin of the name ToBY’s (pronounced 2b’s) Point may be loss to history.  

It’s origin and how it should be spelled is loss to all the people who I have spoken with who came of age in the 1940’s and 50’s.  They all know of the name, but how it came about is not remembered.  

It was important place back in the day when, Bayou Pigeon residents had to catch, kill, trap  or grow their next meal.  

That was not that long ago.

I speculate it may have been named so after someone with the first name Toby. 

Cajun slang could have easily pronounced the name '2 b".  

Whatever, it is fairly certain the term came from the 1930’s or 40's at the latest.  

Mr. Felix Berthelot, who was a lifelong resident of Bayou Pigeon, (born 1925) and others of his generation just knew that it was called To__BY's point by his father without an explanation.

The Top of the Elongated alluvial Ridges Called ToBY’s (2 B’s) Point
3 – 26 - 2015
Several hundred feet long

Location of ToBY's (2b) Point

There are 3 important reference points on Little Bayou Pigeon between its source at Grand River and its junction with Big Bayou Pigeon.  They are Justillien Road, see page 663 in the Bayou Pigeon book, the Long View, see page 659 and ToBy’s (2B) Point, not mentioned in the book. 

Thus, the need for this story.

The map below gives their relative locations.

ToBY’s (2b’s) Point

USGS Topography map from the Bayou Pigeon Boat launch

The picture below gives perspective  of  ToBY's point relative location.

ToBY’s (2b’s) Point

Approximately 1.3 miles from the Bayou Pigeon Boat launch

Satellite Picture Perspective

It can be assumed ToBY’s Point was called a “Point” because the land is in the middle of first big ‘curve in Little Bayou Pigeon from its source Grand River. 

 ToBY’s Point - What is it?

A natural levee forms along a stream when the water leaves the confines of its channel during flooding and deposits coarse grained material adjacent to the bank edge. This coarse-grained material continues to accumulate, due to subsequent flooding, and a natural alluvial levee / ridge is formed.  Natural ridges always slope sharply toward the stream on one side than gradually away from it on the opposite side.

The natural ridges of ToBY’s point look too high to me, relative to rest of the ridge along Little Pigeon to be formed under typical circumstances to me.  

Thus, if they were formed naturally something else must have been going on at that point on the bayou to cause the unusual high ground. 

A geological Map, results of the Atchafalaya Basin Lake Chicot quadrangle area. Reveals some interesting history .... maybe something that occurred a long time ago. 

Over time, rivers and streams move across their flood plains, this is known as meander scrolls.  

New areas of land ridges and swales are always being formed.  This is well understood locally with the Mississippi river, and examples like False River new Roads, LA. In addition, there is constant deposition of material from overflowed channel banks.

The map above shows three abandoned distributaries / streams around 2b’s point in Little Bayou Pigeon.

The excerpt below.

One abandoned stream is clearly a meander) of Old Grand River, maybe centuries ago. The East Atchafalaya Basin Protection levee makes this harder to recognize.  Today, we locals call that old Meander, Bayou “Sec” with an S, which on the map someone at USGS labels as Bayou Teche, like the Teche on the west side of the Atchafalaya Basin.

Another is clearly what we call Justillien Road was a long time ago. The last looks like it has some kind of connection to Cross Bayou, but it is unclear to me where was an origin.  

Whatever, the last two abandoned streams look like they could have interconnected / intersected with Little Bayou Pigeon at what we call ToBY’s point.  

Maybe this tri-fecta of streams is responsible for unusual natural deposits of ToBY’s point.

The high ground of ToBY’s point was a workplace for the old-time commercial fishermen of Bayou Pigeon in the 1940’s and 50’s because it was one the few spots in the swamp that did not go under water every year. 

Chachie on ToBY's Point 4-30-2015

In the era of cotton hoop nets when fishermen had to tar their nets frequently, to keep them from rotting. ToBY’s point became a net tarring place.  There is a still a large metal vat and lots of big clumps of cold tar on the site.   

