Picket Fences of Madisonville

Picket fences are an American staple, and no where can one find such a rich variety of picket fences as the ones in Madisonville. Some of them are quite old. Here are some photographs.  Click on them to make them larger. 

 

 

 

Boats In Color

Here's a photo of the steamer "Ozone," reportedly the fastest steamer in Southern waters, serving New Orleans, Mandeville, and points along the Tchefuncte River. Click on the image to make it larger.

 

The Susquehanna, one of the favorite ways to cross Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans to the north shore in the early 1900's. Click on the image to make it larger. 

The ever-popular steamer Josie approaching Covington docks via the Bogue Falaya River.

Columbia Schooner Landing, Covington

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 March 29, 1919. The link is provided by the Library of Congress and its Chronicling America service.

Click on the sample images below to see larger versions.

Town Boosters

 

Personal and Local News

 

Slidell To Build Memorial Building

 

New Bath Houses at Sulphur Springs Beach

 

Weddings

Horses Are An Important Part of St. Tammany Activities

In this 1985 article, the Covington Area Chamber of Commerce magazine explored the importance of the horse breeding and training facilities of St. Tammany Parish. 

Area Enjoys Impressive Credentials For Horses

Say "country" and people visualize horses grazing leisurely in lush green pastures. Horses in St. Tammany Parish, however, are big business, with the competition and facilities committed to prove it.

Among the numerous types of growth be­ing experienced by the northlake area, the thoroughbred, quarterhorse and other kinds of equestrian interests are turning heads and winning big money for owners.

The Covington area, especially around Folsom, boasts the second highest density population of horses in the nation, with only Lexington, Kentucky, ahead of it. Almost every month, a new horse breeding and train­ing operation is announced, built or honored dealing with a wide variety of horse breeds. 

A large 50 acre Arabian farm was recently developed nearby, and the huge Morgan horse farm recently opened, accompanied by more and more new Saddlebred and Quarter Horse ranches. New breeders are coming in as far away as Texas and Florida, impressed by the quality of St. Tammany's horse breeding activity. The landscape is dotted with stables, race tracks, training arenas and show arenas.

Nearly every month has a competition and showing of horses at the local livestock ex­hibit showbarn, with people coming from several nearby states to take part. The state of Louisiana won over $12 million in prizes in Breeder Awards this past year in thoroughbred and quarter horse shows, said Barbara Grille of Latter & Blum's Folsom real estate office. 
She has been compiling statistics on the surging horse industry, seeing quite an upturn in activity and planning. "The trend is towards cooperative facilities," she said, "where two or three smaller farms share common training equipment and arenas."

She cited growing interest in condominium and country club developments, such as the Folsom Training Center, where smaller acreage and fewer horses are used, but the quality of the horses is higher.

Each breeder affiliates with the others in his particular area of interest, of course, br­inging together owners from a wide area. There are parish groups, also, that promote and encourage the horse industry as a whole. The parish is even well represented in the Hunter-Jumper category and once housed the Official State Equestrian Team.

While some horse breeding and training centers can be found in Madisonville, Mandeville and near Abita, most of the ac­tivity lies around Folsom, Lee Road, Bush and Old Military Road, scenic rolling hills with long wooden fences marking off the pastures and paddocks.

The numbers tell of the growth; in 1961, there were only 142 Louisiana-bred foals reported, and in 1969, this had increased to 609. By 1982, however, that number had elevated to 2350 foals born, with St. Tam­many Parish the leader.

One farm manager said that all kinds of people are getting into the horse business now, and while there have been a lot of bigger farms starting up, most of the activity has been with families moving in and deciding to get a horse or two.

Part of the appeal of the horse industry is, not only its tendency to break even financial­ly, and in some cases make a lot of money, but there are special tax incentives from the state as well. The parish is well represented by top name studs which bring impressive fees, proven winners who are in great demand across the nation. 

Some of the farms are specializing in particular breeds and keying into markets that have only recently developed in St. Tammany.

All in all, horse lovers have found the area a highly congenial place to settle in, breed, raise and train horses of every persuasion, for fun, for tax deductions and even for a hand­some profit.

If the trend continues, then Louisiana's St. Tammany will give Kentucky's horse industry a serious run for the money, literally.

