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 @ thecajuns.com
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 Gillett, Arkansas.
at Quapaw Indians Village of Osotouy, near
mouth of 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, St. James Parish
Cabahannocer]
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]
Note: Choupitoulas Indians - name meant "river
people"
Metairie
Chicot Noir [black stump]
just west of Jeanerette
Côtes Gélees [frozen hills] - see below n/a
for reason for this name 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 & Bayou
Manchac]
None - town abandoned by 1810
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
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.
n/a
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, Illinois
It was the main settlement in the Illinois Region
during the 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 presentday 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 parishes.
Note: Initial settlement at current-day
Donaldsonville and was part of Second Acadian
Coast
Lafourche: Upper and Lower [Lafourche Upper Lafourche covered Ascension
Interior]
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 Acadia at
Attakapas] - established in 1765
St. Martin de Tours Church in St.
Martinville, LA - present 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 Spanish Lake [outside New Iberia
as Le Lac]
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 remains, but the
This Spanish mission, fort (presidio) and village site is a state historic park. See map of
was established in 1717 as the mission San
El Camino Real which ran over 1600
Miguel de los Adaes. It was the only Spanish
miles from Los Adaes to Mexico City
mission established in Louisiana, and was
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 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.
Note: St. Louis, MO was settled in
1764
Nueva Iberia [named by the Spanish
Settlers from Malaga (and a few from
the Canary Islands) for the Iberian
penisula] [also called petite fausse
pointe]
New Iberia
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 & Miller's Island]
Jefferson 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 Rayne
turtles]
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-Home.org