The tar was heated in the vats by wood fires. The vat pictured here is said to have been used by several Bayou Pigeon fisherman, ie., Orelle (aka R.L.) Frioux, Guildy Landry, Wilbert Hebert, Dudley Hebert and others.

Tarring nets was a hot, smoky and messy job and therefore selection of sites were chosen to keep it as far away from the house as possible.

ToBY’s point was not just near the job site it in was at the job site! 

ToBY’s (2b) Point and Turtle Sauce Piquant  

It was an important place back in the day when, Bayou Pigeon residents had to catch, kill, trap or grow their next meal.

Mr. Felix Berthelot born in 1925 on Indigo Bayou was a great storyteller. He was a lifelong resident and passed in his nineties at Bayou Pigeon.

There is not much about Bayou Pigeon that he did not know.  

He tells the story that ToBY’s point was famous for Turtles.

Turtles make their nest and lay their eggs in the springtime, the high-water time of the year in the Atchafalaya.  Guess what? You have just seen the high natural ridges of ToBY’s point.  Where do you think the turtles go to lay their eggs?

A fishermen headed out to the bayous for a day of hook and line fishing and / or running his hoop nets at that time of the year could always count on finding a turtle both going  and coming at ToBY's Point.  Mostly “mobelians”, the kind that crawl on logs to sun themselves.  

It just so happens, that I decided to stop off on ToBY’s Point on March 26, 2015, to look around.   I did not go more than 15 – 20 yards on the hill and came across a turtle shell. 

I stopped by Mr. Felix’s dock and showed him the turtle.

 Seeing is believing ! 

Turtle meat has a good taste and was a easy meal  for the folks in the Golden Era of Bayou Pigeon.  That is not to say, that it is a thing of the past !  

  Mr. Milton Vaughn, cleaning turtles (some mobelians) behind his home on Little Bayou Pigeon, 2014.

I don’t claim to be cook, in fact I don't even like to talk about Cooks… but I have watched our 10 Gun Camp cook for near 40 years, and he cooks everything basically like this.  

It is a sauce piquant when he makes red  gravy, when he goes brown gravy it is called a stew… 

Whatever... it is always great at the camp.  

Camp rule … Never joke with mules or cooks they have no humor…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turtle Sauce Piquant / turtle  stew 

Wild Game Recipe

Ingredients 

2-4 pounds turtle meat

2 -3 medium chopped onion

1 cup oil

1 chopped bell  pepper

1/2 cup chopped green onion tops

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Small clove of garlic optional

2 tbs Tabasco (original) hot sauce 1 can (10oz.) diced stewed tomatoes 1 can (10oz.) Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies 1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce & Cajun Seasoning of choice

Browning the meat:

Season the meat with dashes of salt and pepper, add a small amount vegetable oil to a cast iron or aluminum pot. When hot, add the turtle meat and brown over high heat until deep brown and until some of the browning sticks to the bottom of the pot. Stir constantly.

After the meat is browned , add the onions, bell pepper, and garlic, the Tabasco sauce, stewed tomatoes, Rotel, and tomato sauce and add water to cover the meat. Cook with the pot covered under low heat so the mixture simmers (lightly boils). Keep adding water so the meat stays covered. You need to cook long enough so the meat is tender. Taste and add more seasoning (or salt and pepper) to taste.  When almost done, add the chopped green onion tops and parsley and cook another 15 minutes or so.

Serve over cooked white rice. 

Preserve the Heritage...

Support The bayou Pigeon Heritage Association.

The School House with the Green Door?

On pages 194 and 195 in the Bayou Pigeon book, you will find a brief history of the beginning of the Bayou Pigeon School.  The authors thought that any official (public) school history started with the purchase of property from the Anatole Berthelot Family to build a school.

Recently doing some new research, we discovered some new information, i.e., records digitized and now available from the internet.

