Welcome to Iberville

Welcome to 2020 TOURISM & WELCOME GUIDE

A PUBLICATION OF THE POST SOUTH Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020

Important Phone Numbers Iberville Parish

City of St. Gabriel

EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Parish Council Office..........................687-5190 Sheriff’s Department...........................687-5100 Emergency Preparedness .................687-5140 Tourism Department...........................687-2642 Chamber of Commerce ...................687-3560 Parish Jail .............................................687-3553 Animal Control....................................687-5881 Tax Collector .......................................687-5131 Assessor’s Office..................................687-3568 Civil Defense .......................................687-5140 Community Services ..........................687-5243 Coroner’s Office .................................687-8555 District Attorney’s Office ....................687-5210 Division A (Kevin Kimball) ...................638-5551 Division B (Vacant) ............................687-5230 Division C (Alvin Batiste Jr.) ................687-5230 Division D (Elizabeth A. Engolio) ........687-5220 Court Reporter ....................................687-5232 Head Start ...........................................687-5200 Human Resources ..............................687-5190 Library ..................................................687-2520 Mike Zito Multipurpose Center ..........659-7579 Natural Gas System ............................687-5152 Parks & Recreation .............................687-0641 Permits & Inspections .........................687-5150 Planning Commission .........................687-5150 Public Defenders Office ....................687-5215 Registrar of Voters ..............................687-5201 School Board ......................................687-4341 Social Services ....................................687-5243 Substance Abuse ...............................687-5889 Utility Department ..............................687-5152

EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Mayor’s Office ....................................642-9600 Fire Department .................................642-9980 City Hall ...............................................642-9600

City of Plaquemine EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Bayou Waterfront Park.......................687-3116 City Clerk .............................................687-3661 City Inspector......................................687-2208 City Hall ...............................................687-3661 City Light & Water ..............................687-3725 City Marshal ........................................687-7236 City Prosecutor .....................687-8340 Ext. 106 City Court Clerk ..................................687-7236 COPAC ................................................687-3116 Fed. Housing (HUD/Section 8) ...........687-1942 Main St. Program ................................687-3116 Mayor’s Office ....................................687-3116 Police Dept .........................................687-9273 Utilities Director ...................................687-2461 Warehouse ..........................................687-2036 City After Hours Emergency ..............687-4796 Warehouse (Drainage-Streets-Public Buildings) ..687-2036 Also...To report problems with abandoned property, call 687-2208. For matters involving drainage, lights or streets, call 687-2036. For pickup of trash or tree limbs, call 685-1117.

Visit the City’s Website www.plaquemine.org

2 Welcome to Iberville 2020

on the

Cover

Town of Maringouin EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Mayor’s Office ....................................625-2630 Fire Department .................................625-2788 City Hall ...............................................625-2630 Welcome to

Town of White Castle EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Mayor’s Office ....................................545-3012 Water Works ........................................545-3012 Police Department.............................545-2484 Fire Department .................................545-9214

Village of Grosse Tete EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Mayor’s Office ....................................648-2285 Fire Department .................................648-2131

Village of Rosedale EMERGENCY (Fire/Police/Medical) ...........911 Mayor’s Office ....................................648-2333 Fire Department .................................648-2804 City Hall ...............................................648-2333

For additional information, log on to www.ibervilleparish.com

Quick List SUPPLIERS AT&T (888) 757-6500 Cox Cable (225) 615-1000 Entergy (800) 368-3749 City of Plaquemine Utilities 687-3725 La. Motor Vehicle Dept.

687-5884 Post Office 687-2283 Post South Newspaper 687-3288

2020 TOURISM

& WELCOM

E GUIDE

A PUBLICATIO

N OF THE POST

Welcome to

Iberville Parish

SOUTH 2020

Map of Iberville Parish

table of

Contents About Iberville Parish................... 3 Town’s Information ...................... 5 Plaquemine ................................. 8 St. Gabriel .................................. 16 Maringouin ................................ 20 White Castle .............................. 22 Grosse Tete ................................ 26 Rosedale .................................... 28

Iberville population As of 2017 Census

Parish .................................. 33,027 Plaquemine ......................... 6,715 St. Gabriel ............................ 7,324 White Castle ........................ 1,776 Maringouin .......................... 1,057 Rosedale ................................. 766 Grosse Tete ............................. 638

Welcome to Iberville staff PUBLISHER ............................................ Matt Guthrie BUSINESS MANAGER ... Stephanie Schexnaydre AD DIRECTOR ................................... Crystal Barrett EDITOR ................................................. Greg Fischer AD SALES ............................................ Jo Lynn Burns Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 is published by the POST SOUTH, P.O. Box 589, Plaquemine, LA 70765-0589. For advertising information, call (225) 687-3288. Copyright 2020, all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in any part of the material herein without the written consent of the POST SOUTH is prohibited. For additional information pertaining to this publication, contact POST SOUTH at (255) 687-3288, by fax at (225) 687-1814 or by email at editor@weeklycitizen.com.

about

Iberville Parish

I

berville Parish is an area consisting of a unique combination of diverse culture, rich historical tradition, abundant agriculture and modern industry.

The parish - one of the largest in the state - is nestled between the nation’s central waterway, the mighty Mississippi River, and the Atchafalaya River, the gateway to Acadiana.

Iberville Parish boasts an estimated population of 33,367 (according to the 2017 census). It is located in southeast Louisiana, and is one of only two parishes divided by the Mississippi River (along with neighboring Ascension Parish). The elevation near the Mississippi is 25 feet above sea level and slopes downward to 5 feet above sea level.

The parish is 620 square miles (46 miles on the eastbank). The parish consists of six municipalities.

Plaquemine, the largest city in the parish, serves as the parish seat. The town of White Castle is located about 10 miles south of Plaquemine, while

three other municipalities - Grosse Tete, Rosedale and Maringouin - are located on the northern end of the parish.

Iberville Parish was founded in 1699

by Count Pierre LeMoyne d’Iberville, who gave the parish its name during an exploration of the Mississippi.

Sugar, soybeans and corn remain the three most prevalent crops in Iberville, while the hardwood timber industry continues operating in the parish.

Plaquemine serves as home to Dow Chemical USA, Axiell Corporation, and Shintech, three of the largest employers in the parish. White Castle is the home of Cora-Texas, one of only 17 sugar mills in Louisiana, as well as Nottoway Plantation, the largest remaining antebellum home in the South.

A levee system built in the 1920s by the United States Army Corps of Engineers protects the area from flooding. The average temperature in January hovers around 54 degrees, and 82 degrees in July. It rains every month of the year, approximately 54 inches per year.

The parish currently appears poised for major industrial expansion. An industrial park near the corporate limits of Plaquemine across from Dow Chemical, as well as the development of Interprise Blvd. in the same area, promises to bring additional jobs to the parish in the coming years.

Interstate 10, the nation’s longest coast-to-coast route, runs through Grosse Tete on the north end of the parish, and is less than 25 miles away from Plaquemine and White Castle. La. 1 - the oldest and longest state- operated road - serves as the primary north-south artery through the southern end of the parish. St. Gabriel, the city on the eastbank, is less than 20 minutes away from downtown Baton Rouge.

The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is less than an hour from all parts of the parish, while Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans is 65 miles from the center of Iberville Parish. Illinois Central Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad operate the freight railroad system in the parish.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 3

Truck Stop Tiger This “Ma and Pa” operation nestled along Interstate 10 in Grosse Tete, just 15 miles from Baton Rouge next to the Atchafalaya Basin, is famous for its tiger exhibition.

Tiger Truck Stop was formally home to Tony until he died in October 2018. He was the last of what had at one time been as many as four.

CASPAR meaning “the keeper of the treasure”.

Caspar was 4 months old and still feeding from a bottle. “I just felt it was important to keep Tiger Truck Stops USDA ANIMAL WELFARE LICENSE in tact. “ This ridiculous intrusion on personal freedom and constitutional rights, has destroyed the lives of many exotic animals living here. Some packed up and fled the state, others surrendered their loved fur kids, and many were seized. All of these animals were dead within two months of being taken from their owners.

Tyranny is not a laughing matter.

TRAGIC AFTER 30 YEARS of Tiger Exhibition and preservation, no tigers live in Grosse Tete. We find it shameful that this HSUS animal rights legislation was passed.

A year later he now weighs 500-600 lbs. He is very smart, loving, and has became famous. Caspar gained celebrity status when a lady truck driver illegally entered his habitat. Camels frequently set on those that get to close and they feel threatened. He sat on the lady stopping short of placing his full weight on her so she was not severely injured or worse. The lady told authorities that she had to bite Caspar’s testicular private area to get the camel to get off of her.

As you can imagine, news of the event went viral.

We hope you come by to see CASPAR and grab a BITE to eat at TIGER CAFE. You’ll be glad you did!!!

I-10 EXIT 139 GROSSE TETE, LA

225.648.2312 www.tigertruckstop.com • 24-Hour Tiger Cafe • Video Poker • Bayou Pepper Shack In Loving Memory Of Tony...

Best Clean Filtered Fuel That Money Can Buy!

He was

Adored and

Nurtured 2001-2017

4 Welcome to Iberville 2020

Town’s Information GROSSE TETE Gas: Iberville Natural Gas 687-5152; M-F, 8:00-4:30 Water & Sewer: Town Hall 648-2131; M-T, 9:00-4:30 Telephone: Star Telephone 625-2333; M-F, 9:00-4:30 Permits: Outside City Limits Contact: Iberville Parish Council Contacts within Municipality: Grosse Tete, 648-2131 Post Office: 648-2157

ROSEDALE Gas: Iberville Natural Gas 687-5152; M-F, 8:00-4:30 Water & Sewer: Town Hall 648-2131; M-T, 9:00-4:30 Telephone: Star Telephone 625-2333; M-F, 9:00-4:30 Permits: Outside City Limits Contact: Iberville Parish Council Contacts within Municipality: Grosse Tete, 648-2333 Post Office: 648-2794

MARINGOUIN Gas: Maringouin 625-2630; M-F, 8:00-4:30 Telephone: Star Telephone 625-2333; M-F, 9:00-4:30 Permits: Outside City Limits Contact: Iberville Parish Council Contacts within Municipality: Maringouin: 625-2630 Post Office: 625-2711

ST. GABRIEL Gas/Sewer: Iberville Natural Gas 687-5152; M-F, 8:00-4:30 Water & Sewer: District No. 2 642-8397; M-F, 8:00-4:00 Telephone: Bell South 557-6500/557-6600; 24 hours Permits: Outside City Limits Contact: Iberville Parish Council Contacts within Municipality: St. Gabriel, 642-9600 Post Office: 642-9382

PLAQUEMINE Electricity, Water, Sewer & Gas Plaquemine 687-3725 M-F 8:00-4:30 Gas: Iberville Natural Gas 687-5152 (outside city limits) Telephone: AT&T 1-866-620-6900; 24 hours Permits: Outside City Limits, Contact: Iberville Parish Council Contacts within Municipality: Plaquemine City Hall: 687-2208 Post Office: 687-2283

WHITE CASTLE Gas: White Castle, 545-3012; M-F, 8:00-4:30 Water & Sewer: Town Hall 545-3012; M-T, 8:00-4:30 Telephone: Bell South 557-6500/557-6600; 24 hours Permits: Outside City Limits, Contact: Iberville Parish Council Contacts within Municipality: White Castle, 545-3012 Post Office: 545-3077

Main Office – (225) 638-8621 Livonia Branch – (225) 625-4555 Zachary Branch – (225) 654-6674 Port Allen Branch – (225) 346-6705 Maringouin Branch – (225) 625-4675 Grosse Tete Branch – (225) 625-4056 www.guaranty-bnk.com

Iberville Parish Assessor’s Office “As your Iberville Parish Assessor, I am committed to assessing all property in Iberville Parish in a fair and equitable manner. Our office has an open door policy for anyone to discuss their assessment as to its accuracy and fairness.”

