Friday, November 30, 2018

100 Years Ago This Week

What was going on 100 years ago this week? CLICK HERE for a link to the St. Tammany Farmer of November 30, 1918. The link is provided by the Library of Congress and its Chronicling America service.

The parish fair was on, but now it was postponed again, this time due to fear of influenza. Cattle tick dipping record set, and Society News and obituaries.

Click on the sample images below to see larger versions.




Covington must have had that "fresh bread" fragrance every morning. 



The man who installed the street car trolley died shortly after it was sold for scrap.


Death Notices



Because people were still wary of the flu epidemic, the parish fair was called off (again) and the Farmer ran a critical editorial about that




Society News

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Land Grants Along the Pontchartrain North Shore

An interesting detailed overview of individuals who received land grants along the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain beginning in the 1770's was diligently compiled by Anita Campeau and Donald J. Sharp and published as an article in 2009 by the New Orleans Genealogical Research Society.

The article dealt with British and Spanish land grants recorded between Bayou Castine in Mandeville and the Tchefuncte River in Madisonville. 

Here is a link to Don Sharp's blog that has a PDF copy of the article, complete with maps.

https://donaldsharphistory.blogspot.com/2018/11/land-grants-from-bayou-castin-to.html

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Folsom Aerial View - 1954

Here is an aerial photograph of the Village of Folsom taken on February 24, 1954. Click on the image to make it larger. 


Here's an even closer view.



Monday, November 26, 2018

CHS Yearbook Pictures from 1972

A number of photos from the Covington High School yearbook for 1972. Click on the images to make them larger. 
















Fontainebleau State Park in 1956

     In September of 1956, some 62 years ago, an extensive article about Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville was published in the Louisiana Conservationist Magazine. Since the park's first day was on July 4, 1943, the article made its appearance only 13 years after the park was officially opened. Here is that article. Click on the images below to make them larger and more readable. 


Beautiful Fontainebleau State Park


     Fontainebleau State Park is located in St. Tam­many Parish on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Its western boundary, Bayou Castin, is com­mon with the corporate limits of the Town of Mandeville. It is reached by U. S. Highway No. 190 which roughly determines its northern boundary. The eastern boundary is Cane Bayou, which is also known locally as Big Branch. The southern limits of the property is a shoreline of approximately 2 1/2 miles on Lake Pontchartrain.
     According to Gayarre the site of the Fontaine­bleau State Park was visited in 1699 by the founder of New Orleans, Jean-Baptiste LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville II, "who with a chief of the Bayagoulas for his guide, went to visit the Colapissas. They inhabited the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and their domains embraced the sites now occupied by Lewisburg, Mandeville, and Fontainebleau.
     That tribe numbered three hundred warriors, who, in their distant hunting excursions, had been engaged in frequent skirmishes with some of the British colonists in South Carolina. When the French landed, they were informed that, two days pre­vious, the village of the Colapissas had been at­tacked by a part of two hundred Chickasaws, headed by two Englishmen.
    These were the first tidings which the French had of their old rivals, and which proved to be the harbinger of the in­cessant struggle which was to continue for more than a century between the two races, and to ter­minate by the permanent occupation of Louisiana by the Anglo-Saxon."
     "The area forming the recreational section of Tchefuncte* State Park, (the original name of the park), aside from its natural ad­vantages and background as the habitat of an ancient race and the hunting ground of Choctaw braves, is historically significant because of the existing cul­tural and structural remains of Fontainebleau, the summer plantation home of Bernard de Marigny (1785-1868), that formerly occupied this site.
     Fontainebleau Plantation derived its name from the French town of Fontainebleau, two miles from the Seine, southeast of Paris on the railroad to Lyons. The origin of the name is obscure, but Fon­taine Belle Eau, a refreshing spring of the vicinity, is the most logical source. 
     Lying amidst a beautiful woodland made famous on canvas by Corot and other artists of the Barbizon School, for generations Fon­tainebleau, France, has been the haunt of beauty lovers. In the 11th century, Robert the Devout estab­lished a royal residence there. From that time, the rulers of France made Fontainebleau their summer headquarters, entertaining the royalty and nobility of Europe in an elaborately furnished palace sur­rounded by ornamental gardens and waters.
     Bernard de Marigny's friendship for Louis-Phi­lippe, his love for luxurious living and the spectacu­lar, and his desire to be a monarch in a realm of his own making, might have inspired him to call his lakeshore establishment Fontainebleau, but perhaps the sylvan beauty of the location, was the strongest influencing factor. Marigny is said to have en­visioned another princely residence in his own Fon­tainebleau, which was just near enough to New Or­leans to provide a retreat for the leaders of Loui­siana.
     For garden walks, chimneys, smokestacks and other structures amidst the growths of sweet gum, pine spruce oak, hickory, and magnolia of Fontaine-bealu, bricks were made from Pontchartrain clays in Marigny's own kiln. The bell that called the slaves to and from the fields and sounded plantation alarms was made of silver, possessing a rare tone reputed to be heard across the lake at New Orleans.
     Structural remains of buildings—suererie, brick­yard, chimneys, smokehouse— an old cattle gate, a small wooden structure with double chimneys and an over-hanging roof; a sunken depression that might have been the canal or "moat" over which Marigny is reputed to have had drawbridge, let down only for those whom he wanted to receive; fine trees and a great live oak alley are tangible evidences of the for­mer history of Fontainebleau as a plantation resi­dence.