LA. Dept. of Education report of 1930

Cover and T.O.C. of 1930 by LA. State Dept of Edu. Report

This information is an official State report from 1930, and this document describes a school at Bayou Pigeon several times. In the table of contents above, and on page 12 and 18 listed below. This 1930 document is officially recommending building a new school building at Bayou Pigeon.

Which insinuates there was school at Bayou Pigeon, LA. prior to the school built on the Berthelot property. WOW, another I did not know that moment … for the authors, one of many.

Page 12 of 1930 Iberville School Needs Report

Page 18 of 1930 Iberville Parish School Needs report

When researching and writing the book, verbal interviews of several reliable folks talked about a house, known as the “Old School House with the Green Door”.  We covered that story in the book, see excerpt below.

Excerpt from the Book, Page 123

We were certain something existed, so much so we had Stan Routh do an illustration of the house for us, based on some verbal descriptions.

“The School House with the Green Door” was located next to the Nestor / Clementine Michel home.  

If you have the book go back and read Pages 119 – 125. This house was once the Alcide Clement Family home. It was also used for Sunday Mass (page 422) prior to the St Joseph Church Parish of Pierre Part, traveling chapel boat, “Our Lady Star of the Sea”.

However, we could find no official records of a public school. The Iberville Parish School Board tells us they kept / have no records from that time period. We do know one-room grade schools were very common in the early 1900’s in rural Louisiana, i.e., Children from several grades sat in one room.  

We know there is a high probability “the old school house with the green door” is true. What we did not know at the time the book was written that it may well have been an official state sponsored public school, versus an informal school as we thought. 

The authors have been unable to confirm 100%, the year the school built on the Berthelot property was completed.  School could have started there in Sept.1931-32 if they bought and built the school in six months which is possible. But we have concrete evidence that there were actual school studies in the fall of 1931, i.e., Herbert Vaughn’s workbook documents shown below. Which indicates fall of 1931.

Sep. 29, 1933 issue of the Iberville South

In the Sep. 29, 1933 issue of the Iberville South, it reported that 48 students were enrolled in the school at Bayou Pigeon.

They are listed below.

What is noteworthy is there are students in grades 1 thru 6. If this school was only 2 years old, How were pupils placed in the upper grades?  This suggests that there was a school for number of years prior to the school built on the Berthelot property.

We have studied the above list and reprinted here with the correct spellings.

There were several misspelling of names and there were some students that must have started attendance after the school year started and were  not listed.  We have other proof they were in school. We noted those as well. 

For the record it was common for boys in particular to miss  school pretty often  and for several days at a timewhen there fathers needed help fishing. 

1 st Grade: 

Grace Berthelot ( daughter of Adolph Berthelot), Clevin Berthelot, Alma Berthelot (spouse of Pierre templet), Erwin Berthelot, Viola Berthelot, Harry Blanchard, Levee Berthelot, Ridley Hebert, Gloria Jofferon, Wilson Leonard, Bernice Landry, Laury Solar, Melvina Solar, Ory Vaughn, Roy Vaugnn, Russel Vaughn.

Felix Berthelot was in school in 1933, but we don’t whu he was not listed.

2nd Grade: 

Helen Berthelot, Ledia Berthelot, Curvin Berthelot, Zenor Berthelot, Dudley Berthelot, Edith Berthelot, Lila Mae Blanchard, J.C. Bergeron. Orelle ( Aka R.L.) Frioux, Eunice Gaudet, J.P. Gaudet, Vivian Hebert, Whitney Landry, Stanley Landry, Edith Sauce, Junior Vaughn, Issac Vaughn, Gertrude Vaughn.

3 rd Grade:  Amelia Berthelot, Ernmeline Berthelot, Karien Gaudet, Dalton Hebert, Gavin Jofferon, and Herbert Paul Vaughn (not listed but was attending)

4 th grade: Edison Berthelot, Joe Berthelot, Johnny Settoon, J.C. Settoon.