58050 Merriam St. | Plaquemine, LA 70764 www.ibervilleassessor.org

225.687.3568 Assessor Randy Sexton Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 5

Plaquemine, next to the mighty Mississippi River.

Entering Plaquemine from the north on La. Hwy. 1, you will be greeted by our nationally awardwinning Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park, which offers beautiful scenic views, lighted walkways, a boardwalk along the bayou for fishing and picnicking, and pavilion. It is the heart of our downtown historic district, which consists of 120 residential and business buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Welcome to Plaquemine! We have much to see, and are very proud of our heritage and Southern hospitality. Plaquemine is nestled on pre-historic Bayou Plaquemine, next to the mighty Mississippi River.

Entering Plaquemine from the north on La. Hwy. 1, you will be greeted by our nationally awardwinning Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park, which offers beautiful scenic views, lighted walkways, a boardwalk along the bayou for fishing and picnicking, and pavilion. It is the heart of our downtown historic district, which consists of 120 residential and business buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Among our downtown treasures are the Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site, the Iberville Museum, which formerly served as both the Iberville Parish Courthouse (c. 1848) and as City Hall from 1906 – 1985; magnificent St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Plaquemine Depot Antique Market, our current City Hall, the award-winning Iberville Veterans Memorial, and numerous historic buildings.

If you visit during the summer, you may want to spend some time at City Park, where the fun includes our award-winning Water Spray Park, a skate park, children’s play area, walking track, picnicking area, and basketball courts. Or you may want to enjoy a round of golf at The Island Country Club, which is on the famed Audubon Golf Trail!

Among our downtown treasures are the Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site, the Iberville Museum, which formerly served as both the Iberville Parish Courthouse (c. 1848) and as City Hall from 1906 – 1985; magnificent St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Plaquemine Depot Antique Market, our current City Hall, the award-winning Iberville Veterans Memorial, and numerous historic buildings.

If you visit during the summer, you may want to spend some time at City Park, where the fun includes our award-winning Water Spray Park, a skate park, Plaquemine Lock Historic Site children’s play area, walking track, picnicking area, and basketball courts. Or you may want to enjoy a round of golf at The Island Country Club, which is on the famed Audubon Golf Trail!

As you can see, Plaquemine has much to offer. We welcome you and hope you enjoy our beautiful city.

Mayor Edwin “Ed” Reeves

Plaquemine The IslandBayou Country Club

As you can see, Plaquemine has much to offer. We welcome you and hope you enjoy our beautiful city.

Mayor Edwin “Ed” Reeves

6 Welcome to Iberville 2020

Iberville Museum & St. John the Evangelist Church

e ,

Plaquemine Lock Historic Site

nal Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park

Visitors are often surprised by the beauty and history of

906 ic

Plaquemine. This is a small taste of some of our sites.

Come see us!

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nd of med

The Island Country Club

City Park Splash Park

City Park Splash Park

We

Plaquemine City Hall

Iberville Museum & St. John the Evangelist Church Brusle Building

Iberville Veterans Memorial

COPAC Plaquemine ferry landing

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 7

Historic Bayou Plaquemine & St. John Church

the city of

Plaquemine

P

laquemine, the parish seat and largest city in Iberville Parish, serves as a center of government, culture, business and industry.

Located in the central area of the parish on the Mississippi River at Bayou Plaquemine, the city of 7,500 boosts a history that dates back to 1767. The early settlements of the Duvernay Concesson at Bayou Goula in the 1720s and the Acadians at St. Gabriel on the east bank of the Mississippi River in 1767, established Iberville Parish as one of the oldest parishes in Louisiana. The Plaquemine area, however, was not established until much later.

At the time of the arrival of the Acadians at St. Gabriel, the only inhabitants of the west bank were the Indians, who called the bayou along which they lived “Piakimines” or “Plaquemines,” which is an Indian word for persimmon, as wild persimmons grew in abundance along the bayou.

By the early 19th century, Bayou Plaquemine became one of the most common routes to the interior of Louisiana. At that time, the only residents were Spanish land recipients such as Jean Franchebois, Jacques DeVillier, Athanase Dardenne and Augustus Richard. Seeing the need to provide facilities and services for travelers, an ambitious young man named Thomas B. Pipkin from Tennessee began to develop what would become the town of Plaquemine.

Pipkin came south from Tennessee in 1814 to fight against 8 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the British in New Orleans with General Andrew Jackson and served in Captain Jacques DeVillier’s unit. Pipkin settled in the area after marrying DeVillier’s younger daughter. Pipkin purchased land directly below the DeVillier property near Bayou Jacob and Bayou Plaquemine on the Mississippi River.

In 1819, Pipkin subdivided his land in the town of Iberville into 54 lots 60 feet in front by 120 feet in depth and advertised them for sale. Pipkin died later that year during a epidemic of yellow fever.

The town of Iberville soon became the town of Plaquemine.

The post office, under the name of Bayou Plaquemine, was established in 1822 with Louis Desobry as the first postmaster. The name was soon shortened to the simpler name of “Plaquemine.”

Due to its location in a severe curve in the Mississippi River, the town of Plaquemine was susceptible to erosion from its very inception. Throughout the 19th century, many streets, businesses and residences caved into the river, and all the land that was originally laid out by Pipkin in 1819 had disappeared.

It didn’t stop progress, however. Plaquemine soon became an important trade center for Iberville Parish because of its location on the Mississippi River at the mouth of Bayou Plaquemine. In 1866, a dyke near the mouth was completed in order to improve its navigability and to grant relief from the usual spring floods. The dyke

served its purpose well until the construction of the U.S. Lock at Plaquemine toward the end of the 19th century.

Jacob McWilliams, a junior member of the firm of Roth & McWilliams, came to Iberville Parish in 1849 from New Jersey.

He ran a mercantile business, and served several years as president and one of the founders of the Bank of Plaquemine. He also helped organize the People’s Bank, and served on the Iberville Parish Police Jury where he was president for six years.

Plaquemine had no fire department or waterworks, and depended solely on volunteer workers until 1876 with the formation of the Union Fire Co. Plaquemine became a major center of commerce with the opening of the Plaquemine Lock in 1909. The facility, which took 14 years to construct, served as a connection from the Mississippi River into the interior part of Louisiana. The lock was an area of constant barge traffic, so intense that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a new lock area in Port Allen and closed the Plaquemine Lock in 1961.

The Plaquemine Water Works Co. was organized in 1892 with Joseph Grave as its president.

It entered into a contract with the city for the construction of water mains through the city and received a franchise for 10 years.

It continued until 1902 when the Plaquemine Electric Light & Power Co. acquired its rights and assets.

The first public telephone

station in the parish was established in Plaquemine in 1886, and the first local phone system in 1896.

In 1918, the Wilbert Brothers constructed a theater capable of presenting opera and vaudeville productions, as well as silent movies. The four-story brick and masonry structure was leased to Lionel Delacroix, who operated it until his death in 1947. Sam Daigre took over management in 1954, when it was shut down because of the cost of air conditioning and sound equipment. It was demolished in 1959.

Several other movie theaters operated in Plaquemine, including the Rosso Theater, which closed in

the 1940s, and the Osage Theater, which opened in 1947 and closed in the late 1960s.

In 1933, the main artery of traffic, Hwy. 1., extending north and south from the West Baton Rouge Parish line was paved, greatly improving transportation to and from Plaquemine.

Plaquemine entered a new era when Dow Chemical Co. opened its Louisiana division north of Plaquemine in 1958. It was the first chemical plant to locate in the area.

Cultural events are prevalent throughout the year in Plaquemine, particularly at Mardi Gras with balls and parades.

Many civic events are held at the

Iberville Parish Civic Center, an entertainment and exposition center with a capacity of about 1,500.

The city hall for Plaquemine was located on Main St. from 1906-85. The city then moved to the former parish courthouse on Railroad Ave., after the parish government was built adjacent to it.

Edwin “Ed” Reeves Jr. is the mayor of the City of Plaquemine, having replaced Mary Sue Gulotta, who served as interim mayor after the late longtime mayor Mark A. “Tony” Gulotta passed away in 2015.

32460 Bowie Street | White Castle, LA 70788

Phone: (225) 545-3656 www.bkofcommerce.com

All the bank you’ll ever need P.O. Box 517 • White Castle, LA 70788 Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 9

Iberville Welcome Center

D

o you want to know more about Iberville Parish’s history, unique architecture or one-of-a-kind culture, or how about the festivities that are part of the annual calendar of events in the parish? If so, you need to visit one of the two Iberville Visitors Centers.

All the information about the tourist attractions across Iberville Parish can be found at the Iberville Parish Visitors Center located at Exit 139 on Interstate 10 at 17526 La, 77, Grosse Tete.

The facility, dedicated in March 2010, operates in an Acadian style building on a historic property known as Seven Oaks. The facility is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is a state-certified center offering information on Iberville Parish as well as the state of Louisiana. Offering free WiFi, complimentary coffee and bottled water and valuable travel resources, the facility serves as a gateway to Iberville Parish alone one of the busiest national corridors. The Visitors Center is operated by the Iberville Parish Tourism Department’s team of visitor services specialists and is a companion to the visitor information provided at the downtown Plaquemine site, located at the Plaquemine Lock on La. 1.

The facility if part of the parish’s efforts to put greater emphasis on tourism across Iberville Parish.

For more information call (225) 687-5198 or toll free at 877-310-8874. You can also visit online at www. visitiberville.com.

Community Centers

C

ivic centers in Plaquemine and St. Gabriel serve as two of the most popular gathering places in Iberville Parish.

