Louisiana History: Old and New Place Names



Louisiana History: Old and New Place Names

There are many references in the early Louisiana records to place names that have changed or some that remain the same but aren't incorporated areas.  This page will provide the old and new names or a description of the old and current location.  Please send any additions to cajun @

|Old |New |

|First Acadian Coast |St. James Parish |

|Second Acadian Coast |Ascension Parish |

|Ainse de la Graise "Greazy Bend" |New Madrid, Missouri |

|Arkansas Post - Poste de Arkansea |State of Arkansas - original site about 9 miles south of |

|at Quapaw Indians Village of Osotouy, near mouth of Arkansas |Gillett, Arkansas. |

|River at Mississippi River. Moved several times because of | |

|flooding. Named Fort Carlos III under Spanish Rule. In 1862, the| |

|Confederates constructed a massive earthen fortification at the | |

|site known as Fort Hindman. The Union Army destroyed Fort | |

|Hindman in January 1863, ensuring control of the Arkansas River.| |

|Attakapas Post |Current parishes of St. Martin, St. Mary, Lafayette, Vermilion &|

| |Iberia |

|Baillou [bayou] aux Canes |near Nementau [Mermentau] |

|Bayou des Ecores |Thompson's Creek |

|Beau Bassin |Area in North Lafayette Parish between Bayous Vermilion and |

| |Carencro |

|Brashear City |Morgan City |

|Cabanocey [Cabannocé, Cabannoche, Cabahannocer] |St. James Parish |

|Cannes Brulees [burnt cane] |Kenner |

|Cantrelle Parish [Parish of Cantrelle] |St. James Parish |

|Note: The first church in the current parish of St. James was at| |

|the town of St. James on the West side of the Mississippi River.| |

|The church was later moved to Covent on the East side of the | |

|River. | |

|Chapitoulas [Choupitoulas, Tchoupitoulas] |Metairie |

|Note: Choupitoulas Indians - name meant "river people" | |

|Chicot Noir [black stump] |just west of Jeanerette |

|Côtes Gélees [frozen hills] - see below for reason for this name|n/a |

|and also why sites on a prairie were called île, pointe and | |

|anse.  Area between present-day Pilette and Broussard. | |

|Côte des Allemands [German Coast] |Present-day St. Charles and St. John the Baptist Parishes |

|Crane's Forge in Assumption Parish |n/a |

|In 1860, this was the site of several sugar plantations and a | |

|post office.  Actual location is not determined, but from an old| |

|map it appears to have been on the west side of Bayou LaFourche,| |

|in or near the present town of Bellerose, which is six "air" | |

|miles southwest of Donaldsonville. | |

|Dupart's Bend |Present-day Plaquemine Point in Iberville Parish |

|Galveztown [Spanish Settlement at junction of Amite River & |None - town abandoned by 1810 |

|Bayou Manchac] | |

|Fort de la Boulaye in Plaquemines Parish |n/a |

|Also known as Fort Iberville, this fort was located on SH 39, a |  |

|mile north of Phoenix on the east bank of the Mississippi | |

|River.  It was built in 1700 as a 28' square blockhouse with a | |

|half dozen cannons.  Its strategic location helped the French | |

|hold this part of the river and thus the state.  In 1704 or so, | |

|it was abandoned. | |

|Fort Jackson in Plaquemines Parish |n/a |

|This old American military post was located on SH 23, and the | |

|west bank of the Mississippi River, 2.5 miles southeast of | |

|Triumph, about 70 miles southeast of New Orleans.  It was built | |

|in 1822-1832, and occupied in 1861 by the Confederate Army.  It | |

|is a large, star-shaped brick fort with a surrounding moat.  It | |

|was built to protect New Orleans, but on April 18, 1862, Admiral| |

|Farragut and his fleet of 43 boats, battled the fort for over a | |

|week.  New Orleans fell, the fort surrendered, and his forces | |

|occupied them.  Since 1961, Fort Jackson has been a National | |

|Historic Monument. | |

|Fort St. Louis de Natchez |Near Vidalia on the west side of the Mississippi River [Note: |