5 th Grade: R.L. Berthelot, Gervis Berthelot, Odom Landry, Eunice Vaughn.

6 th Grade: Linwood Vaughn

Evelyn Vaughn was in school in 1933, but we don’t what grade he was in and why he was not listed the news paper report.

Teacher - Ms. Tina Guercio ;Please note this is the first information on the Teacher.

How did students and teachers get to the School?

The white clam shell road (Hwy 75) from Bayou Sorrel to Bayou Pigeon was not completed until 1935.  For the first 3 years of the new school building existence there was just a path on top of the dirt levee which paralleled Grand River.  Teachers traveling from anywhere would have had to travel by  boat, eg., could not reach the school in bad weather.  Mr. Curtis Leonard from Bayou Pigeon in a verbal interview verified that  in the late 1930's one school teacher, a Mrs. Harper and her husband, stayed with him and his widowed mother on their houseboat during the school year.  

Students made their way to school, by walking, boat and horses.  Those on west side of Grand River crossed the river by boat to the school. Several students from the Choctaw Bayou area (Hwy 404-Grand River) rode horses to school. 

The Bayou Pigeon school house was heated in winter by a wood stove. At the beginning of a cold winter school day, the teacher put fuel in the wood stove and started a fire to warm the building. The long walk to the outhouse in winter was no fun! The teacher at the Bayou Pigeon School cooked the noon meal and at the end of the day, the teacher cleaned and swept the schoolhouse. In a one-room school, the students sat in rows by grade. As the teacher taught each class, all the other students (older and younger) heard all the lessons.

And remember, no electricity at Bayou Pigeon until 1947!

School Work

One of the main goals of education, of course, was and is to teach students to read, write and spell. take note... an extra burden at Bayou Pigeon in the 1930's would have been to speak, read, write and spell in English !!!. 

Excerpt from the book page 195.

The work shown below was provided by Ms. Geraldine Vaughn Johnson and she got the workbook from her Grandmother, Ms Eurami (Teron) Michel Vaughn, daughter of Nestor Michel and wife of Aldores Vaughn. 

Spelling words Herbert Paul Vaughn Oct. 27, 1933

School Work 12 -1 -31 from workbook of Herbert Vaughn

Note that this document corroborates there was school in  the fall of 1931, if the school building / construction  on the newly purchased Berthelot property was completed within / between April and Sept. it would be  at the new school. It is possible the school could have been built and opened by Sept. 1931.  The authors think that is the most likely scenario.

School Work of Isaac Vaughn 

Note the way he spelled his name. This document also corroborates that Herbert Vaughn and Evelyn (Herbert’s brother) Vaughn must have attended the Bayou Pigeon. There was some speculation since they were not included the newspapers  article above, maybe they went to a school some where else. 

Since Isaac was listed in the same workbook information  of his brothers and  and listed on the 1933 article they would have all been at same school.

Art work of Evelyn Vaughn

Corrborating Evelyn was in school in 1933 with Herbert  and Issac.

In conclusion:

We have fielded many questions over the years about the book and the history contained in it. By all means, we trust that anyone who can help corroborate / add to and or correct any errors will contact us. 

The authors are at your service to help preserve, protect and perpetuate the heritage. 

Including submitting ideas to write about or writing a piece.  Good writing is sort of hard, but is rewarding work – you’ll gain a huge amount of satisfaction of seeing your idea or writing for that matter in a finished posting. 

Special thanks to Ms. Geraldine Vaughn Johnson for submitting the school work book of her father, Herbert Vaughn and Uncles, Issac and Eveyln  for publication.

See more at the “All Things Bayou Pigeon blog.

http://blog.bayoupigeon.com

In the Big Swamp, Race Just Seems To Adjust Itself.