The Iberville Parish Civic Center in Plaquemine has served as a gathering place for events large and small for the entire parish.

The civic center, which opened in 1978, boasts a maximum capacity of 1,500 people for events ranging from dance recitals, concerts, banquets, business expos, Mardi Gras balls and wedding receptions.

The complex, located on J. Gerald Berret Boulevard

10 Welcome to Iberville 2020

off Belleview Road, includes a spacious floor area, ample seating on the upper level and a full-sized stage area. The facility also includes a concession stand, kitchen and dressing area.

The Iberville Parks and Recreation Department oversees maintenance and rental of the civic center.

For more information on the facility, contact the IPRD at (225) 687-0641.

The North Iberville Community Center is in Rosedale.

Welcome to Iberville

Enjoy all that Iberville Parish has to offer!

Iberville Parish is a great place to live, work and raise a family. Iberville Parish has new residential subdivisions being constructed and many employment opportunities for our residents. The Iberville Parish/Ochsner Medical Complex is a new state of the art medical facility that provides 24 hour emergency medical services.

Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso, Jr.

Councilman Shalanda Allen, District 1 Councilman, Chasity Easley, District 2 Councilman Thomas Dominique, District 3 Councilman Leonard Jackson, District 4 Councilman Steve Smith, District 5 Councilman Raheem Pierce, District 6 Councilman Ty Arnold, District 7 Councilman Hunter Markins, District 8 Councilman Terry Bradford, District 9 Councilman Louis Kelley District 10 Councilman Timonty Vallet, District 11 Councilman Matthew Jewell, District 12 Councilman Bart Morgan, District 13 Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 11

Plaquemine Lock Historic Site

O

ne of the most significant historic sites in Ibe3rville Parish is the Plaquemine Lock, located on Bayou Plaquemine at the Mississippi River.

The lock area also includes the Gary James Hebert Memorial Lock House, known now as the Plaquemine Lock State Commemorative Park Area, which serves as an interpretive center.

The site was named after the founder of the Greater Plaquemine Post, now known as the Plaquemine Post South, who fought tirelessly to prevent the destruction of the lock by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hebert then successfully campaigned to have the area preserved as a historic site.

The facilities also include a stylized adaptation of the resident engineer’s house, which provides openair pavilion space for displace of various watercraft used when the lock was operational. The lock is managed under the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism’s Office of State Parks.

Col. George W. Goethals, the assistant to the chief engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, designed the Plaquemine Lock. Goethals later gained distinction as chairman of the Isthmisan Canal

Commission for the design and construction of the Panama Canal. He became the first civil governor of the Canal Zone.

When completed in 1909, the lock was significant for having the highest freshwater lift of any lock in the world—52 feet—and a unique engineering design that utilized a gravity flow principle. This was later modernized by the installation of hydraulic pumps. The lock served its purpose well by provided a shortcut from the Mississippi River into Louisiana’s interior.

By 1925, Bayou Plaquemine became the northern terminal of the Intracoastal Canal system. Increased river traffic during and after World War II put a severe strain on the lock’s capacity and demand increased for a larger lock in Port Allen. In 1963, a larger lock area opened at Port Allen and the Plaquemine Lock was closed after 52 years of service.

St. John’s Rectory

P

erched behind the historic St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church stands a structure that also holds a strong sense of historical significance in Iberville Parish.

St. John’s Rectory is a large, two-story house at the corner of Plaquemine and Church streets that has served as the rectory at ever pastor of that church since 2002.

The house was built by then-pastor Father Mathurin Harnais, who paid for the construction himself.

Father Harnais purchased the land on which it is located from Father Francis Follot. The house underwent a full renovation in 1993. Prior to the renovation, certain areas of the house with small rooms were torn down to enlarge rooms, particularly the dining rooms.

Furnishings in the house were selected to complement the style of the era of its construction.

The rectory has three bedrooms—two on the second floor as well as a downstairs bedroom. It also includes a formal living room and dining room as well as a

12 Welcome to Iberville 2020

study area and a spacious hallway.

Local designer Leonce A. Gaudet laid the geometric flooring in the sitting area more than 50 years ago during the pastorate of then-pastor Monsignor Leonard Robin.

Where the Legacy of Life Matters

Formerly Plaquemine Caring Center and Port Allen Care Center

Still Family Owned & Operated Please Stop In For A Tour Today 403 N. 15th St.

Terry Wiley, Administrator Plaquemine

59215 River West Dr.

PORT ALLEN, LA 70767

PLAQUEMINE, LA 70764

(225) 346-8816

(225) 687-0240

Meagan Landry, Administrator Port Allen

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 13

veterans’ memorial

Iberville Wall of Veterans

T

he Iberville Parish Veterans Memorial, a unique monument designed by the architects and veterans to reflect the local culture, has become a source of great pride for citizens of the area.

Located at Railroad Avenue ad Court Street, next to Plaquemine City Hall, the memorial was formally dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2008.

Even before the memorial was opened to the public, architects Grace and Hebert of Baton Rouge had won a prestigious design award from the Louisiana chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Perhaps the best time to visit the memorial is at dusk. One of the most unusual aspects of the memorial is the use of translucent block and markers for the various branches of the military –the most extensive use of translucent concrete in the United States. The markers are under lighted so they slowly turn up as dusk turns to night.

The translucent blocks provide a complete transformation of the memorial from night to day, signifying the beacon of hope for the future that

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veterans provided with their service to the country.

The memorial does not list the names of those from Iberville Parish who have served but salutes all servicemen and women of past, present and future wars. The architects used a variety of material and effects to reflect Iberville Parish and its people.

The memorial’s hard concrete foundation and walls reflect both the stark reality and harshness of war and the strength of the nation’s military.

Four conflict markers are reminders of the tremendous human cost of World War I, World War II and the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. The markers are set within a water feature, making the

untouchable and unchangeable.

Another lone marker represents the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as future conflicts.

It is symbolically on the other side of the memorial wall and out of the water element as a reminder that the present and the future can be changed to avert the horrors of future wars.

The divider above the water element represents the role of the great Mississippi River and Bayou Plaquemine, two critical portals to south Louisiana during much of the 1800s and 1900s. The divider symbolizes the Plaquemine Lock, which played a dominant role in the parish’s growth and economy from the late 1800s through the early 1960s.

Another wall of the monument includes letters for service personnel to loved ones from back home while they were thousands of miles away, often in combat zones.

In November 2010, bronze sculptures of local citizens, veterans and their families visiting the monument were unveiled. In addition, a Wall of Iberville Parish veterans’ photographs was placed adjacent to the monument and will be returned each Veterans Day for viewing.

The inscription on the memorial, etched in bronze, reads simply, “In honor of those whose strength and courage we owe the freedom of the nation.”

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Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 15

The City of

ST. GABRIEL www.cityofstgabriel.com

Find us on Facebook St. Gabriel Mayor Lionel Johnson, Jr.

I

t is my pleasure, on behalf of our City Council, Chief of Police, and citizens to welcome you to the City of St. Gabriel and the East Bank of Iberville Parish. St. Gabriel is a very unique place.

Once a sleepy little community, nestled along the Mississippi River on the east bank of Iberville

Parish, it has grown to be the second city of Iberville Parish with a population of over 6,000.

Poised for great economic growth, it stands “A City of Pride, Progress and Possibilities.”

This administration exhibits a “can do” attitude that will prevail and be the catalyst for the ongoing progress and vision of our community. For St. Gabriel is a city with a proud heritage of people helping people – a caring community. Our small town friendliness complements our big city desires and makes this a great place to live, work, and worship. We hope you take a little time to visit our City, “A City of Progress, Pride and Possibilities.” If there is anything we can do to help you become better acquainted with St. Gabriel, please do not hesitate to call upon us. City Council members are: Honorable Ronald Grace, Sr., Honorable Melvin Hasten, Sr., Honorable Jeffery Hayes, Sr., Honorable Ralph Johnson, Sr., Honorable Kelvin York, Sr. Lionel Johnson, Jr. Mayor

16 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the city of

St. Gabriel

S

t.. Gabriel, now known as Iberville’s “Second City,” serves as one of the newest incorporated areas in the state but the city is also one of the most historic communities in the state.

Incorporated in 1994 and city designated in 2001, St. Gabriel is the only Iberville Parish municipality on the east bank of the Mississippi River. It is located on the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad and Louisiana’s La. 30 and La. 74. The area was settled by several Acadian families who were sent by Gov. Ulloa in 1776 to populate and serve as a buffer between Spanish Louisiana and British West Florida located north of Bayou Manchac.

The Spanish erected a fort near Bayou Manchac across from British Fort Bute just before the Acadian arrival. The community was given the name of San Gabriel de Manchac. As the Acadians began their lives as farmers, the Acadian settlers built a church out of cypress from nearby swamps.

Today, that church building serves as the oldest existing church building in Louisiana. Built in 1769, it has been moved several times and is now located off the River Road in St. Gabriel adjacent to the new church building. The original building has been restored and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Another landmark in the area is Barthel’s Grocery Store, located on River Road. The wood front has been used as a setting for several movies but unfortunately is no longer in business. It was established in 1880.

Also, St. Gabriel proper, another attraction that

provides great intrigue is the Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center in Carville. The facility is located on the National Registry of Historic Place and include the Henry Howard-designed plantation mansion known as Indian Camp.

St. Gabriel became the first town the state incorporated since Grosse Tete in 1952 when an incorporation committee led by George L. Grace managed to have the proposal for incorporation brought to East Iberville voters. The residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of the incorporation and Grace became the city’s first mayor.

Today, St. Gabriel serves as home for 12 large industrial plants. The incorporated area is nestled between the Mississippi River and La. 30, between the economically prosperous areas of Ascension and East Baton Rouge parishes.

The University Club golf community along Bayou Manchac bolstered residential development in the area. A 450-acre commercial/residential site along La. 30 has also been completed recently.

A long-term industrial development project was recently unveiled in the area. The project could create as many as 3,000 new jobs.

One public park, Amanda Anderson Grace Park, was opened in 2008 on the site of the historic Bayou Colored School. Another was completed in 2018 adjacent to the Mississippi River levee and it includes a walking trail along the top of the levee.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 17

st. gabriel

Community Center

T

he St. Gabriel Community Center, located of La. 30 at 1400 Gordon Simon LeBlanc Dr., is one o the newest attractions in Iberville Parish.

Dedicated in December 2004, the $5 million state-of-the-art facility features a gymnasium/auditorium that hosts receptions, dance

recitals, stage performances and other activities. It also includes a spacious meeting and dining area.

What sets the facility apart from other community centers is the fully equipped fitness area, complete with an indoor swimming pool. The facility also hosts a wide variety of recreational

events for people of all ages, including daily fitness programs for senior residents and summer recreation programs for children.

