<GNOCDC> Lake Catherine Neighborhood Snapshot

Home Pre Katrina Home Orleans Parish New Orleans East District Lake Catherine Snapshot

This information is pre-Katrina.
Although the information on this page is out-of-date, we are continuing to make it available, as it provides insight about this neighborhood pre-Katrina.

Post-Katrina, we will not be making any changes or updates to this page. As a result, you may find outdated information and broken links.

For current data about New Orleans and its neighborhoods, visit our homepage.

Lake Catherine Neighborhood Snapshot

Census 2000 Data Tables: People & Household Characteristics, Housing & Housing Costs, Income & Poverty, Transportation, Employment, Educational Attainment, Immigration & Language, Disabilities, Neighborhood Characteristics

The Lake Catherine neighborhood is surrounded by Lake Borgne, Lake St. Catherine and Lake Pontchartrain, and bisected by Chef Menteur Pass. It is a place of great natural beauty and also historical significance to New Orleans.

Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge

The Bayou Sauvage area became a national wildlife refuge in 1986. On its 20,000+ acres, visitors can see American bald eagles, peregrine falcons and American alligators.

	Photo by Alex Demyan, courtesy Fort Pike State Historic Site (crt.state.la.us)
	Three teenagers on the fort perimeter wall look out to the Rigolets.

Fort Pike and Fort Macomb

These two forts were constructed in the early 1800s to serve as a defense for the navigational channels leading into New Orleans. Fort Macomb has fallen into disrepair in recent years, but the Louisiana Office of State Parks has preserved Fort Pike as a state historic site that is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for visitation (except Thanksgiving,
Christmas and New Year's Day).

Fort Pike State Historic Site has photos and history of the Fort

P.B.S. Pinchback

Image courtesy of Library of Congress.
P.B.S. Pinchback.

Among the many African American soldiers serving at Fort Pike, of particular significance was Pickney Benton Stewart Pinchback. Mr. Pinchback , born to a white planter and a freed slave, was a union army officer and a lawyer who became involved in Louisiana politics immediately after the Civil War. Mr. Pinchback became Lieutenant Governor under Henry Clay Warmoth. Among other official acts, Governor Warmoth and Lieutenant Governor Pinchback signed into law the Mardi Gras Act making Mardi Gras a legal holiday in Louisiana.

After Warmoth was impeached, Pinchback became Governor. He later served on the State Board of Education, as a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern University, and as a Federal Marshal. Pinchback owned and managed The Louisianian, one of several African-American newspapers published in New Orleans during the last half of the nineteenth century. He was the only African American to serve as a state governor until recent times.


	©2002 Michael E. Caswell
	West Rigolets Lighthouse

Rigolets Lighthouse

Across from Fort Pike, prior to the Civil War, the Rigolets Lighthouse was built to facilitate ships passing between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. It is a small wooden building on piers, easily mistaken for a fishing camp.

Photos and history of West Rigolets Lighthouse

A bit about the Lake Catherine neighborhood’s history

Most of the Lake Catherine area had been under single ownership since it was first granted to Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent in 1763. During the next 200 years, several well-known New Orleans families, such as De Clouet, Lafon, and Michoud owned the land. The largest spot of residential growth occurred when the Venetian Isles subdivision in Lake Catherine opened in the late 1960s. It is still the greatest concentration of residential development in the area. In 1998, Hurricane Georges caused extensive damage to these homes and others in the Lake Catherine neighborhood.

For more information:

Fort Pike State Historical Site
www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/fortpike/fortpike.htm

Louisiana Secretary of State’s information about PBS Pinchback
www.sec.state.la.us/46.htm

African American’s in New Orleans: Making a Living
nutrias.org/%7Enopl/exhibits/black96.htm

St. Tammany’s travel promotion web site
www.neworleansnorthshore.com/

Fort Macomb and Fort Pike
www.civilwaralbum.com/louisiana/macomb_pike.htm

Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge Official website
www.wildernet.com/pages/area.cfm?areaID=LANWRBS&CU_ID=1

Wildernet’s description of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge
www.wildernet.com/pages/area.cfm?areaID=LANWRBS&CU_ID=1

At New Orleans.com’s descriptions of Rigolets, Milneburg, and New Canal Lighthouses
www.atneworleans.com/body/lights-south.htm

Bartleby’s description of Chef Menteur Pass
www.bartleby.com/69/85/C05685.html

Description of damage caused by Hurricane Georges
www.stphilipneri.org/teacher/camps/content.php?type=6&id=4

1999 Land Use Plan New Orleans City Planning Commission
www.new-orleans.la.us/cnoweb/cpc/1999_dist_nine.htm

New Orleans & Mardi Gras History and Timeline from Mardi Gras Digest.com
www.mardigrasdigest.com/html/mardi_gras_history__timeline.htm

Neighborhood Profiles Project Document prepared by the City of New Orleans Office of Policy Planning and the City Planning Commission. Published December 1980. Study available at the Williams Research Center (non-circulating collection).

Home Pre Katrina Home Orleans Parish New Orleans East District Lake Catherine Snapshot

Last modified: October 4, 2002