In the  Spirit of Black  History Month 

&  the Atchafalaya  National  Heritage  Area

Feb. 8, 2021

Excerpt  from "Bayou Pigeon, La. Spirit of the Atchafalaya" 

Bayou Pigeon, Louisiana, is a small unincorporated village located in the southern tip of Iberville Parish, in the state of Louisiana.  It is on the eastern edge of the Atchafalaya River Basin and is part of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area.  It is  considered as part of the Eastern Gateway To The  Atchafalaya.

The story of Bayou Pigeon is in many ways  the story of the Atchafalaya Basin. The  confluence of  Pigeon Bayou  and  Grand  River has been a populated place since 1843. From the antebellum period, the industrial cypress  logging period  to an era  where the primary pursuit of residents was exploiting the natural resources of the  basin. They eked out a living hunting and fishing.

Until the  mid 1930,s no official roads penetrated to the Bayou  Pigeon area, only a dirt path following the lower Grand  River.

Any inhabitant could live there at no cost and no government intrusion,  some  would say in a blissful isolation.

After the  creation of the  Atchafalaya  Floodway, The landscape of the community evolved  to a linear format along Lower Grand River at the confluence of Little Bayou Pigeon and Lower Grand River with the residents making homesteads along the high ground. 

There is one bridge across that joins the residents who live on both sides. The geographic location is 30.04.'10.70" N - 91.17' 07.30" W.

The 1940 US census  recorded there were 390 souls living at Bayou Pigeon, LA.  The majority of the families lived on houseboats.

The town of Plaquemine was 25 miles away, and the road  was  poor. 

 At that time  Bayou Pigeon  folks traced their ancestry from Pierre Part, La., another small Cajun Community in nearby Assumption Parish. Thus, travel to and from Bayou Pigeon was mostly from Pierre Part, LA. by water/ boat at that time. 

Most Plaquemine folk,  thought Bayou Pigeon, was a semi-isolated community of levee dwellers who talked French and a little broken English.  That eked out a living hunting and fishing and did not have much formal education.  

They were considered poor, but they had few prejudices, except maybe they did not trust government.  

No African Americans lived at Bayou Pigeon, it was a pure unadulterated  Cajun Fishing  Village.  

The Bayou Cajuns people there lived a simple life, they grew, caught, trapped or killed their next meal.  They sold what was extra when they could to earn a few dollars for other necessities.

In 1933 the building of a clam shell road from Bayou Sorrel to Bayou Pigeon started a process of Americanization in the history of the community. 

 With the opening of the new clamshell highway, one of the first visitors to travel to Bayou Pigeon was an African-American named Charlie Eads, Sr. 

Mr. Eads started a peddler service to Bayou Pigeon, sometime before 1940. The exact year is not documented. With the clamshell road, what was considered  all day arduous trip was now a half-day trip. Mr. Eads’ flatbed truck was outfitted to serve as a store on wheels.  

Mr. Charlie Eads, Sr. operated this peddler service route for approximately two years, after which time he turned it over to one of his sons, Charlie Eads, Jr., affectionately nicknamed "Bully" who operated the route to the late 1950’s.  

Bully rode down the highway, stopping and blowing his truck horn at every five or six houses on the highway. Bayou Pigeon had two small grocery stores at that time, but Bully offered milk, fresh vegetables, fruits, some staples, some fish, meat, sliced bread and ice, the most valuable commodity of all. 

 

The Eads family children would get up at 4 a.m. to pick the fresh vegetables and load Bully's truck for his daily delivery to Bayou Pigeon.  

At first, Bully served the community on the east side of Grand River.  Mr. Adam Landry born and raised at Bayou Pigeon remembers he would get in his father’s pirogue and paddle across the river to the Hwy 75 road and purchase supplies from Bully.

After the Bayou Pigeon ferry in 1947, Bully would cross the bridge and deliver services to folks across the bayou and made crossing the river by boat to get to him no longer necessary. 