The facility is available for rentals. For more information, call the City Hall at (225) 642-9600.

the state and a renovation project made it a boot camp and jobs training facility for at-risk teens.

The Job Corps Center on the facility accommodated classes of more than 150 students in 2005, offering training for various career jobs.

Aside from developing a job training partnership for troubled teens, the site serves as home to an armory for the Louisiana National Guard.

Changes started to take shape in the late 1990s. As plans got rolling to convert the site to a job training site, the remaining 100 or so patients - many of whom had not left the center in 60 years - were given the option of remaining there or being transferred to a facility at a Baton Rouge hospital.

About 40 of those not in constant need of medical care remained, while the others transferred.

Projects on the drawing board include development of a 3,000acre area for residential and commercial properties, as well as

large-scale industrial projects in the Carville area.

Bear Industries of Port Allen plans to move its offices and primary operations to the area as plans begin on work along 360 acres near the Mississippi River.

The project would include a gravel company that would eventually ship products worldwide.

The industrial area would also include a cat food plant that would hire more than 100 people.

Also in the plans is a warehouse area that would store forklifts and other heavy equipment.

The economic development plans at Carville may also mean growth in the adjacent city of St. Gabriel. Plans are already on the drawing board for a longterm residential and economic development project that will include upscale subdivision, shopping centers, an outlet mall and a private school.

Carville

F

or many years, Carville was known simply for the Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center, but changes both at the facility and its surrounding area may give new identity on the east end of Iberville Parish.

Several expansion projects are near completion at the historic center, a landmark dating back to the early 20th century.

The Job Challenge Program at the center recently graduated 80 students - its biggest class yet and plans are underway to extend the career planning programs.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals has established a Bio-Terrorism program to prepare for emergencies.

The facility’s history begins in the late 1800s when the first victims of what is now called Hansen’s Disease, were brought to its doors. But medical breakthroughs and dwindling patient population resulted in a change in use of the facility, when the federal property transferred to

18 Welcome to Iberville 2020

carville

Hansen’s Disease Center

T

he Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center in Carville - the hospital hidden from the world in the early 1900s and now world renowned for its work - is a vastly different place than it was at its inception.

The facility’s history begins in the late 1800s when the first victims of what is now called Hansen’s Disease, were brought to its doors. But medical breakthroughs and dwindling patient population resulted in a change in use of the facility. The federal property was transferred to the state and a renovation project made it a boot camp and jobs training facility for atrisk teens.

But first, its history.

In 1894, seven victims of Hansen’s Disease were taken without the public’s knowledge from a “pesthole” in New Orleans by coal barge to the lower side of Point Clair to the ruins of a once thriving sugar estate, Indian Camp Plantation.

In fact, the plantation for which the facility is best known was designed by the renowned architect Henry Howard in 1859.

An ornate, Italianate villa with decorative cornice molding, a sweeping cross hall, and Palladians style hyphened wings, it is one of only three remaining Howard-designed plantation houses in Louisiana.

It was originally the home of Virginia-born sugar planter Robert Cam, who later went into bankruptcy.

Dr. Isadore Dyer, a noted New Orleans dermatologist and leprologist, had persuaded the state legislature to appropriate money for a home to help curb the disease’s spread in Louisiana.

He, as president of the newly created Louisiana Board of Control for the Lepers’ Home, was subjected to harsh public pressure and forced to find a hideaway for victims of the disease.

Dyer wanted a hospital where the disease could be studied and treated, preferably by Tulane Medical School.

Instead, he got an asylum, which offered minimal medical treatment on an isolated site about 30 miles south of Baton Rouge in Iberville Parish.

The first group of patients who

came to the colony hoped for a life of better care and treatment and relief from cruel public censorship. Instead, they were housed in crumbling slave cabins with little rights, dignities and privileges.

Their state improved little in subsequent decades, although domestic and some medical care of the patients was entrusted to the dedicated Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul in 1896.

The asylum at Indian Camp Plantation was controlled by the state for about 26 years. The state appropriated only enough funds to provide custodial care of the patients away from a healthy public.

As the patient total increased, so did the financial burden. The state was ready to relinquish control to the federal government, which saw the need for a national leprosarium.

In 1921, the Louisiana Leper Colony became the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital.

When the PSH took over there were 90 patients at Carville, but the number doubled rapidly. As patients were referred to the facility from all over the country, it became evident better accommodations were needed.

In 1923, Congress appropriated $645,000 for expansion, which paid for new wooden cottages connected by screened walkways to house 425

patients, laboratory and therapeutic equipment and surgery facilities.

Changes in subsequent decades were not rapid or all at once, but gradually the “home” became a hospital. The facility, commonly known as Carville for its location near the community of the same name, is renowned for its comprehensive treatment pro gram and modern approach to the disease and appreciated the world over for its training and educational seminars for professional medical and allied health from other countries.

Changes started to take shape in the late 1990s. As plans got rolling to convert the site to a job training site, the remaining 100 or so patients – many of whom had not left the center in 60 years – were given the option of remaining there or being transferred to a facility at a Baton Rouge hospital.

About 40 of those not in constant need of medical care remained, while the others transferred.

Aside from developing a job training partnership for troubled teens, the site now serves as home to an armory for the Louisiana National Guard.

Perhaps the use of the facility has changed, but its service to Iberville Parish remains very important into the 21st century.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 19

The Town of

MARINGOUIN

T

he Town of Maringouin may have been named after everyone’s foe-the mosquito, but it is a thriving community with ties to three parishes.

Located on the northern tip of Iberville, its residents and businesses are aligned with nearby

Livonia in Pointe Coupee Parish and Erwinville in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Its rural setting amidst the huge live oaks, Bayou Grosse Tete and picture perfect open green pastures make it a paradise for those seeking a quiet life.

The town provides water, sewer and natural gas service, and has lighted streets. It has an 8-acre park, complete with restrooms, a picnic shelter, baseball diamonds, basketball courts and a playground. Its town government is operated out of an old store, which was renovated to accommodate several offices and a meeting room.

Maringouin has a population of around 1,270 and is governed by Mayor Maurice Harris along with Mayor Pro-Tem Veronica Hill and Aldermen/Alderwoman Clarence Wiley, Cherise Gouisha, Sam Watson and Jerome Martine. Hosea K. Anderson serves as the town’s Chief of Police and Carolyn Marino is the Town Clerk.

20 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the town of

Maringouin

T

he small town of Maringouin, located on the northernmost end of Iberville Parish, is also the name of the bayou that runs through the town.

The town has a population of 1,262, as of the 2010 census. The little town has an interesting and long life behind it. It is quite possible that the French, Spanish and Acadians passed over the land that is now Maringouin. This would’ve been before Maringouin received its strange name.

It is known that the Winona Indians were in Maringouin after its naming, but the exact time that they came or left is not known.

The actual birth of Maringouin is said to have been with the coming of the Texas & Pacific Railroad.

The building of this entire railroad, which ran from New Orleans through Louisiana across Texas to El Paso was completed in December 1882. It was not until September 1882 that the railroad service in Maringouin first began.

The building of the railroad from White Castle to Cheneyville was completed. The building of the railroad began a new life for Maringouin.

Maringouin was given its name in 1831. A number of U.S. surveyors were mapping the area.

They were suddenly attacked by a swarm of pests. These were huge black mosquitoes, which almost covered the area. The surveyors promptly attached the Indian word “Maringouin” which means mosquito, to the area.

A number of plantations settled in Maringouin before 1882. Prior to the Civil War, the beautiful, one-story home Tanglewild was built by Bartholomew Barrow.

The home was, and still is, located at the end of Maringouin’s main

street, Landry Street, just across Bayou Grosse Tete. It is now owned by Mrs. Mattie Wylie Barrow Jewell.

Tanglewild is the only plantation in the direct vicinity of Maringouin. Others in the area are El Dorado, the Mound House, Belmont (no longer standing) and Shady Grove.

A skirmish between Union and Confederate troops took place on Bayou Maringouin in 1864.

Maringouin began to grow with the dawn of railroad service in the area. The earliest public building of which there is record was the post office. Built in 1859, it was called the Musson Post Office, taking the name of a railroad operator, Mr. Musson. He was connected with the building of the Baton Rouge, Grosse Tete and Opelousas Railroad (which, by the way, never went through any of these places). In 1890, the post office was moved to Maringouin with Dr. A.W. Tufts as the first postmaster.

Three churches were established in Maringouin. The St. Stephens Association was founded Oct. 14, 1891, with Rev. Eben Door Moreno as pastor. Mrs. Sara J. Simrall donated land to the association in December 1891, and the church was built in 1892. It was named St. Stephens Protestant Episcopal Church.

The Catholic Church was built March 23, 1893. Archbishop J.A. Janssens acquired lands from Mrs. Simrall, and named the church St. Mary. It and the Grosse Tete Church, St. Joseph, changed hands several times until they were both put in St. Joseph Parish.

The Baptist Church was built in 1907, and was one of the first of that denomination in Iberville Parish.

The first bank was established in 1903, with John W. Wilson as president.

Maringouin was incorporated as a village March 12, 1907. The town’s population reached 1,000 to become a town in 1960. The first school in the area was in what was later known as Phillip’s Furniture Store. In 1916, the City Hall became the school building. Shady Grove Plantation became the school for the area in 1918. A new school bearing the same name was built in 1942. A new school facility was built in 1991 as part of the parish school board’s 10-year plan to upgrade schools in the parish.

The new school was named North Iberville, but the old Shady Grove school building still stands.

A 50-year time capsule sits in front of the town hall. It was placed there on July 4, 1976, the day of the nation’s bicentennial birthday, and will be opened in 2026.

The Jerry Lee Martin Live Oak #4968 resides in Maringouin, LA and is a living memorial to the young woman for whom it is named. It has a girth of 33ft. and is one of the largest trees in the Live Oak Society.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 21

The Town of

T

WHITE CASTLE

he Town of White Castle is one of the oldest municipalities in the parish, having been incorporated in 1894.

While it is primarily a farming community, it also boasts its association with nearby Nottoway Plantation, and reaps the economic benefits of Shell Oil company’s gas and oil field at Cora Texas Manufacturing Inc. Located at the southern end of the parish, the main thruways are LA Hwy. 1 and LA Hwy. 69, which lead not only through the heart of town, but to some of the best hunting and fishing areas in the state.

The town was named after a large plantation home called “The White Castle,” which was built in the early 1800s. That home White Castle Mayor was used as the residence of Louisiana Gov. Paul O. Herbert, who John Morris III is buried in Point Pleasant Cemetery.

