Winding Through Time

by Sternberg, Mary Ann

• ISBN13: 9780807132531
• ISBN10: 0807132535
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr

Summary

Mary Ann Sternberg has woven together history, tales, anecdotes, and personal experiences to create a fascinating narrative on Bayou Manchac, an overlooked treasure of Louisiana. Only eighteen miles in length, Bayou Manchac has a history that far exceeds it's physical longevity. It has been one of the most important waterways in the southeastern United States and a vital link in a shortcut passage from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Native Americans flourished here from about 250 B.C. until they introduced the bayou to Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, in 1699. French voyagers, British and Spanish colonials, trappers, Civil War soldiers, steamboat captains, loggers, fishermen and many others have all plied its waters and lived along its banks. It should be preserved and enjoyed by current and future generations as a historic waterway. Instead, Bayou Manchac has become a stream most revered for its drainage capacity and abused with pollution. Hopefully, Sternberg's narrative will encourage the conservation and appreciation that the bayou rightfully deserves.

Table of Contents

What is Manchac?	p. 5
Exploring the bayou	p. 11
Community development, then and now	p. 15
Iberville discovers the bayou	p. 23
The bayou has a split personality	p. 29
Colonial development begins with the French	p. 35
An international boundary	p. 39
The British settle the Manchac ...	p. 41
And the Spanish settle the Manchac	p. 55
What the Louisiana purchase meant	p. 71
When Andrew Jackson dammed the bayou	p. 77
The bayou in the nineteenth century	p. 93
The biggest little village on the bayou	p. 103
When the Woodmen came	p. 113
Prehistory redux	p. 121
A quiet stream and modern development	p. 123
Spirit of place	p. 127
Contemporary struggles ... and possibilities	p. 131
Where are the rose-colored glasses?	p. 145
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