Bully always received a warm, “Bonjour, Comment Sa Va” welcome, because not only was he a source of goods not available in the community, but also he was a source of news and gossip and a link to the outside world for people who seldom strayed outside of Bayou Pigeon. 

Bully would also do special favors for his customers such as going to the post office in Plaquemine and bringing Money Orders to his customers in Bayou Pigeon.

Bully was also a taxi service.  

Mr. Curtiss Leonard, now of Morgan City, lived at Bayou Pigeon until the sixth grade, remembers Bully very well.  He and his mother would catch a ride with Bully for one dollar, to Plaquemine.  Bully dropped them off at Dalbor's store for shopping and they would spend the night at the Lamar Hotel.  Bully would pick them at the hotel the next morning and ride them back to Bayou Pigeon

Bully did this for other folks who had no other transportation.  All would ride in the front seat of Bully’s single cab pickup truck.

In the 1950’s when many of the weekend campers began to arrive at Bayou Pigeon, Bully would stop in front of their camps as well. He had a sense of humor and was always smiling.

Oh, there was always some modest negotiation, with selling goods, but there was never a feeling that someone had the upper hand, because Bully was black.  

Bully had a great work ethic and personality He was known in the community as a trustworthy and reliable person.  In fact Bully was beloved by the community.

 

In fact, The Big Swamp had a history where racial issues just seem to always work itself out.  In the industrial cypress logging era, there were mixed race crews, who worked and lived side by side.  The work was rugged and dangerous, safety was a main concern.  Workers depended on each other to have their backs.

The same applied to all races and ethnicity that traveled around  and into  the interior  of the  Atchafalaya Basin.   When someone helps you  when your boat and motor  breaks  down and brings supplies to help you grow, catch or kill your next meal, who cares about race.

In 1959, Bully had health issues that forced him to end his store-on-wheels route to Bayou Pigeon.

If you enjoyed the story Bully Eads,  the book  has several  interesting stories, eg.,  Susan Verami,  the first documented resident and a Free Woman of Color at Bayou Pigeon and the Civil War field reports of  some of the first black Federal troops on patrol in the Bayou Pigeon / Atchafalaya Swamp.  

You can buy the book by contacting Cliff LeGrange at 225 776 2686 or legrange@cox.net

 

 

"The Ghosts of the Past Speak to 

All Who Will Listen”

The purpose of this  particular blog post is connect the dots on what eventually happened to the Antebellum homes of the Sugar Planters at Bayou Pigeon.  The  Civil War ended the Era of Agriculture at Bayou Pigeon.  We have included a lot of data from our research because we believe it is important to be right.  “In God We Trust’ all others bring data / pictures.

The word Antebellum conjures up thoughts of Pre Civil War large Southern Cotton and Sugar Cane plantations, Black Slaves and palatial mansions.

Bayou Pigeon nestled along the eastern side of the Atchafalaya Basin, in extreme lower part of Iberville parish, today it is known as a Cajun fishing community but its origins are Anglo-Americans Planters / Farmers from the New Iberia / Bayou Teche area.  

They came to build and operate Sugar Cane plantations in the late 1840’s.  After the U.S. government surveyed the Atchafalaya Swamp in 1832 – 36, the federal government and the relatively new State of Louisiana opened the newly surveyed land for land grants and sale. 

The Riggs Family who hail from Accomack, County Virginia and came to Louisiana in 1804, and invested in agriculture land on the western edge of the Atchafalaya Basin in the Bayou Teche / New Iberia area. These landowners were relatively wealthy, and were able to purchase this newly opened up land.  By 1850 all the high ridges at the confluence of Pigeon Bayou and Grand River were bought up by the Riggs Family and their 'in laws'.  Objective Evidence by these excerpts from official parish conveyance records.