The name “The White Castle” is still appropriate because Nottoway Plantation located in White Castle hosted hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

A progressive community with a population of approximately two thousand, White Castle has its own water, natural gas, and sewage systems, including a relatively new sewage treatment system, which also handles the Dorseyville area. Additionally, it has one of the nicest tennis complexes in the parish; an effective volunteer fire department with two fire stations and numerous emergency vehicles; and an eight-member police force.

White Castle also operates a 100-unit, low income housing complex through the White Castle Housing Authority. The late Mayor S.J. “Blue” Guercio served the longest of any of the town’s mayors, having served from 1966 until his death in 1993.

With a citizenry passionate about its community, town leaders and community activists hope to see business growth and new home developments over the horizon as stakeholders work to identify needs and ambitions. As the town grows its social media presence, input from citizens often center around citizens voicing their concern for current and innovative practices that brings the town into the 21st century. As a result, the town is currently working to improve efficiency within its utilities department by installing new water meter technology that are more accurate. This move is the first of what many hope will turn the page for additional and greater improvements in the town. The mayor and board alderman continue to work in sync to ensure that desired development is sure to happen sooner rather than later.

The drive and passion that exists within the Town of White Caste is unmatched. A compassionate community made up of individuals who have a common goal and that’s to see White Castle continue to be a town rooted in tradition but positioned to take on what the future holds.

22 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the town of

White Castle

T

he town of White Castle, located on the southernmost end of Iberville Parish, is one of the last remaining centers of sugar production and a community rich in historical flavor.

Nottoway Plantation, the largest remaining plantation home in the South, is located just outside the corporate limits. Contrary to popular belief, Nottoway is not the origin of the town’s namesake.

White Castle got its name from the White Castle plantation, built in the early 19th century. The home was located just north of the corporate limits. Pierre Belly, a Frenchman, originally owned the plantation, but the site changed hands and names so many times that it became known as “The White Castle.” It once served as the residence for Louisiana Gov. Paul O. Hebert, who is buried in St. Raphael Cemetery, seven miles from White Castle.

The town was the result of a planned development project by owners of a portion of the plantation. White Castle was formed in 1884 when Frederick A.C. Meyer and W.M. McGalliard of Ascension had 35 acres of their riverfront holdings surveyed and

laid out into town lots.

By the end of the 1880s, White Castle grew into a community of stores, a church, schools for both races and a lumberyard. One store that began in the late 1880s, Bajon’s Drug Store, remains in operation as one of the oldest drug stores in Louisiana, and is operated by the same family that established the store in 1889.

A Presbyterian Church was established in 1893, shortly after the opening of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church was established in White Castle in 1893.

By the end of the 19th century, White Castle served as home to an opera house, three physicians, a dentist, 19 saloons, a hotel and a newspaper. The first bank, known as the Bank of White Castle, opened Jan. 6, 1898.

The White Castle Lumber & Shingle Co. ceased operation shortly after the turn of the century, but the town enjoyed a boom in the agriculture industry with the opening of three sugar mills -- Cedar Grove and Catherine Sugar Mill and Cora Plantation (now known as CoraTexas). Cora-Texas remains in

business, and is one of 17 sugar mills statewide still in operation.

While sugarcane continued to prosper, several other crops began appearing in the town’s fledgling agricultural fold, including beans, rice, peppers and, perhaps the most abundant crop, soybeans.

Transportation improved in the White Castle area in 1934 when the state completed a section of La. 1 that connected White Castle with Plaquemine and Donaldsonville.

That route became the longest in the state, stretching from Shreveport to Grand Isle.

In the last 10 years, new schools have been built in White Castle as part of a long-term revitalization plan by the Iberville Parish School Board.

John Morris III currently serves as White Castle’s mayor, having taken office Jan. 1 to succeed Jerald “Germarr” Williams.

Williams was preceded in office by longtime mayor Maurice A. Brown, who served nearly two decades.

White Castle High School has excelled in a number of sports over the past 40 years, including state championships in basketball and football.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 23

historic plantation

Nottoway

HISTORIC PLANTATION...Nottoway is a showplace of antebellum homes along the Mississippi River.

N

ottoway reached its 150th anniversary as a structure in 2009. It is regarded as the largest and grandest of antebellum plantation homes remaining in Louisiana.

When a special anniversary celebration was held in 2009 the home matched the beauty of the day John Randolph and his family began their stay along the Mississippi.

A few miles down the River Road (Hwy. 405) on the south side of the town of White Castle, Belle Grove Plantation was completed only two years prior, in 1857.

Historians report Belle Grove was the true “Queen of the South�, overshadowing every antebellum 24 Welcome to Iberville 2020

home not only in Louisiana but from the Mississippi to the Atlantic. But, while Belle Grove fell into disrepair and eventual ruin in the early 20th century, finally burning in 1952, Nottoway remained, better kept by owners until the early 1980s when Arlin Dease began the first major restoration.

All that is left today of Belle Grove are hand-carved capitals, a 1935 painting by Walter Evans, a gouache painting done in 1859

by Adrien Persac, and a series of photographs of a haunted-looking house gone to ruin by neglect.

But Nottoway is known today to visitors from across the globe, and when another restoration,

renovation, and modernization is completed by current owner Paul Ramsey, the grand mansion is sure to become a topic of conversation internationally and a point of great pride for the citizens of Iberville Parish.

Ramsey, an Australian businessman, has owned Nottoway since 1985, but he came to the decision, in order to keep Nottoway a viable resource for many years to come, additional restoration and modernization would be necessary.

Several staff changes have led to a promising future for Nottoway Resort. Under owner Neil Castaldi, improvements are continuing to be made. The grand

old home and its grounds now provide services and hospitality of a major resort attractive to world-class travelers as well as to locals who wish to dine or hold wedding or corporate functions fitting anyone wishing quality and service.

Nottoway Resort now has 40 guest rooms, which includes nine cottages, the Carriage House, and rooms in the plantation home its self. A world-class restaurant has been constructed on the ground floor. Randolph Hall, which served a few years as a facility for special functions, has been renovated with an enlarged and new kitchen as well as an adjacent greenhouse where flowers, herbs,

and vegetables will be grown for everyday use.

A pastry shop provides additional charm to overnight guests. Breakfast and room service are provided, as well as remodeled rooms complete with flat-screen televisions, wireless communication, improved central cooling and heating systems and other amenities typical of the finest of resort hotels.

Extensive landscaping was completed with a new fountain, pathways, and garden settings.

Also available is a full service spa, a workout room, and businessoriented facilities to accommodate conferences and meetings.

Nottoway has made a

commitment to each and every visitor, whether is be an overnight guest or a dining guest.

Nottoway is an American Castle and they want visitors to experience the utmost.

All that is physically left on the River Road of Belle Grove Plantation and its mill is a historic landmark plaque. The mansion was the “Beauty of the South” for only a fleeting span of time. But thanks to the former owners and preservationists like Dease and Ramsey, Nottoway continues as a view of American bygone past where architectural beauty can be admired and can sooth one’s spirit.

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Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 25

The Village of

GROSSE TETE Comfortable rural life amid the oaks

G

rosse Tete is perhaps the most familiar municipality of North Iberville because it is named after Bayou Grosse Tete – the bayou that winds through much of North Iberville.

The Village of Grosse Tete is also the smallest of the parish’s municipalities but it has been progressive in providing services for its residents. It has a town hall, municipal storage building, sewage system, water system, fire station, meeting rooms for organizations, sidewalks, street lighting, police department, parks and a Post Office.

The village was originally incorporated in 1906, but dissolved a few years later. It was re-incorporated in 1952, and today includes a twomile stretch of homes and businesses along Bayou Grosse Tete.

Legend has it that the bayou’s name, which means “Big Head” in French, was derived from a big-headed Choctaw Indian who lived and hunted in the area when it was first settled by

26 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the Acadian people.

It is a beautiful area that offers hanging moss from majestic live oak trees, green pastures with rustic fences, and the grace of the bayou.

Bayou Grosse Tete also served as the area’s principal transportation route for years until the Texas-Pacific Railroad, now Missouri-Pacific, laid tracks

through the settlement. Today the area is served by La. Hwy. 77 and Interstate 10, along with the rail lines and bayou.

The present population of Grosse Tete is 670 and the economy is farm-based with sugarcane fields dotting much of the landscape and cattle grazing in pastures.

GROSSE TETE TOURIST CENTER...The Grosse Tete Tourist Center is as beautiful inside as it is outside. Located right off I-10 at the Grosse Tete exit.

the village of

Grosse Tete

T

he village of Grosse Tete, located in the northern end of Iberville Parish, was named for Bayou Grosse Tete, which flows from the southernmost tip of Pointe Coupee Parish to Bayou Plaquemine, 35 miles from its head.

The town was incorporated in 1906, with P.W. Holiday, Sr. as its first mayor. The incorporation dissolved after only a few years, but it was re-established in 1952.

C.J. Fleniken served as the first mayor of the newly revived town.

Philip Sarullo served as mayor from 1972-2005 and was succeeded by longtime alderman Michael Chauffe.

Grosse Tete was placed in Iberville Parish in 1828 after a legislative act moved the boundary of West Baton Rouge Parish because Port Allen was considered too far from the previous boundary of the Atchafalaya River. Citizens in Grosse Tete were granted the option to re-join West Baton Rouge Parish in an 1858 vote, but citizens chose to remain in Iberville Parish.

The final boundary set the parish from the rear of the plantations on Bayou Jacob to Bayou Teche, and west to the St. Martin Parish line.

The community was settled in the 1830s, after the Louisiana Purchase, when American pioneers extended settlements back from the Mississippi River.

Although the original culture was of Anglo-Saxon descent, the French, Italian and German settled there early on.

Bayou Grosse Tete served as the major route for transport of food and groceries from Plaquemine, according to Sarullo. Bayou Grosse Tete can no longer serve as a waterway for shipping because the building of the dam at False

Grosse Tete City Hall.

River stopped all but the excess water flow from Grosse Tete.

Families such as Achee, Badeaux, Barbay, Bargas, Books, Bossier, Bourgeois, Breaux, Brown, Chenevert, Daigre, Dardenne, Dupuy, Favron, Holliday, Kenner, Kleinpeter, Lacasse, Langlois, Martin, Matherene, Nadeau, Nereaux, Orillion, Pardo, Sigler, Slack, Stillwell, Toupes and Whitney were among the first in Grosse Tete. The Hollidays were one of the first prominent families in the community, producing sugar cane and running several businesses.

Land along Bayou Grosse Tete served as home for large plantations, farms and sugar refineries.

Post offices opened and closed several times before the postal service got a permanent home in October 1890.

A depot was located on Cedar St. to help with the shipping of sugarcane, cotton and potatoes.

