From Lake Pontchartrain to Lakes Catherine and Borgne; Bayou Sauvage and Little Woods, or as it was originally known — Petit Bois — New Orleans East evolved from a land inhabited by the Tchefuncte people at Big Oak and Little Oak Islands.
In the process, Forts Pike and Macomb became integral in the system of protection for the area in the 1800’s. In the popular recreational area, hunters, trappers, fishermen and oystermen took advantage of the bounty that still exists today, in the form of ducks, deer, hogs, numerous types of fish, crabs and small game. The area was also home to orange groves at one point.
Impacted by several storms, including the Great Storm of 1915, Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the population has fluctuated from as many as 95,000 in 2000 to 65,000 in 2010, rebounding to, by some accounts, as many as 80,000 currently, in several socially diverse neighborhoods.
Richard Campanella’s article, Searching for the lost coastal communities of eastern N.O., in the Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, details the transformation of New Orleans East from the 1700’s to today.
Read the article here.