Cameron Parish (french: Paroisse de Cameron) is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

in the southwest corner of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,617. The

parish seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Cameron. Although it is the largest parish by area in Louisiana, it has the second-smallest population in the state, ahead of only Tensas. Cameron Parish is part of the Lake Charles,

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

History

This was part of La Louisiane, colonized by the French beginning in the 17th and early 18th century. They encountered the Atakapa and

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

indigenous peoples, who had occupied this area for thousands of years. In the late 1700s, after France had ceded New France (Canada) and other holdings east of the Mississippi River to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

following its defeat in 1763 in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, a number of French-speaking refugee families from

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...

settled in this part of coastal Louisiana. Some had fought against the British with Indian allies during the war in Acadia. Among them were Joseph "Beausoleil" Broussard, his brothers Alexander and Pierre, and their wives and families, who first went to

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...

(now Haiti) before settling in Louisiana. The British expelled many Acadians for their resistance, particularly their refusal to make loyalty oaths to Great Britain.Nola Mae Ross, "Broussard family traced back to roots in France"
''Cameron Parish Pilot'' (Cameron, LA), 24 May 2012; retrieved 4 January 2017 Numerous other French-speaking families settled here and their descendants populate the smaller towns. In the 18th century France ceded its holdings in Louisiana and other areas west of the Mississippi River to Spain, and the Spanish colonial government made grants of land to the Acadians. France took control of this territory again at the turn of the nineteenth century for a short period under

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. But in 1803 he sold all the French territory west of the Mississippi River to the United States in the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

. The US was particularly intent on getting control of New Orleans, an important port for its large agricultural interests in what is now the Midwest. This territory was historically part of Calcasieu Parish, established by the new Louisiana Territory legislature in 1807. The western part of this coastal area was included in what was called No Man's Land, a disputed area of control between Spain and the US after the Purchase. In the 1806 Neutral Ground agreement, both parties agreed to leave this free of military occupation or civil law enforcement. The area between the

Calcasieu River The Calcasieu River ( ; french: Rivière Calcasieu) is a river on the Gulf Coast in southwestern Louisiana. Approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, ...

(at the time known to the Spanish as the Arroyo Hondo) on the east and the Sabine River on the west became a hotbed of outlaws, pirates including

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...

, and other nefarious characters for many years. It was finally acquired by the United States in 1819 under the Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain. (In 1870 these two rivers were designated as the eastern and western boundaries, respectively, of the new Cameron Parish, taken from the southern part of Calcasieu Parish.) Early Anglo-American settlers after the Louisiana Purchase included John M. Smith, Millege McCall, John William Sweeney, George W. Wakefield, William Doxey, James Hale, James Root, and John M. Miller. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, loyalties in this area and in the greater coastal area were divided between Unionists and Confederates. Bands of local "Jayhawkers," also known as bushwhackers, were active in the area. There were numerous Unionists near Sabine Lake and Leesburg (now Cameron). Others were located near the mouth of the Calcasieu and near Grand Chenier, then in Vermilion Parish. The Union Navy had forces at Sabine Lake. The Mermentau Jayhawkers were made up of a band of "200 mounted draft dodgers, bushwhackers, cattle thieves, runaway slaves, and Confederate deserters from Texas and Louisiana." They regularly raided federal supply lines and plundered from the local people, earning the enmity of both Union and Confederate regulars. If caught by Confederate forces, Jayhawker deserters were quickly court martialed and executed. Local forces also organized as Regulators in an effort to protect women and children of local families, and repulse the Jayhawkers. After the end of the war, some of the

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...

Regulators turned to suppressing blacks and resisting Reconstruction.W.T. Block, "CALCASIEU PARISH, LA: HOTBED OF THE CIVIL WAR JAYHAWKERS"
W.T. Block website and blog, 1988-2016 Cameron Parish was organized in 1870 during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

and was made up of portions of Calcasieu and

Vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since ancient history, antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its correspondi ...

parishes. It was one of several new parishes organized by the Republican-dominated legislature to create new centers of Republican political strength. Cameron Parish is named for Republican

Simon Cameron Simon Cameron (March 8, 1799June 26, 1889) was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Americ ...

, a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

n who was President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's first

secretary of war The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

. Today its population is overwhelmingly majority white and Republican in the 21st century realignment. This is among the largest civil parishes in Louisiana, yet the least populated, owing to the high proportion of land area made up by marsh and wetlands. Cameron Parish comprises a large portion of the Louisiana

Chenier A chenier or chénier is a sandy or shelly beach ridge that is part of a strand plain, called a “chenier plain,” consisting of cheniers separated by intervening mud-flat deposits with marsh and swamp vegetation. Cheniers are typically 1 to ...