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church maintains the edifice of the original building (constructed in 1908). Archbishop James Blank

established the church, and Rev. Francis Badeaux was the founding father. Grosse Tete Baptist Church was established in 1939, and was originally located next to St. Joseph Cemetery.

In the 1920s, a theater opened in Grosse Tete, and was owned by the church pastor, Father Murgue.

The theater burned down in 1930.

Another theater opened in 1933 and closed in the mid-1940s.

Grosse Tete remains a small but vocal community in Iberville Parish. The village took a different turn, of sorts, in 1973 when Interstate 10 was built through the town. The Interstate brought additional businesses to the area, and serves as a popular stop on a drive and a nice area for out-of-towners to admire the beautiful south Louisiana landscape in the community.

Grosse Tete is home to the parish’s newest Tourist Center located directly off of I-10. The Town was also named Cleanest City 2010 and 2011 District VI Category B by the Louisiana Garden Club Federation, an honor truly deserved.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 27

The Village of

T

ROSEDALE

he village of Rosedale was named for the abundance of wild Cherokee roses found by the English-speaking people who settled the area in 1815. The name remains appropriate for the quaint village’s natural beauty.

The small rural community is located at the intersection of La. Hwy. 76 and La. Hwy. 77 among beautiful rustic open fields and winding rural highways that follow Bayou Grosse Tete.

Rosedale was incorporated in 1955. Since that time it has seen much change, including many modernizations.

Among the village’s accomplishments are: an impressive fire station, a fully equipped police department, playgrounds and parks with ball fields, tennis and The Church of the Nativity basketball courts, and a lighted walking trail; a library, a Louisiana Art & Artist Guild, a renovated village hall and maintenance building, and North Iberville elementary/Virtual MSA North which serves students from the communities of Rosedale, Grosse Tete and Maringouin.

All of the progressive achievements led to the Village receiving the several prestigious first place Community Achievement Award for outstanding community improvement in basic services from the Louisiana Municipal Association over the years.

Today the Village of Rosedale is revered for its quiet, tranquil country life on the bayou. For more information, call the Rosedale Village Hall at (225) 648-2333.

Trinity Plantation 28 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the village of

Rosedale

Live Oak Plantation

R

osedale is well known for its beautiful antebellum mansions.

Among the oldest is Live Oaks Plantation home, completed by Charles L. Dickinson, Jr. in 1838, after ten years of construction.

Mr. Dickinson came to Rosedale to live on 3,000 acres deeded to him by his grandfather, Joseph Erwin.

Originally, Dickinson had been a Tennessee native, but when he was two years old his father was killed in a duel of honor with Andrew Jackson.

Jackson was wounded in the duel with a bullet so close to his heart that it could not be removed. The aftermath of that duel - bitter political attacks as well as that dangerous bullet - remained with Jackson as he went on to become the nation’s seventh president. Years later, the controversy surrounding his father’s death still lingered, thereby giving young Dickinson the motivation to leave his native soil for the lure of rich Louisiana farmland.

Mr. Dickinson’s young wife, Anna Marie, soon became something of a legend in this area. Known as a deeply religious Presbyterian, she built a

small brick chapel for her slaves in 1840. The little slave chapel, used in later years as an Episcopal church and then as Rosedale’s first schoolhouse, still stands in the garden at Live Oaks.

Nearby is an enormous oak, known as the Mays Live Oak, which measured nearly 30 feet in circumference when it was listed by the Live Oak Society as the fifth largest live oak in the United States in 1939. Live Oaks is owned today

by Mr. William P. Obier, Jr. Mr. Obier has a special interest in the mansion since his family was connected to the Dickinson family by marriage and he spent part of his childhood in the house.

“Trinity,” a plastered brick house, stands far off the road in Rosedale at the end of an avenue of live oaks.

Featuring unique double chimneys at each end of its roof, the house stands on an early Indian mound and was built in 1839 by a New Orleans physician, Dr. George Campbell.

Trinity is now owned and occupied by Dr. and Mrs. Chevis L. Newman.

Rosedale’s first post office was established September 9, 1857, with

Charles E. Dupuy as the postmaster.

The first mail was carried by skiff up the bayou from Plaquemine every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Pioneers eagerly awaited word from friends and loved ones on the outside.

The year 1859 brought in the iron horse, the Louisiana Central Railroad, that made three weekly runs into the community. Rosedale was a thriving center when the railroads came. The company constructed depots at West Baton Rouge, Lake, and Rosedale.

During the Civil War, the railroad provided transportation for the Confederate troops and performed its regular services until Union forces captured Baton Rouge in May of 1862.

The area is largely agricultural with serene woodlands inviting tourism.

An abundance of land, a good work force, all the necessary utilities and its Class 4 fire rating make the area an ideal place to live or locate a business.

Although Rosedale may have given in to progress, its people intend to keep it the quiet, peaceful village on the bayou that it has always been.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 29

International Acadian Festival

T

he International Acadian Festival remains one of the top annual attractions in Iberville Parish, but the event got a new look in 2005.

Knights of Columbus Council No. 970, organizers of the event since its inception in 1969, relocated the event from the aging fairground facility on La. 1 to the newly completed C.M. “Mike” Zito Multi-Purpose Center on Bayou Road.

The new location has provided a fresh look for the festival, and has allowed for the addition of some new attractions.

One of the most popular new attractions at the festival is the rodeo event, which attracted a huge crowd at the 2005 event.

In addition, the new facility allows for more parking.

The festival is an Iberville Parish tradition that began as the brainchild of Gary J. Hebert. The event was first known as the “Cajun Festival” but renamed the International Acadian Festival in 1970.

The event features the arrival of Evangeline (see the story below), a midway of thrilling rides, delicious

food, arts and crafts, musical acts and a parade on Sunday.

In addition, the Iberville Parish 4-H Club holds exhibitions of livestock, poultry, and pets for young people to display their hard work and talents during the event.

The festival is traditionally held the third weekend of October.

pageantry

Evangeline

T

he arrival of Evangeline for the International Acadian Festival is one of the longeststanding traditions in Iberville Parish.

The selection of Evangeline is open to all young ladies entering senior class in high school who either live in Iberville Parish or have fathers who belong to a Knights of Columbus post in the parish. Selection is held in late August.

Knights of Columbus Council No. 970 sponsors the annual event held the second Saturday in October.

Evangeline serves as cornerstone for the annual festival, and represents Iberville Parish at events until the following year ’s festival.

The arrival of Evangeline involves pageantry and brings to 30 Welcome to Iberville 2020

the spotlight the historical beauty of both the story and Bayou Plaquemine, where she makes her arrival each year.

The Water Ceremony is held one week prior to the festival. The event dedicated to her because of her stop here two centuries ago in search of her beloved Gabriel.

The arrival of Evangeline features the escort of young lady who receives the crown of designation. The ceremony also features her 15 Indian princesses.

The ceremony begins with the official Festival Mass at St. John the Evangelist Catholic church prior to the event.

Members of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus from Council 970, form an honor guard for the grand processional into and out of the church. The procession is led by bagpipe

PAGEANTRY…2019 Evangeline and Queen of the International Acadian Festival Lillie Bradford. music.

The St. John Choir provides music during the Mass.

Iberville Museum

T

he Iberville Museum, located at Main Street across from the Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site area, offers a look at the history of the parish and its culture.

The museum is located in the old Plaquemine City Hall (which served as the parish courthouse prior to that) and includes a rich variety of relics and information on the heritage of Iberville Parish.

The museum opened June 11, 2000, and operates strictly on the proceeds from membership dues and donations.

Along with the vast array of historical displays at the museum, seasonal exhibits are featured throughout the year, with much of the theme relating to the rich culture of Iberville Parish.

Traveling exhibits are also featured at the museum.

The museum in 2014 was one of only six in Louisiana selected the traveling Smithsonian exhibit “Yesterday’s Tomorrows”, a look at how past generations viewed the future. In 2015 the museum was selected to be the new home of the High School Boxing Hall of Fame, which opened in October 2015.

The Iberville Museum is a must both for tourists visiting the Plaquemine area, and for residents who want to learn more about the history of their community.

Museum hours are 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday. The museum is closed Sundays & Mondays.

Admission to the museum is $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for students, children 5 and under are free. For more information call (225) 687-7197.

laissez les bon temps rouler

Mardi Gras

T

he strong French heritage in Iberville Parish means close ties to popular Louisiana traditions, which certainly rings true with the celebration of Mardi Gras.

Local businesses sponsor parades in Plaquemine and White Castle, while the parish is known statewide for three of the most prominent Mardi Gras Ball krewes in Louisiana.

Le Krewe Du Roi organized the first Mardi Gras Ball Krewe in Plaquemine in 1965. The late Charles Brooks, who was

instrumental in the krewe’s development, served as king for the inaugural gala.

The krewe continued to grow until two additional krewes spawned off Le Krewe De Roi. The Krewe of Cypress and Krewe of Okeanos both organized in the late 1970s, and both quickly gained prominence.

The three krewes host Mardi Gras Balls in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras, with Le Krewe Du Roi hosting the ball the Saturday before Fat Tuesday.

White Castle makes its presence

known with a parade that rolls through the downtown section of the historic community on the Sunday prior to Mardi Gras, the same day as the Plaquemine parade.

In 2013, the Krewe of Comogo began and has quickly gained popularity in the community.