     Bernard de Marigny was an important figure in public affairs of early nineteenth century Louisi­ana. Perhaps no other personage has lived so con­tinuously in the affection of his fellow-citizens and their descendants, as has this colorful, glamorous master of Fontainebleau. Tradition credits him with many duels, fought and evaded, while records show that he was a member of the Anti-Duelling Associa­tion, which he helped to organize. Many of the yarns spun about him are woven thus from thin air, but to him goes the credit for encouraging the pleasure-loving spirit of Creole Louisiana with its fondness for gay times and good food.
     The park site was purchased in 1937 by the State from the Great Southern Lumber Co. Early the fol­lowing year a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was moved in to start the development. After the expira­tion of the CCC program, the State Parks and Rec­reation Commission contrived to develop the area with state funds.
     Present facilities include an extensive picnic area near the lake. Picnic shelters, numerous picnic tables, and comfort stations are set beneath the live oaks which once formed part of the Marigny Planta­tion. There is a large bathhouse and a public beach on Lake Pontchartrain. At a replica of the Old Span­ish Customs House refreshments may be purchased.
     Located near Bayou Castin and the lake at the western end of the park is a small group camp build­ing which accommodates 26 campers.
     On Cane Bayou at the eastern end of the park are two dormitories and a dining hall which make up the large group camp. It accommodates 64 campers. On the area there is a small private lake with a swim­ming pier. A maintenance and construction headquarters unit for the southern section of the state is being devel­oped north of the highway out of the main part of the park area.
     Last years' attendance (in 1955) was estimated at a total of 145,508. The area is designed for a peak load of 5,000 persons at one time. 


In the year 2004, Fontainebleau hosted 106,171 day-use visitors and 106,788 over night visitors, for a total attendance of 212,959 that year. In 2016, Fontainebleau reported an annual visitor count of 235,492 people.








See also:

State Parks Website for Fontainebleau

The History of Fontainebleau State Park

Golf Course Planned for Fontainebleau State Park

Fontainebleau State Park Beach  

Knott Plantation

Sunday, November 25, 2018

Lyn Monteleone

Lyn Monteleone was spotlighted in a profile written by Peggy Sharpe recently for the St. Tammany Retired School Employees Association website. It tells about her life and accomplishments, as well as her hobbies. Here is a copy of it. 

