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The slender
ridge that rises above the marshland leading to Grand Isle, Louisiana
was once a densely-populated fishing community known as Chenier
Caminada.
In
the late nineteenth century, the French-speaking but multi-ethnic
community of about 1700 persons served as the major supplier of
fish and shellfish to the restaurants of New Orleans.
On
the night of Sunday, October 1st, 1893, the history, economy, settlement,
and ancestry of Cheniere Caminada and all of Southeastern Louisiana
was forcibly changed forever.
Originating near the Yucatan
Peninsula, a compact and fast-moving hurricane rode a low pressure
trough across the river and bayou plains of extreme Southeastern
Louisiana at such an angle that the wall of Gulf waters it drove
traversed the peninsula of Cheniere Caminada three times. Before
exiting the continent from North Carolina some ten days later, it
had killed nearly 2000 persons, the vast majority from coastal Southeastern
Louisiana. On Cheniere Caminada alone, it killed nearly 900, including
half the women and nearly all the children.
The Great
October Storm remains the second largest natural disaster in U.S.
history.
The survivors of the hurricane migrated
up Bayou Lafourche to found the communities of Leeville, Golden
Meadow, and Cote Blanche (now part of Cut Off), as well as Marrero
and Westwego across Barataria Bay.
Old historic photographs
were collected by decendants of the survivors at the Cheniere Hurricane
Centennial held in 1993. There are now thirteen Compact Disks of
images collected since then. Click on the thumbnails below to view
web versions of those images. Additional disks will be added to
this site until they are all up here.
Additionally, clips
from the video and samples from the five books will be added as
well as ordering information for all of these materials.
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