The parade was established in Memory of Plaquemine resident Brenda Comeaux.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 31

at a glance

Iberville Parish

1

2

3

A AY AL AF

CH AT

Maringouin

7 N SI

BA

1

Rosedale

Ramah Grosse Tete

4

Plaquemine

4

St. Gabriel

3 2 Bayou Goula

5 Bayou Sorrel

White Castle

6

IN

AS

AB AY AL AF

CH AT

5

Carville

Bayou Pigeon

Lone Star

6

7 32 Welcome to Iberville 2020

1. Trinity Plantation 2. Madonna Chapel (Smallest church in the world) 3. Iberville Museum 4. Plaquemine Lock 5. Nottoway Plantation 6. Cora-Texas Sugar Mill 7. Rosedale Church

attend

Iberville Parish Schools CRESCENT ELEMENTARY/JR. HIGH 62575 Bayou Rd., Plaquemine, La. 659-2437 Principal: Kathleen Schmit DORSEYVILLE ELEMENTARY 31505 La. 1, Dorseyville, La. 545-3805 Principal: Jeanné Medine EAST IBERVILLE Elementary/High School La. 75, St. Gabriel, La. 642-0032 Principal: Dr. Michel Eskridge MATH, SCIENCE AND ARTS ACADEMY WEST 57955 St. Louis Rd., Plaquemine, La. 687-6845 Director: Elvis J. Cavalier MATH, SCIENCE AND ARTS ACADEMY EAST 1400 Gordon Simon LeBlanc Dr. St. Gabriel, La. 238-0150 Director: Charles Johnson

MATH, SCIENCE AND ARTS ACADEMY NORTH VIRTUAL 13770 La. 77, Rosedale, La 687-7066 Director: Diana Outlaw NORTH IBERVILLE ELEMENTARY 13770 La. 77, Rosedale, La. 625-2522 Principal: Dawn Washington IBERVILLE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 58650 Iron Farm Rd., Plaquemine, La. 687-2217 Principal: Delores Thibodeaux PLAQUEMINE HIGH SCHOOL 59595 Belleview Rd., Plaquemine, La. 687-6367 Principal: Chandler Smith ST. JOHN HIGH SCHOOL (PRIVATE) 24250 Regina St., Plaquemine, La. 687-3056 Principal: Cherie Schlatre

ST. JOHN ELEMENTARY (PRIVATE) 58645 St. Clement Ave., Plaquemine, La. 687-6616 Principal: Bernadine Legendre WHITE CASTLE HIGH 32695 Graham St., White Castle, La. 545-3621 Principal: Charley Handy

TECHNICAL COLLEGE BATON ROUGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE - WESTSIDE 25250 Tenant Road Plaquemine, LA 70764 (225) 687-5500 Vice Chancellor of Technical Education: Dr. Kay McDaniel

check out

Iberville Parish Libraries IBERVILLE PARISH LIBRARY (HEADQUARTERS) 24605 J. Gerald Berret Blvd., Plaquemine, LA 687-4397 Hours: 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Mon-Thurs) 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (Friday) 9 a.m.-4 p.m.(Saturday) Director: Dannie Ball plaquemine.c1il@state.lib.la.us

EAST IBERVILLE BRANCH LIBRARY 5715 Monticello St. St. Gabriel, LA Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

(Monday-Wednesday) 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (Thursday) 8 am.-noon (Saturday) 642-8380 Manager: Lydia Haydel eastiberville.c1il@state.lib.la.us

ROSEDALE BRANCH LIBRARY 15695 Rosedale Rd. Rosedale, La. 70772 648-2213 Hours: 9a.m.-noon and 2p.m.-6p.m.

(Tuesday) 9a.m.-noon and 1p.m.-5p.m. (Thursday) noon-4p.m. (Saturdays) Manager: Brenda Coles rosedale.c1il@state.lib.la.us

BAYOU PIGEON BRANCH LIBRARY 36625 Hwy. 75 545-8567 Hours: Noon-6p.m.

(Monday & Wednesday) 10a.m.-1p.m. and 2p.m.-5p.m. (Fridays) Manager: Joy Mullins bayoupigeon.c1il@state.lib.la.us

GROSSE TETE BRANCH LIBRARY 18135 Willow Rd. Grosse Tete, LA 70740 648-2667 Hours:10a.m.-1p.m. and 2p.m.-5p.m.

(Monday & Wednesday & Friday) Manager: Anna Angelloz grossetete.c1il@state.lib.la.us

BAYOU SORREL BRANCH LIBRARY 33415 Hwy. 75 659-7055 Hours: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; 2 p.m.-5 p.m.

(Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Manager: Jo Ann Mendoza bayoursorrel.c1il@state.lib.la.us

MARINGOUIN BRANCH LIBRARY 77175 Ridgewood Dr. Maringouin, LA 70757 625-2743 Hours: 10a.m.-1p.m. and 2p.m.-6:30p.m.

(Monday & Wednesday) 10a.m.-1p.m. & 2p.m.-5p.m. (Fridays) Manager: Debra Lewis maringouin.c1il@state.lib.la.us

WHITE CASTLE BRANCH LIBRARY 32835 Bowie St. White Castle, La. 70788 545-8424 Hours: 8:30a.m.-5:30p.m.

(Monday, Tuesday and Thursday) 8:30a.m.-6p.m. (Wednesdays) 9a.m.-1p.m. (Saturday) Manager: Kitty Wood whitecastle.c1il@state.lib.la.us

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 33

local

Churches ASSEMBLIES OF GOD FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD 24305 Baist St. 687-3801 BAYOU HARVEST 24996 Bruce St. 659-2864 BAPTIST BAYOU PLAQUEMINE BAPTIST 29215 Hwy. 75 659-2344

NEW JERUSALEM FULL GOSPEL BAPTIST 4525 Point Clair Rd. • St. Gabriel 642-8682

ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC 76940 Gum St. • Grosse Tete

NORTHSIDE BAPTIST 57945 Trosclair 687-1619

PLAQUEMINE CHURCH OF CHRIST 57970 Trosclair 687-0871

PILGRIM REST BAPTIST Hwy. 77 687-6848 PILGRIM TEMPLE BAPTIST 58270 Meriam St. 687-0954

CHURCH OF CHRIST

EPISCOPAL HOLY COMMUNION 58040 Court St. 687-2611 CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 302 Laurel St. • Rosedale

BAYOU SORREL BAPTIST 33285 Bayou Sorrel Rd. 659-2800

POINT PLEASANT BAPTIST 27800 Hwy. 405 545-5522

FIRST BAPTIST 58550 Belleview Rd. 687-2740

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST Lacroix Rd. 545-3475

BAYOU SORREL FULL GOSPEL Hwy. 75 755-1454

FIRST BAPTIST 33940 Bowie St., White Castle 545-3048

ST. JOSEPH BAPTIST 8105 Osage St. 687-6935

LATTER DAY SAINTS

FIRST BAPTIST 77400 Angelloz St. • Maringouin 625-3667/627-5215

ST. PAUL BAPTIST 33110 Bowie St. • White Castle 545-8142

GREATER EBENEZER BAPTIST 58165 Barrow St. 687-2615 GREATER PROGRESSIVE BAPTIST 32580 Leona Ave., White Castle 545-2345 GREATER ST. MARY BAPTIST CHURCH 58820 W.W. Harleaux Plaquemine 687-3192

LIGHT HOUSE REVIVAL CENTER 32855 Bowie St. • White Castle 659-2951 SOLOMON TEMPLE Solomon Lee Jr. Min. 648-2420

ST. JAMES LUTHERAN 1414 E. Hwy. 30 • Gonzales 644-2432

RIVER MINISTRIES 7615 Hwy. 1 S • Addis 687-7777

ST. MARY BAPTIST CHURCH 32060 Dorcy Rd. • Dorseyville 545-8043

METHODIST

ST. LUKE FAMILY CHRISTIAN CENTER 58615 Hoover St. 687-1912

SWEET HOME BAPTIST CHURCH Maringouin

VICTORY BAPTIST CHURCH 58020 Robertson St. Plaquemine 687-8771

MT. AIRY BAPTIST 62440 Adams St. 659-7001

ROMAN CATHOLIC IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY 11140 Hwy. 77 • Maringouin 625-2438

MT. PILGRIM BAPTIST CHURCH Maringouin

OUR LADY OF PROMPT SUCCOR Bowie St. • White Castle 545-3635

MOUNT ZION BAPTIST South River Rd.

ST. JOAN OF ARC BAYOU PIGEON Hwy. 75

34 Welcome to Iberville 2020

IMANI TEMPLE #70 OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CATHOLIC 23640 Marshall St. 225-687-9190

ST. PETER BAPTIST CHURCH 58116 Court St. 687-2506

LITTLE ZION BAPTIST CHURCH NO 1 61775 Bayou Jacob Rd. 659-2920/687-3041

NAZARENE BAPTIST Hwy. 1 • Brusly

HOLD UP THE LIGHT MINISTRIES 33700 Bowie St. • White Castle 545-8916

LUTHERAN

LITTLE ROCK BAPTIST 26865 Intracoastal Rd.

MT. ZION BAPTIST 32325 Doc Dean St. White Castle

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS 25830 Tenant Rd.

FAMILY PRAISE CENTER 25125 Gasper St. 687-9809

SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN CENTER Rosedale 648-2618/637-2160

NEW RESURRECTION MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 23610 Seminary Street Plaquemine

MOUNT OLIVE BAPTIST 27320 Hwy. 405 687-2452

GOSPEL

FAITH TABERNACLE Bayou Sorrel Rd. 504-659-7163

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 403 S. Kirkland • Brusly 749-2189/687-8363 ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST 57810 Plaquemine St. 687-2402

FIRST UNITED METHODIST 23645 Church St. 687-2384 GRAND RIVER UNITED METHODIST Hwy. 75 659-7775 HISTORICAL BETHEL A.M.E. 58224 Meriam St. 687-7973/687-2586 HURST UNITED METHODIST 58225 Court St. 687-2998 ASBERRY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH 31755 Laurel Ridge Rd White Castle 545-3492 PENTECOSTAL APOSTOLIC FELLOWSHIP LA Hwy. I South • Addis 687-7521

THE CITY OF REFUGE 32855 Bowie St. • White Castle 545-4222 DEVINE HOUSE OF PRAYER 55210 Marque St. • White Castle 278-8505 ABUNDANT LIFE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY 24170 Railroad Ave. BIBLE TEACHERS INTERNATIONAL 23440 Railroad Avenue Plaquemine 687-0707 SHIELD OF FAITH BIBLE CHURCH 58924 Belleview Rd. 749-3703

OTHER

TRUE LIGHT COMMUNITY CHURCH 58124 Plaquemine St. 687-8623

BETHANY WORLD PRAYER CENTER WEST 23980 Fleniken Lane 687-0815

TRUE HOPE COGIC 25230 Magnolia Ln. Plaquemine 687-9401

CONGREGATION CHURCH OF GOD 59185 Darby Ave @ Sherwood Plaquemine 687-0762

St. Basil’s Academy

T

ake a drive along Church Street between Court and Plaquemine Streets and you’ll notice one of the oldest existing structures in the city.

The old St. Basil’s Academy, now a residential property owned by former Lt. Gov. and Mrs. Robert L. “Bobby” Freeman, served for more than a century as home to the Marianites of the Holy Cross for use as a convent and school.

The Greek Revival-style mansion was built in 1847 by Dr. Edward Scratchley as a Southern gentleman’s residence.

On Jan. 8, 1859, Michael Schlatre and Michael Hebert purchased the home from Dr. Scratchley for $7,500 and presented it to the Sisters on the sole condition that the community of the Marianite would have 50 Masses offered for their families.

As majestic as its stands today, it was almost destroyed years ago by a fire that began in the kitchen when the site served as a school. People from all over Plaquemine were dousing it with buckets of water to put out the fire. The Mother Superior stood on the second floor porch holding the statue of the Blessed Mother, and said, “Blessed Mother protect me, or I will go down with these flames.” At that time, the story goes, the winds shifted and the academy was saved.

The statue is in the back of St. Clement Church as reminder of the event, which is considered a miracle by the Catholic Church.