Barney Core

In July of 2022, the Washington-St. Tammany Electric Co-operative spotlighted longtime horse industry pioneer Barney Core of Folsom with an article printed in the Co-op's magazine, Louisiana Country. The article was written by Kristie M. Hendricks with photographs by Zach Averette and Coylean Schloegel.

Click on the images to make them larger and more readable.

The Covington Poem

Sometimes the only way to truly describe a place is in a poem, such as this one about Covington that was written by Pat Clanton and published in the 1982 edition of the Chamber of Commerce annual magazine. 

This Little Town Called Covington

Covington, I'm lucky to be among
The people who claim to be from This little town of Covington

Governors from Claiborne to Treen 
Agree that its just what it seems
A place where the pace is serene
This little town called Covington

The natives say "Its always been that way, 
Just kind of quiet and nice"
And when you think twice
We'd like to keep it that way!

We picnic under live oak trees
Catch the soft summer breeze
The scent of pine in the air and 
Friendly folks everywhere
What more could you need?

When all is said and done
There's no place under the sun
That I would rather be from
Than this little town called Covington

Patricia Clanton
1982 Chamber of Commerce Magazine

See also:

Life in Covington in the 1910's

Covington's Music Heritage

Ode To Covington

An Idyll

 The Official City of Covington Song

Lee Lane Shops In 1982

Below are a series of pen and ink sketches of the shops on Lee Lane in 1982. Artist Winky Chesnutt made the sketches for an ad in the Chamber of Commerce annual magazine. 

 

Click on the images to make them larger. 

 

Lee Lane is the first street that crosses Boston Street as people drive in from the east, over the Bogue Falaya Bridge and past Boston Commons. The street, while only about two blocks long, packs in a dozen or so very quaint and interesting shops. It has provided the initial marketing exposure for many St. Tammany area artists and jewelry makers. 

Southern Living Magazine Article

Thirty four years ago, in 1985, an article in Southern Living Magazine had this to say about Lee Lane:

"Coving­ton visitors discover lovely neighborhoods and distinctive shopping areas. Most of the town is shaded by oaks, which are draped in gray-tinted moss.

"More than a dozen restored Victorian cottages are clustered along Lee Lane in Covington, near the Bogue Falaya River. Trimmed with gingerbread, curlicues, and balustrades, they house a varied collection of specialty shops.

"The restoration of Lee Lane began about 15 years ago (1970) when Mab Valois opened The Armoire. which features chil­dren's and women's clothing. Others soon followed her lead, applying fresh coats of paint to neighboring buildings and stocking them with hand-milled soaps, artwork, an­tiques, and hunilcraltcd items from across the South.

 

The Armoire

"Ann Moores opened The Kumquat, a bookstore and gift shop, on one corner of Lee Lane. The business soon outgrew the building, and Moores built a reproduction of a 19th-centurv plantation home across the street to house the store. The Kumquat offers an impressive selection of fiction and nonfiction best sellers, cookbooks, and children's books. Prominently displayed near the entrance are The Moviegoer, Lost in the Cosmos, and other works that estab­lished Walker Percy, Moores' father, as one of this country's outstanding contem­porary writers.

 

The Kumquat Bookstore

"Marjorie Allen patterned The Partridge after the year-round Christmas shops in her native Scotland. Many of the hand­made ornaments and decorative pieces are from Germany and England. One section of the shop is filled with nutcrackers of all shapes and sizes, from the traditional soldier models to a 3-foot-tall guard.

 

A Lee Lane streetscape by Ann W. Gauthier

"At The Pear Tree, the focus is on grape­vine baskets and dried flower arrange­ments. The Lily Pad's specialty is hand­made shower wraps, and the most pop­ular items at Quilts & Quaints are quilts with the double wedding ring pattern. Lee Lane's Backstreet carries a line of food products from Vidalia, Georgia, including burnt sugar mustard, Vidalia onion pickles, and onion relish."

Here's a link to a map showing what shops were on Lee Lane the following year, 1983.

For more information about Lee Lane, see the following links:

Lee Lane Photos From The Past

Lee Lane at Night

Lee Lane Map 1988

Southern Living Article About West St. Tammany