| |Natchez, MS is on the east-side of the River across from |

| |Vidalia. |

|First German Coast |St. Charles Parish |

|Second German Coast |St. John the Baptist Parish |

|Germantown in Webster Parish |n/a |

|On Germantown Road, seven miles northeast of Minden.  This old | |

|German socialist-utopian colony was founded in 1835 and lasted | |

|for 37 years.  Three original buildings remain, and other | |

|buildings have been re-created.   According to the historical | |

|marker the community was active until 1971. | |

|Golden Coast |First and Second Acadian Coasts: St. James and Ascension |

| |Parishes along the Mississippi River. |

|Grand Côte |Weeks Island |

|Iberville River [River D'Iberville] |Bayou Manchac - Amite River |

|Isle aux Cannes |area SE of New Iberia between the Commercial Canal and Lydia |

|Isle aux Marais |Bayougoula Towhead, an island in the Mississippi River above |

| |White Castle, Louisiana |

|Kaskaskia |Village of Kaskaskia [historical landmark] in Randolph County, |

|It was the main settlement in the Illinois Region during the |Illinois |

|French and Spanish Colonial Periods. | |

|Laclede's Village [Founded November 1763] |St. Louis, Missouri |

|Named for founder Pierre Laclede Liguest.  In 1764, settlers | |

|from the east bank villages of Cahokia and St. Philippe moved to| |

|the west bank in 1764 because the territory to the east was | |

|given to England at the end of the French and Indian War.  The | |

|settlement became known as Laclede's Village, but the official | |

|name of St. Louis was given to the village by Pierre in honor of| |

|the Crusader King, Louis IX of France. | |

|La Côte Francaise [aka Londell] |French Settlement |

|La Fausse [False] Pointe |originally, Fausse Pointe was the section on both sides of the |

| |Bayou Teche as it made a bend from present-day Loreauville to |

| |Morbihan.  Today, Fausse Pointe refers to the area near Lake |

| |Fausse Pointe. |

|Lafourche des Chitimachas |Lafourche, Terrebonne and parts of Ascension and Assumption |

|Note: Initial settlement at current-day Donaldsonville and was |parishes. |

|part of Second Acadian Coast | |

|Lafourche: Upper and Lower [Lafourche Interior] |Upper Lafourche covered Ascension and Assumption Parishes along |

| |the Lafourche Bayou.  Lower Lafourche [Lafourche Interior] |

| |covered the present-day parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne. |

|l'Église de La Nouvelle-Acadie aux Attakapas [The Church of New |St. Martin de Tours Church in St. Martinville, LA - present |

|Acadia at Attakapas] - established in 1765 |church built in 1844 |

|La Manque  |Breaux Bridge |

|La Petite Anse [also, McCall & Marsh Island] |Avery Island |

|La Pointe de Repos |n/a |

|Early Settlement on the Bayou Teche above present-day Parks | |

|where the Teche made a large westward bend. The settlers left | |

|because of a yellow fever epidemic | |

|La Pointe & Pont du Breaux |Breaux Bridge |

|La Grande Pointe |Cecilia |

|La Grosse Ile du Vermilion |Marsh Island |

|Lake Flamand & Lac Tasse [also shown as Le Lac] |Spanish Lake [outside New Iberia heading toward Cade on La. 182]|

|Note: Flamand was dit name for Grevenberg | |

|Le Poste de Pointe Coupée |New Roads |

|Le Petit Paris |St. Martinville |

|Lieu dit Chetimachas |Charenton |

| |[Note: Charenton was also the original site for New Iberia. The |

| |site was moved when the spring rains flooded the area] |

|Los Adaes |Just off SH 6, two miles northeast of Robeline. Only rubble |

|This Spanish mission, fort (presidio) and village was |remains, but the site is a state historic park.  See map of El |

|established in 1717 as the mission San Miguel de los Adaes.  It |Camino Real which ran over 1600 miles from Los Adaes to Mexico |

|was the only Spanish mission established in Louisiana, and was |City |

|destroyed by the French in 1721.  The Spaniards rebuilt the | |

|mission, protecting it with a fortified presidio next to the old| |

|site.  A small village grew up beside it, and Los Adaes became | |

|the capital of the Texas frontier until 1773.  | |

|Massacre Island [Isle Massacre] |Dauphin Island, Alabama |

|Malbrough Settlement |Shriever |

|Mission of St. Francis Xavier |Near current-day St. Louis, Missouri |

|First White Settlement in current-day Missouri - established by |Note: St. Louis, MO was settled in 1764  |

