JUST OVER A CENTURY AGO IN LOUISIANA'S coastal wetlands,

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more than 150 communities flourished, serving the dual role of home and workplace for shrimpers, oystermen, fishermen, trappers, and farmers. Today, those communities are gone -- an almost forgotten part of the state's cultural legacy.

With distinctive names such as Seabreeze, Bassa Bassa, Camp Dewey, Coon Rhodes, Bayou Cook, Cheniere Caminada, The Temple, St. Malo, Bird Island, and Cabinash, the vanished settlements are now little more than footnotes in history.

Their significance is not underestimated by those who study the state's coastal areas, however, because "they represent the human fabric of Louisiana's wetlands." That's the opinion of Dr. Donald Davis, Administrator of the Louisiana Applied Oil Spill Research and Development Program.

Davis, an expert on coastal Louisiana, says two factors are primarily responsible for the demise of the wetland-oriented settlements: (1) hurricanes and (2) industrialization, particularly the development of motorized boats and improved fishing gear.

Each settlement ranged in size from a few families to hundreds or thousands of people, says Davis.

"These were trapper-farmer-fisher folk who developed seasonal harvesting skills tied to the annual cycles of the game they harvested," he notes. "They established their homes and villages on the few protected and well-drained ridges in the swamps and marshes, or on stilts in remote bays, lakes, rivers, and bayous."

"Cheniere Caminada was a bustling fishing and oyster-harvesting community on October 1, 1893, but on the next morning it was gone."

Since most of the fishing and oyster boats had no motors, the fishermen and oystermen had to live near their fishing grounds. The threat of oyster pirates also influenced oystermen to settle nearby.

One of the oldest marsh settlements, probably begun in the early 1800's, was St. Malo, situated east of New Orleans on Lake Borgne. This was an all-male working community of Filipino fishermen, who lived in wooden, piling-supported homes featuring large eaves and balconies.

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The Philippine-style architecture was intended to withstand the region's potentially violent climate, as traditional palmetto and wovencane structures were inadequate.

St. Malo existed until 1915, when a hurricane destroyed the entire settlement.

"Wetland communities represented a kaleidoscope of cultures that colonized small ethnic pockets throughout Louisiana's coastal lowlands," explains Davis.

South Louisiana settlements were made up of French-speaking Cajuns, Islenos (Canary Islanders), Yugoslavians, Chinese, Germans, Filipinos, Irish, Latin Americans, Italians, and more.

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"Each ethnic group interpreted the environment differently," says Davis. "The visual landscape was characterized by red-sailed luggers (boats), isolated palmetto-covered houses, rustic cypress shrimp-drying camps, and lake dwellings. It was a cultural landscape revolved around the seasonality of wetland-dependent wildlife."

Coon Rhodes and Seabreeze were two of the wetland communities that died after being hit by hurricanes -- the former during the period from 1893 to 1895, and the latter in the mid-1920's. Because of the ongoing loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands, the sites of these two communities are both now water instead of land. This is also the case with many of the wetland settlements that have vanished.

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Cheniere Caminada was a bustling fishing and oyster-harvesting community on October 1, 1893, but on the next morning it was gone. Residents had little advance warning of the approaching hurricane.

According to some estimates, at least 1,600 people perished in the storm -- the greatest known loss of life, prior to the year 1900, from a hurricane-induced disaster. The death toll from this hurricane was greater than that caused by the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Only four homes on Cheniere Caminada withstood the hurricane's storm surge, and these dwellings were filled with survivors. In fact, in one home alone, there were 78 people. When the house collapsed, 74 of them were killed.

The "leaning" Chandeleur lighthouse is shown after an 1893 hurricane leveled the island.

"Dead were everywhere; the odor endured," reads a historical account of the disaster. "Often coffins and separate graves were unavailable, so bodies were buried where they were found. There were so many dead, the graves of those who were recognizable were aligned like the rows in a plowed field."

While Cheniere Caminada was the largest community destroyed by the 1893 hurricane, many other smaller communities in the area were also wiped out completely. There were no survivors among the 300 people living at Oyster Bayou or in the 30-member community at Fifi Island.

After the hurricane, Cheniere Caminada was abandoned. Some people eventually returned, but their new community was destroyed by another hurricane in 1915.

As hurricanes took their vicious toll on the Louisiana wetland communities, the introduction of motorized boats also made a significant impact on coastal folks' way of life. "There was no need to live isolated anymore," says Davis. "People moved to the high ground -- the natural levees -- although they continued to harvest the wetlands."

Convenience played a big part in the shift away from the on-site wetland settlements, he explains. Groceries, supplies, churches, and schools were generally to be found further inland on the levee ridges. People could still earn their living in the wetlands without "living on the edge."

And so, one by one, the wetland communities with the memorable names faded away. Grand Bayou, Fifi Island, Manila Village, Cheniere Dufon, Carmadelle, Mauvais Bois....

Charles East, Jr.
(225) 761-18001
is Editor of Louisiana Environmentalist.