Reggio (, ), also known as Bencheque (, ), is an Isleño fishing community located in St. Bernard Parish,

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 ...

. The community was established in 1783 with the settlement of Canary Islanders along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs. During the last decade of the eighteenth century, Louis de Reggio purchased land from the

Isleños Isleños (Spanish: ) are the inhabitants of the Canary Islands, and by extension the Kinship, descendants of Canarian people, Canarian settlers and immigrants to present-day Louisiana, Texas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico ...

to establish a

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

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 ...

. It is perhaps the only community in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that bears a Guanche-language name. After 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 ...

, the community greatly expanded as Isleños moved deeper into the eastern portion of the Parish to engage in

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

trapping Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management. History Neolithic ...

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

, and

Spanish moss Spanish moss (''Tillandsia usneoides'') is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern Un ...

gathering. During the twentieth century, forces including

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

modernization Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...

, improved transportation, and

natural disasters A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econo ...

among others led to the

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of Isleños away from their traditional communities. Following the complete destruction of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, only a handful of the original families returned to rebuild.

Etymology and usage

The community was originally named for the '','' a mountain and ravine on the island of

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

near

Icod de los Vinos Icod de los Vinos is a municipality in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (Spain), located in the northwestern part of the island. Inhabitants of Icod are known in Spanish as ''"icodenses"''. ...

where many of the Canary Islander colonists originated. The name comes from the

Guanche language Guanche is an extinct language that was spoken by the Guanches of the Canary Islands until the 16th or 17th century. It died out after the conquest of the Canary Islands as the Guanche ethnic group was assimilated into the dominant Spanish cul ...

and is believed to mean "''el lugar de los árboles''" (

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 ...

: ''the place of the trees'') or "''lugar de la planta''" (

: ''plant place''). An individual from the community is known as a ''benchecano''. The latter name for the community, "Reggio," originates from Louis de Reggio, the owner of the

that was located in the same area. The distinction between the Reggio plantation and the community of Bencheque had been maintained into the twentieth century. Towards the second half of the twentieth century, "Reggio" came to refer to the former area of the plantation and Bencheque. Isleños, particularly those who know

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, maintain this distinction and their descendants continue to do so today. Legal descriptions of land tracts in the settlement use "Bencheque" while "Reggio" has been used by St. Bernard Parish Government, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and other organizations.

History

Beginning in 1779, Canary Islanders came to be settled by the

Spanish government gl, Goberno de España eu, Espainiako Gobernua , image = , caption = Logo of the Government of Spain , headerstyle = background-color: #efefef , label1 = Role , data1 = Executive power , label2 = Established , da ...

along Bayou Terre-aux-Beoufs in what would become St. Bernard Parish. The entire settlement was referred to as the ''Población de San Bernardo'' (St. Bernard Population) and was composed of various ''establecimientos'' (establishments) or ''puestos'' (posts), which were smaller communities. These ''establecimientos'' ran along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs starting just past the western limit of Saint Bernard and extending to Delacroix Island. One of the larger communities, established in 1783, was the ''quinto establecimiento'' (fifth establishment) which would come to be known as "Bencheque." In the 1790s, the New Orleanian Louis de Reggio purchased land from the Isleños to establish a sugar plantation. The plantation eventually extended from the Olivier plantation all the way to Wood Lake. In 1836, the Mexican Gulf Railroad was established and linked the Reggio plantation, along with other plantations of St. Bernard Parish, to the city of New Orleans. Following the

, Isleños began to relocate to Bencheque to fish, trap, hunt, and gather Spanish moss. While changes came to the rest of Louisiana following 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 ...

, the Isleños remained largely rural and unchanged. With the turn of the twentieth century, the ''benchecanos'' suffered various hardships. The

1915 New Orleans hurricane The New Orleans Hurricane of 1915 was an intense Category 4 hurricane that made landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana, and the most intense tropical cyclone during the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm formed in late September when it moved ...

left many Isleños dead and every house at Bencheque was either badly damaged or completely destroyed. Two years later, the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

swept through St. Bernard Parish and required the

mass burial A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

of over one thousand people, mostly Isleños, at St. Bernard Catholic Cemetery. The

Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with inundated in depths of up to over the course of several months in early 1927. The uninflated cost of the damage has been estimat ...

and subsequent dynamiting of a levee at Caernarvon left the community completely inundated. Increased urbanization, greater access to education, and improved roads led to residents leaving in search of security and job opportunities. In 1965,

Hurricane Betsy Hurricane Betsy was an intense and destructive tropical cyclone that brought widespread damage to areas of Florida and the central United States Gulf Coast in September 1965. The storm's erratic nature, coupled with its intensity and minim ...

made landfall with Louisiana and once again leveled the homes of the community. This event dealt a serious blow to the prevalence of Isleño culture in the traditional Isleño communities of the St. Bernard Parish. In 2005,

devastated the region. Very few of the original families returned to the community to rebuild and new ones moved into available property.

References

{{St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Louisiana Unincorporated communities in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana Louisiana Isleño communities Unincorporated communities in New Orleans metropolitan area

Etymology and usage

History

See also

References