Fontainebleau State Park is located in

St. Tammany Parish St. Tammany Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Tammany) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana named after Tamanend, the legendary Lenape Chief of Chiefs and the "Patron Saint of America." At the 2020 census, the population was 2 ...

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 ...

, on the north shore of

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west ...

. The park is in size and was once the site of a

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks t ...

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

and

brickyard A brickyard or brickfield is a place or yard where bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed near natural sources of clay or on o ...

operated by

Bernard de Marigny Jean-Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785–1868), known as Bernard de Marigny, was a French- Creole American nobleman, playboy, planter, politician, duelist, writer, horse breeder, land developer, and President of the Louisia ...

and later by his son Armand Marigny. The park has a multitude of habitats for birds.

History

The

visitor center A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visit ...

highlights the history of the land which was once owned by the wealthy

(1785–1868) of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and founder of Mandeville, which lies directly to the west of Fontainebleau Park. Marigny operated a

sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar. The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice. Processing There are a number of steps in pro ...

that was built in 1829. He named his large holding Fontainebleau after the beautiful forest near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. In 1840, his son Armand documented the presence of 153 enslaved individuals at the site, including 57 children under the age of ten. Fontainebleau State Park is surrounded on three sides by water:

, Bayou Cane, and Bayou Castine. The state originally named the park Tchefuncte State Park and Conservation Reservation, after the

Tchefuncte River The Tchefuncte River ( ) drains into Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011 Etymology The ...

. The park was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1999.

Overnight features

* 12 cabins; six are handicapped-accessible including two that are ADA-compliant. * 163 RV and tenting campsites, many with utilities * Comfort stations with showers * Playground * Three group camps and a lodge * Around 200 camping sites in total

Day use facilities

* A hiking trail. * A nature trail. The nature trail includes a boardwalk into the marsh. * Picnic area and playground. * Pavilion. * Beach, fishing pond, and fishing pier. * Visitor center with museum displays, interpretive programs, and gift shop. * The

Tammany Trace The Tammany Trace is a rail trail in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, occupying a former Illinois Central Railroad corridor. It has been developed into a asphalt trail for hiking, cycling, and wheelchair use. Some parts of the Trace include a sep ...

crosses Fontainebleau State Park. This is a rail-trail conversion of the old

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also co ...

corridor, and is a paved trail for

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

, and

bicycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, Physical exercise, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bike ...

, with a parallel

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

trail.

References

External links

Fontainebleau State Park
{{authority control State parks of Louisiana Protected areas of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Protected areas established in 1942 1942 establishments in Louisiana

History

Overnight features

Day use facilities

See also

References

External links