Plain; it is home to numerous cheniers, elevated fertile ridges that occur in certain coastal regions, particularly in Louisiana. These were developed for cotton plantations both before and after the Civil War; settlers also raised stock.

20th century to present

Some of southwest Louisiana was developed for industrial processing and export of oil products. In some areas, wetlands were drained and bayous dredged for navigation. This has been found to increase erosion of the wetlands and loss to area soils, with loss of coastline. Small farmers and hunters continued to make subsistence livings in some rural areas. There are tourist destinations for hunting and fishing. From the mid-20th century to the early 21st century, the parish was severely damaged four times and its history marked by hurricanes Audrey, Rita, Ike, and Laura. So much damage was done by the middle two hurricanes that the population dropped in the parish by nearly one third from 2000 to 2010. The hurricanes occurred in 2005 and 2008, respectively. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Cameron Parish has suffered severe damage from hurricanes. It was devastated by

Hurricane Audrey Hurricane Audrey was one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in U.S. history, killing at least 416 people in its devastation of the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957. Along with Hurricane Alex in 2010, it was also the strongest June hur ...

on June 27, 1957, which caused more than 390 deaths. Authors Nola Mae Ross and Susan McFillen Goodson chronicled the stories of many survivors in their book ''Hurricane Audrey'' (1997). National press coverage at the time recounted tales of tragedy and heroism. The

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

honored a local Cameron physician, Cecil Clark, as the 'General Practitioner of the Year' in recognition of his dedicated service despite great personal loss. Hurricane Audrey was a defining event for Cameron Parish for nearly 50 years, with local history being divided into "before" and "after" the storm. Much of the parish was destroyed again by

Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten L ...

on September 24, 2005. The movie ''

Little Chenier ''Little Chenier'' is a 2006 American drama film directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf and written by Jace Johnson and Wolf. It is set in the bayous of Louisiana, and stars Johnathon Schaech, Frederick Koehler, Tamara Braun, Jeremy Davidson, Clifton ...

'' was filmed in Southwest Louisiana just prior to Hurricane Rita. It contains some of the only film images of the area before it was destroyed. In 2008, three years after Rita,

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

came ashore at High Island, TX with a storm surge, which was far worse than Rita's surge. Nearly all of the coastline in that area was flooded heavily, with surge and floodwaters reaching 60 miles inland, as far north as Lake Charles. In Cameron Parish the communities of Cameron, Holly Beach, Hackberry, Creole, and Grand Chenier were essentially destroyed. Twelve years later, in 2020,

Hurricane Laura Hurricane Laura was a deadly and destructive Category 4 hurricane that is tied with the 1856 Last Island hurricane and 2021's Hurricane Ida as the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the U.S. state of Louisiana, as measu ...

made landfall near Cameron, boasting winds of over winds and storm surge early on August 27, with the water reaching northwards towards Lake Charles.

Hurricane Delta Hurricane Delta was the record-tying fourth named storm of 2020 to make landfall in Louisiana, as well as the record-breaking tenth named storm to strike the United States in that year. The twenty-sixth tropical cyclone, twenty-fifth named ...

made landfall in Creole six weeks later as a Category 2 hurricane with winds on October 9.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the parish has a total area of , of which is land and (34%) is water. It is the third-largest parish in Louisiana by land area and fourth-largest by total area. Most of the water is associated with marsh on the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

Major highways

Louisiana Highway 27 Louisiana Highway 27 (LA 27) is a state highway located in southwestern Louisiana. It runs in a general north–south direction from LA 14 in Holmwood to the junction of U.S. Highways 171 and 190 in DeRidder. The route travels in ...

Louisiana Highway 82 Louisiana Highway 82 (LA 82) is a state highway located in southern Louisiana. It runs in a general east–west direction from the Texas state line east of Port Arthur to the Vermilion–Lafayette parish line southwest of Youngsville. Th ...

Adjacent counties and parishes

Calcasieu Parish Calcasieu Parish (; french: Paroisse de Calcasieu) is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located on the southwestern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 216,785. The p ...

(northwest) *

Jefferson Davis Parish Jefferson Davis Parish (french: Paroisse de Jefferson Davis) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 31,594. The parish seat is Jennings. Jefferson Davis Parish is named after the president ...