It took 9 years, but The Riggs Family and their ‘in laws’ established sugar plantations and produced sugar by 1860.  The George Mitchelltree family established their plantation by buying his brothers’ property at succession, (John Mitchelltree) in 1850. John Mitcheltree was married to Mary Philomena Riggs, thus he was part of the early Riggs family movement to the area. 

Opposite George Mitcheltree and on the east bank of Grand River was the plantation of Laughlin and Nettleton. G.C. Laughlin married Mary Francis Riggs, daughter of Mary Reynolds Riggs. This plantation was established in the late 1840’s as well. 

 Adjacent to and below Mitcheltree on the west side of Grand River was the plantation of George Bollinger.  Who bought his property from the John Mitchelltree succession as well. Bollinger was from Kentucky as Mitchelltree. 

Justillien Michel, the first Cajun at Bayou Pigeon established a plantation, by buying The Jasper Gall plantation, in 1858. Gall was married to Mary Frances Riggs.

Page 75 - Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

The Map below describes the location of  the four sugar plantations at Bayou Pigeon / Grand River and  the ownership in 1859.

Page 68 - Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya, 1850 US census

These folks were not absentee landowners they all moved to Iberville parish and established residences.  This is documented / verified/ corroborated by the 1860 census of Iberville Parish ward 8
.

Page 69 & 70 - Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

These were working sugar plantations with cultivated fields, black slaves, Sugar boiling houses, including plantation homes for the owner. As evidenced by the documents below, i.e., the succession of John Mitchelltree upon his death in 1850. Note: The succession clearly describes their was a main  dwelling house on the property.

# 1 The George Mitchelltree Plantation

Page 107 - Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

Records from Iberville Parish Clerk of Courts office, document the disposition of the George Mitchelltree plantation after his death.  The map below list the structures on the property when the plantation was sold at Sheriffs sale in 1875 after heirs of George Mitchelltree could not pay the taxes.  The clearly show the location of the main / big house on the property.  This document is truly one the priceless documents in the history of Bayou Pigeon.

Page 115 - Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

In 1895 Nestor Michel, lifelong resident of Bayou Pigeon purchased this property from the F.B. Williams Cypress Company.  He moved his family into the big house on the property.  The picture below is the only known picture of the Mitchelltree / Michel house

Ms. Clementine Berthelot Michel the second wife of Nestor Michel lived in the house until her death in 1947. Ms. Joyce Percle daughter of Adeia Michel Percle, youngest daughter of Nestor and Clementine and Mr. Dealis Vaughn youngest son of Sidney Vaughn described the interior of the house.  The house was torn down by Sidney Vaughn and Paul Michel in 1949.  The sketch below provides the layout of the house as they remember it in 19 48   / 1950 time frame. The house would have approximately 100 years old.  I am not sure if the origin of the house was known at the time the old house was torn down.

# 2 Laughlin –Nettleton Plantation 

Pages 80 83 - Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

We / I did not connect the dots on this one prior to the printing of the Bicentennial edition, i.e., The Laughlin _Nettleton / Berthelot Family connection.   Granville Clifford Laughlin lived with his wife Mary Riggs Laughlin on their Down home plantation on east side of Grand River at its confluence with Lower Grand River.

Granville passed in 1859 and left Mary with 11 kids and the “Down Home” plantation.  The plantation had about 400 cleared acres, 10 slaves and was valued $28,000 in 1860. In 2013 dollars it would be somewhere between minimum of 809,000 and 10.7 mm.  

A young Lawyer from Plaquemine was hired to do the succession of Granville.  He was Thomas E. Grace, in doing the succession he fell in love with Granville’s and Mary's  daughter, Elizabeth Camilla Laughlin. He married her in 1860 at the Down Home plantation.

What happened to the Down home Plantation house that Lizzie Laughlin was married in?

In 1915 - Anatole Berthelot of Bayou Pigeon purchased via Sheriffs sale the former property of William Hedges for $400.00. Anatole was encouraged into buying the property by Nestor Michel to buy after it had been available for a number of years.  The purchased included all the buildings and other improvements on the property.  It is safe to assume that one the buildings was the Down Home Big House.