|the Jesuits in 1700 [had been a gathering/trading point for | |

|Indians since 1682]. It was abandoned in 1703 because of the | |

|unhealthy swamps nearby. | |

|Nueva Iberia [named by the Spanish Settlers from Malaga (and a |New Iberia |

|few from the Canary Islands) for the Iberian penisula] [also | |

|called petite fausse pointe] | |

|Note: The original settlement reached on 2/11/1779 was at | |

|current-day Charenton, LA. Flooding caused by the Spring rains | |

|forced the relocation to the current site.  Land was bought from| |

|Joseph Prevost dit Collet and the settlers were in temporary | |

|housing by April 21, 1779. | |

|New Richmond |Baton Rouge |

|Name given to Baton Rouge when the territory East of the | |

|Mississippi River [except for New Orleans] was given to the | |

|British in 1763.  The area was captured in 1779 by General | |

|Galvez. | |

|Old Biloxi |Ocean Springs, MS |

|Opelousas Post |Current parishes of St. Landry, Evangeline, Acadia, Allen, |

| |Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis and portions of |

| |Vernon, Lafayette & Vermilion |

|Orange Island [also Butte a Peigneur; Côte Carlin; Pine & |Jefferson Island |

|Miller's Island] | |

|Paincourt |St. Louis, Missouri |

|Picouville |Loreauville |

| |On April 15, 1871, the name was changed from Picouville to |

| |Loreauville for Ozaire Loreau, who had contributed the property |

| |for the old Catholic Church and cemetery, and had also aided in |

| |the agricultural, industrial and political growth of the |

| |village. |

|Plaquemine Brule |Church Point |

|Poste du Ouachita |Monroe, LA |

|Pouppeville & Queue de Tortue [Line of turtles] |Rayne |

|Prairie Bellevue |Between present-day Sunset and Opelousas |

|Prairie des Coteaux [Prairie of the Hills] |East of present Opelousas corporate limits |

|Prairie Gros Chevreuil [Prairie of Big Deer] |Pecaniere |

|Prairie des Femmes |between present-day Grand Coteau and Arnaudville |

|River of the Chitimachas |Bayou Lafourche |

|Royville |Youngsville |

|St. Ferdinand |Florissant, Missouri |

|St. Louis River |Archaic expression used for the Mississippi River |

|St. Pierre |Carencro |

|Techi-ti-matchas |Chetimacha |

|Vacherie [cattle ranch] |Regional area of St. James Parish - see description of book |

| |Vacherie on Books Page |

|Valenzuela [Spanish Settlement] |Belle Rose |

|Vermilionville [also Grand Prairie] |Lafayette |

Why did the Acadians name places on a prairie île [island], pointe, anse [bay] and Côte Gelées [frozen hills]?  The book [pub. 1943] The Bayous of Louisiana  by Harnett T. Kane, pages 277 - 279 provides an explanation:

"The Louisiana prairies begin at the east from a line of mild bluffs not far from the Teche, which the geologists declare are the edge of the alluvial plain through which the known courses of the Mississippi can be traced.  The beginnings of the prairies have a series of slight and pleasant rolls; and in these, too, the scientists have found traces of the great river...

Early visitors were reminded of wide billows of a vast sea; viewed from a point on one of these mounds, the uniform surfaces of grass change like waves as the wind slips over them.

The Acadians also were impressed with this resemblance.  When they came upon a dark patch of wood, surrounded by the lighter grass, the called it an " île."  Where the wood jutted sharply into the prairie like an edge of land in the water, it was a "pointe."  A section partly protected by extensions of the trees was an "anse" or bay.  The Acadian, of course, had a background of life at the water's edge, and this he demonstrated in other ways.  When he wanted to cross the prairie, he used the word "naviguer" [navigate]. He said that he would "embarquer" in his buggy or "mettre la voile" [set sail] on the green; and he "moored" his  mount...

To one of the lower stretches, the Acadians gave a descriptive title, "Côte Gelées" [Frozen Hillsides].  One explanation is that the settlers, coming in winter near a place of slight mounds above the prairie, camped in the vicinity.  Rising the next morning, they beheld all of the scene outlined in a white frost; the Acadian girls called out the name, and it was never forgotten. A more prosaic version declares that the shivering arrivals looked in vain for wood and used the words in mockery..."

For a list of names of yesterday and today in Acadia, see Place Names under Acadia on Lucie LeBlanc Consentino's site Acadian-

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