(northeast) *

Vermilion Parish Vermilion Parish (french: Paroisse de Vermillion) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, created in 1844. The parish seat is Abbeville. Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern ...

(east) *

Jefferson County, Texas Jefferson County is a county in the Coastal Plain or Gulf Prairie region of Southeast Texas. The Neches River forms its northeast boundary. As of the 2020 census, the population was 256,526. The county seat is Beaumont. Jefferson County has ...

(southwest) * Orange County, Texas (west)

National protected areas

* Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge *

East Cove National Wildlife Refuge East Cove National Wildlife Refuge is located south of Lake Charles, Louisiana along the southeast shore of Calcasieu Lake in Cameron Parish. It is accessible only by boat. It is managed by the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge office as pa ...

Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge is located in Cameron and Evangeline Parishes in southwestern Louisiana, was established in 1937 by Executive Order No. 7780 as "a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife." The refuge is ...

(part) *

Sabine National Wildlife Refuge Sabine National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in Cameron Parish in southwestern Louisiana. It is on Louisiana State Route 27, south of Hackberry and north of Holly Beach. The western boundary of the ...

Communities

There are no incorporated communities in Cameron Parish.

Census-designated places

* Cameron (parish seat) * Hackberry

Unincorporated communities

* Creole * Grand Chenier * Grand Lake * Holly Beach * Johnson Bayou

Demographics

The population of the parish dropped by nearly one-third in the decade from 2000 to 2010; it was marked in 2005 and 2008 by extensive damage from hurricanes Rita and Ike. According to the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 5,617 people, 2,734 households, and 2,110 families residing in the parish. During the

2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

, there were 6,839 people living in the parish; among them, 95.7% were

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 1.7% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.1%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.8% of some other race and 1.1% of two or more races. 2.3% were

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, for example, by the United States ...

(of any race). 46.5% were of French,

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

ancestry, 18.7%

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, 5.8%

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and 5.0%

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

ancestry. By 2020, its racial makeup was 92.11% non-Hispanic white, 1.26% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.37% other or mixed, and 3.51% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Education

Cameron Parish School Board Cameron Parish School Board (CPSB) or Cameron Parish School District or Cameron Parish School System (CPSS) is a school district headquartered in unincorporated Cameron Parish, Louisiana, United States. The district serves Cameron Parish. The di ...

operates local public schools within all of Cameron Parish. Cameron Parish is in the service area of Sowela Technical Community College. Cameron Parish Public Library is a public library system in Cameron Parish. All of the libraries are located in

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

s. The main Cameron Parish Library is at 469 Marshall Street in the Cameron CDP. The system operates six branches: * Creole Branch at 184C East Creole Highway in the Creole area * Grand Chenier Branch at 2867 Grand Chenier Highway in the Grand Chenier area * Grand Lake Branch at 10200 Highway 384 in the Grand Lake area * Hackberry Branch at 983 Main Street in the Hackberry CDP * Johnson Bayou Branch at 4586 Gulf Beach Highway in the Johnson Bayou area * Lowry Branch at 460 Lowry Highway in the Lowry area

Politics

Cameron Parish, once solidly Democratic, has trended sharply Republican in recent years. The Republican nominee has won upwards of 80% of the vote in every presidential election since 2008. In 2020, Republican Donald Trump won nearly 91% of the vote in Cameron Parish, his strongest showing in Louisiana.

Notable people

* Gilbert Franklin Hennigan, represented Cameron Parish in the Louisiana State Senate from 1944 to 1956; he resided at the time in DeRidder in

Beauregard Parish Beauregard Parish (french: Paroisse de Beauregard) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 35,654. The parish seat is DeRidder. The parish was formed on January 1, 1913. Beauregard Parish ...

. *

Doug Kershaw Douglas James Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an extens ...

, musician, was born in Cameron Parish on January 24, 1936. * Conway LeBleu, Lake Charles native, represented Calcasieu and Cameron parishes in the Louisiana House from 1964 to 1988

References

External links

Images from Cameron Parish

Cameron Parish Sheriff's Office
Geology * Heinrich, P. V., 2005
''Lake Charles 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle.''
Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. * Heinrich, P. V., 2006
''White Lake 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle.''
Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. * Heinrich, P. V., J. Snead, and R. P. McCulloh, 2002
''Lake Charles 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle.''
Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. * Heinrich, P. V., J. Snead, and R. P. McCulloh, 2003
''Crowley 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle.''
Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. {{authority control Louisiana parishes Parishes in Acadiana Acadiana County in the Lake Charles metropolitan area 1870 establishments in Louisiana Populated places established in 1870