Page 580 Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

J.C. Berthelot, Big Communion 

In the Background, is one of only two known pictures of the Berthelot house, circa 1930’s.  Grandma Julienne lived in the house until death. Look at it for a while… you are looking at the Laughlin down Home Plantation home built in the 1850’s.  The 1913 conveyance where Anatole Berthelot bought this property insinuates that there was more than one building. Anatole‘s son Augustine, lived in a similar looking house a short distance away. Several of our reliable sources of information testified that the Augustine Berthelot house looked just like the Anatole Berthelot house. We (the authors assume this could be a second plantation dwelling. Where Mr. Nettleton, part owner and overseer of “Down Home” plantation lived. But we cannot find objective evidence to prove that, e.g., a picture. The Anatole / Grandma Julienne house was torn down by Clement Landry the son in law of Anatole Berthelot, in the 1950’s. 

Page 427 Bayou Pigeon, LA. Spirit of the Atchafalaya

In the right background, is the only other known picture showing some of the Laughlin / 

Berthelot house, ie.,  Down  Home Plantation. Note How close to the road and how high the back is off the ground.  Suggesting that before the Borrow canal, the house was raised  quite high  off the ground.

GPS / location of the old Laughlin  Down Home Plantation House

# 3 the Bollinger Plantation house

Even more difficult to connect the dots on…was finding out what happened to the George Bollinger Plantation located on the west side of Grand River… just below the Mitchelltree Plantation. The Bollinger Plantation was eventually purchased by Nestor Michel in 1917.  Nestor sold it to Henry Dugas in 1929.  

Sometime after that Clebert Frioux, the son in law of Anatole Berthelot purchased part of the old Bollinger plantation, including the house on the property.  Many folks  testified that Clebert Frioux lived in a plantation looking house, facing the Grand  River, just  to name a few,  they were Shirley Mae Settoon, J.C. Berthelot,  Claude Landry, Eugene  Vaughn. 

Correspondence from the  Laughlin / Riggs family corroborates the  Bollinger plantation.

The Bollinger home was located between the former homes of C.I. and Bernice Clement and the  Ernest Hedges home by verbal interviews from the folks mentioned above. Until recently we thought that finding a picture or proof of this Plantation home at Bayou Pigeon was lost to history.   

However, Jaime Morales, spouse of Quentin Morales, new commercial fishing family at bayou Pigeon, made me aware of video from the 1940’s That had a short clip of Bayou Pigeon.  The  video was done by LA. Baptist College.  This video is another priceless peice of history. After reviewing the video we managed to get the following screen capture from the video.  

The man and woman on the right, standing on the porch of the houseboat are Leo Landry, and his first wife, Laura LeBlanc. 

Lo and behold, look at the picture of the house in the background. After verifying where the the Leo Landry houseboat, located in 'houseboat alley' where this  picture was taken.   The house in the background  is on the west side of Grand River exactly  where the Frioux  house was said to be located !  

By the grace of God we have found a picture of the Bollinger plantation house.

In conclusion, you might ask why we are doing this. If we don’t document our history it will surely disappear.  

Nestor Michel, more than likely knew he was living in the old George Mitchelltree home, but obviously he did not pass that information down, if he did it lasted one generation at best.  We will never know if Anatole Berthelot,  knew the origin of the residence he purchased. We know that none of the second generation Berthelots descendants were aware.  Again, the same for Clebert Frioux and his descendants. By connecting these dots of history we are ensuring / perpetuating the continuing existence of Cajun Bayou Pigeon culture. People find it interesting to know how the people / their descendants lived their day to day lives.

Wise people say; “If we know where we came from, we may better understand who we are and we may better know where to go.

Besides it’s fun to look at how we change over the years, 

The Ghosts of the Past Speak to All Who Will Listen"

 Preserve the Heritage!