The Marianites occupied the home until the spring of 1976, when they left the Plaquemine community and the St. John School system. The last three nuns to reside in the mansion were Sister Joel Miller, Sister Mary Annette Baxley and Sister Doris Streppe.

The Marianites were housed at the convent for all but three years between 1859 and 1976.

Their only departure between those years was from April of 1862 to September of 1865, when they were recalled to their Mother House in New Orleans during which time Federal troops occupied the convent buildings as their headquarters.

The Marianites resumed work at the mansion and operated a school for girls from the site until 1937, when St. Basils Academy and St. John School for Boys were merged into a co-ed facility.

After the Marianite departure, the mansion remained in possession of the Congregation of St. John the Evangelist until 1980 when it was purchased and converted to a restaurant.

The property was seized in

1985 and put on the auction block by the Iberville Parish Sheriff ’s Department to satisfy debtors.

Efforts to sell it at an auction failed to bring in enough money to satisfy the outstanding debt, and the Iberville Trust & Savings Bank retained ownership of the property until the sale to the Freemans.

The purchase came about just as plans were underway to demolish the building after it had sat dormant for four years.

Following the purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman spent three years restoring the house. They’ve even found the original wrought iron “St. Basil’s Academy” sign that hung over the entrance to the property when the nuns lived there.

The house remains their residence to this day.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 35

memories abound

Touring Iberville POPULAR SITES

Meriam Street.

Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site - The lock house, also known as the Gary J. Hebert Sr. Memorial Lockhouse, overlooks the Mississippi River at downtown Plaquemine and now serves as an interpretive center, which features a display of a working model of the lock. The Lock area, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was completed in 1909.

The area also includes an openair pavilion displaying various Louisiana watercrafts. It is located on Main Street at the levee.

Swamp Tours - Acadian Swamp Tours located at 58235 New Camp Road in White Castle, boasts a charter tour boat, which holds 34 passengers and cushioned seats, covered top and one restroom.

The swamp tour, which lasts approximately 1 1/2 –2 hours, ventures along the Bay Natchez and surrounding areas. The Last Wilderness, located at Bayou Sorrel, offers educational and fun tours either day or night of the Atchafalaya Basin.

Carville Academy - Located on the east bank in the community of Carville along River Road, once served as the Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center, the nation’s only home for treatment of Hansen’s Disease (leprosy). The facility is now home for at-risk teenagers through the National Guard’s Youth Challenge program. The Trautman Museum tells the story of the Gillis Long Hansen’s Disease Center patients who sought treatment at that site.

Iberville Museum - Located directly across from the Plaquemine Lock on Main Street, the former site of the Iberville Parish Courthouse and later the Plaquemine City Hall now serves as a museum featuring exhibits and artifacts from Iberville Parish.

Plaquemine City Hall - Built in 1906 as the parish governmental building, it was once dubbed “The Great Temple of Justice”. It served as the center of business for parish government until a new hall was built directly behind it in 1985. The City of Plaquemine now occupies all four stories of the building. It is located on Railroad Avenue at 36 Welcome to Iberville 2020

St. Raphael’s Cemetery - One of the oldest cemeteries in the state, it dates back to the 18th century and serves as the resting place for Gov. Paul Octave Hebert, the only governor born in Iberville Parish.

Plaquemine Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Over 120 properties are listed. It is located on River Road between Plaquemine and White Castle.

Civil War by a cannon ball fired

by Federal troops. (Drive-by only).

The house is located at the corner of Plaquemine and Eden streets.

Old Turnerville Homes - Miss Louise’s House and Marietta’s House are two homes that stood out in the village of Turnerville (north Plaquemine) in the late 1800’s. Both were built of cypress from nearby homes.

•Miss Louise’s House was built in 1879, and is furnished with a collection of antiques, and features a pink parlor and gift shop.

•Marietta’s House, an 1880s cypress college, features fancy porcelain, oil lamps and antique furnishings. It serves as a bed-andbreakfast inn.

Both are located on North Nadler Street and are open to the public for tours and shopping.

CHURCHES

NOTABLE HOMES The Church Street House - Once owned by Jean Alfred Gereaud, now owned by Luke and Brenda Fremin, was built around 1850 and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Frederick Wilbert/Hebert Home - Constructed around 1886, the Queen Anne style house features an elaborate Eastlake trim, an encircling two-story gallery, corbelled chimney caps. Lunettestyle slate roof topped by a “Widow’s Walk”. (Drive-by only).

The house is located at the corner of Court and Church streets.

Middleton Home - Built prior to 1842, it was damaged during the

Church of the Nativity - This quaint looking old Protestant Episcopal Chapel was built in 1859 of cypress lumber. Built in an old English style it is located in Rosedale and remains in use today.

It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

First Methodist Church of Plaquemine - The current sanctuary on 23645 Church Street was built in 1953, but the church has been a Plaquemine mainstay since 1842, and has been located at the presentday address since 1884.

Madonna Chapel - Located on River Road in Bayou Goula, it’s listed in Ripley’s Believe it or Not as the smallest church in the

world. It measures a mere nine feet by nine feet, and is used once a year for the Mass on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was originally built in 1903, and was replaced in 1932 after the original structure deteriorated.

St. Gabriel Catholic Church - This church on River Road is believed to be the oldest Catholic Church in Louisiana. It was built in 1769, and has been moved several times. It now stands in the community of St. Gabriel. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

St. John’s Baptist Church - Built in 1868, the beautiful wooden church is believed to be the oldest African American church in the region northwest of New Orleans.

It remains in use every week, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The church, located off La. 1 in Dorseyville, was founded by Basile Dorsey, a landowner for whom the community of Dorseyville got its name.

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church - Located in the same area as the Iberville Museum and the Lock on Main Street, the church features a balastrino altar, a handsome campanile and portico.

The church was completed in 1926.

HISTORIC BUSINESSES Bajon’s Pharmacy - One of the oldest pharmacies in Louisiana, it was opened in 1889 and has remained in the same family ever since. The drug store houses memorabilia from the store, circa 1905.

Barker’s Pharmacy - The oldest existing family pharmacy in the

state, the business dates back to 1880. It is located on 23460 Eden Street.

Cora-Texas Sugar Mill - Located south of White Castle, it has been in operation for more than 80 years.

It is one of less than 20 remaining sugar cane mills left in Louisiana.

St. Gabriel Store - Located on Hwy. 75 at the intersection of Hwy. 74, the St. Gabriel store is an East Iberville landmark, which opened in the early part of the 20th century.

It remains a popular stopping point for residents, passersby and tourists.

PLANTATIONS Live Oaks - Built in 1826 by Charles Dickinson, this beautiful two-story home faces Bayou Grosse Tete. Slave artisans who built it hauled cypress from the swamps and made bricks from clay soil found nearby. About 150 feet from the house stands the fifth largest live oak tree in the country.

Nottoway - Built in 1859, Nottoway is the largest remaining plantation home in the south.

Built by John H. Randolph and designed by architect Henry Howard, it serves as one of the most popular tourist attractions in south Louisiana. It now operates as a restaurant and inn, and also accommodates receptions, meetings and other events.

St. Louis - Originally known as Home Plantation, St. Louis Plantation just south of Plaquemine is the oldest sugar plantation on the Mississippi continuously owned by one family. It is owned by the Gay family, which consists of three brothers and two sisters and all of the children and grandchildren.

It is a private residence and supported strictly from funds earned by the plantation. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sunnyside - A lovely two-story mansion located on the east bank of Bayou Grosse Tete between Rosedale and Maringouin, it was built in the order of Live Oaks in 1895.

Tally-ho - Located on Hwy. 1 and the Texas & Pacific Railroad, the plantation is just south of Bayou Goula. The home now standing on Tally-ho is not the original home, but the overseer ’s home.

Tanglewild - Located directly across the Bayou Grosse Tete Bridge at Maringouin, it was built before 1860. The home has a raised cottage with a pillared front gallery, dormer windows in the sloping roof and a modified Greek key design at the front doorway.

Trinity - An old manor house built in 1839 by Dr. George Campbell of New Orleans. Located on the west bank of picturesque Bayou Grosse Tete at the southern end of Rosedale, it is a one and a half story plaster-covered brick home built on an Indian mound at the end of an avenue of live oaks.

Variety Plantation - Built in 1856, the home located about 5 miles out of Plaquemine on Bayou Road represents the beautiful style of homes built prior to the Civil War. It is now used for receptions and other gatherings. The home is a restored version of the house, which burned in 1973.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 37

Atchafalaya River Basin

T

he Atchafalaya River Basin was designated as the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge in 1984.

The refuge’s 15,000 acres are part of the largest bottomland hardwood swamp in the country.

This beautiful swampland offers a multitude of recreational options. Hunting, fishing, hiking, and some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities in the country exist in the Atchafalaya Basin area.

The refuge is managed cooperatively with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sherburne Wildlife Management Area and the Corps of Engineers Atchafalaya Spillway Water Diversion Project.

The basin was formed around 900 A.D. when the Mississippi River moved from one channel to another. It was named after the Atchafalaya River, whose name was coined from the Choctaw words “hacha” (river) and “falaia” (long).

The basin is home to more than 200 species of birds as well as several species of fish, reptiles such as alligators and snakes, and amphibians. Also it is home to a variety of American mammals, from bobcat to Black Bear to raccoon.

water transportation

Ferry Service

U

sed as a means of crossing the Mississippi River for commuters in Iberville Parish, but for others a ride on the ferry provides a close-up view of one of the world’s largest waterways.

Hundreds of commuters and tourists use the ferry each day. The vessel, in operation since 1958, has served as a viable means for traffic without driving an extra 15 miles north to the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge or 40 miles to the Sunshine Bridge near Donaldsonville. Ferry Hotline: 888-613-3779.

For status updates visit http://www.dotd.la.gov/ ferry/ Welcome to Iberville 2020

a little piece of

History

M

any who pass through Iberville Parish may notice the little piece of history on display next to Wilbert Funeral Home on Railroad

Avenue.

The carriage on display in the glassed building next to the funeral home is similar to an original carriage used from its inception in 1850 until the 1920s.

Inside the hearse is a basket that was used to pick up the bodies of the recently departed. The basket was used before the introduction of stretchers.

A funeral home in St. Francisville had used the carriage on display at the funeral home today. It was purchased by the Wilbert family to serve as a reminder of the original hearses.

“I bought that one thinking it was built in 1895, but I recently got data that says it was actually built in 1875,” says John W. Wilbert Jr. of Wilbert Funeral Home. “It serves as a reminder of how things used to be. It’s something we get asked about all the time.”

The family put the hearse in a glass house in the mid-1970s.

Welcome to Iberville Parish 2020 39

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40 Welcome to Iberville 2020

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