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
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.
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.
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?!?”
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.
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.