Spotlight on Lyn Monteleone, written by Margaret Sharp

When we hear the word Magnolia, we often think of something beautiful, sweet and gentle.  How fitting that the next person to be in the Spotlight was born in a town called Magnolia!  Magnolia, Arkansas!

Yes, Lyn Monteleone comes to us in a roundabout way from that small town in Arkansas.  As the oldest of four girls, Lynda Ketteringham moved around quite a bit as a child.  Lyn’s father, an engineer in the oil field and then in the burgeoning space program, worked in numerous locations after leaving Magnolia.  




Lyn attended schools in Shreveport, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and finally in Slidell.  Here she asked her parents to please let her get to know her classmates and graduate with friends.  And they did!  Lyn is a proud graduate of Slidell High School, as were two of her sisters, Genie and Georgia.

After graduating from high school in 1966, Lyn attended Southeastern Louisiana College and lived in Cardinal Newman Hall.  In 1968, she wound up on a blind date with a guy from Covington and his buddy Bill Brady.  The blind date was Lennie Monteleone and the rest was history!  Lyn and Lennie were married in 1969.   

Together Lyn and Lennie raised two boys, Paul and Payton.  Paul lives in Zachary and works as an account manager for the State Department of Education Community and Technical Schools and has two girls, Maddie, 15, and Sarah, 4.  Payton is an assistant principal at Lee Road Jr High where his two children, Sophia, 11, and Luca, 8, attend school.  This makes it very convenient for Lyn to carry out some of her grandmother duties at a school close to home in Lee Road.

While Lyn’s first job was babysitting at age 12, she has held a variety of positions throughout her career.  After receiving a degree from Meadows Draughon Business College, Lyn worked at Slidell Memorial Hospital in Medical Records and as the administrative assistant to Johnny Bankston at the Agricultural Extension Service.  

Eventually, she began working for St. Tammany Parish School System as secretary to Richard Tanner, para-professional at Covington Elementary, and then secretary at Covington High School for 18 years!  After that, Sylvia Dunn needed her to help run Food Services, so she worked clerical in that department for six more years.




While Lyn is officially retired now, she is still working!  She tries to follow a schedule with Mondays dedicated to volunteering at Monteleone Junior High.  On Tuesdays, she works with the Student Assistance Team at Lee Road Junior High in the morning and does gardening there in the afternoon.  

Wednesdays are devoted to the Master Gardening organization.  She keeps Thursdays open for the St. Tammany Retiree School Employees Association where she is 1st Vice President-Membership, and on Fridays, she is often found substituting at Lee Road Jr High.  This does not sound like the schedule of a retired person!
  
However, Lyn has carved out some time to do a few things for fun.  She’s been on cruises to Alaska and Hawaii.  She went on a Disney Cruise with her family and even was able to take a trip to Paris!  She enjoys going to see the Christmas lights in Natchitoches. 

 And one of her favorite things to do was visit her grandmother’s family home on Tybee Island, Georgia.  Her beloved grandmother was a school principal and a college teacher, so it seems Lyn was destined to live in a family of educators.

Lyn spends her small amount of free time these days tending her chickens, gardening, visiting her sister, and passing time with her old buddy Bill Brady and his wife Angela and friends Paula and Jim Fauntleroy.

When asked about her still busy schedule involved with the school system, Lyn replied, “I miss the family atmosphere.  How can you step away from something that you love?!?”      




Saturday, November 24, 2018

Sports Awards Banquet - 1968

The top athletic honors went to these students at the 1968 Covington High School Sports Honors Banquet, some 50 years ago. Click on the images to make them larger. 







 



Causeway Brochure

Here are the contents of an early brochure promoting the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and published by the Greater New Orleans Expressway Commission. Click on the images to make them larger. 







Friday, November 23, 2018

Flowers Beside The Garden Gate

Here are some photographs from this morning showing flowers blooming by the garden gate. Click on the images to make them larger.