Courtesy of L’Observateur First Published in ‘River Current’ magazine, January 2000Bayou Gauche is a peculiar community in several respects. It’s one of the most remote towns in Louisiana, it’s surrounded by water and most of the island is owned by a family corporation, the heirs of the late Sidney Simoneaux, who lease all the home sites to the residents.The area, from Bayou Gauche to Lake Salvador, was home for centuries to a succession of Indian tribes. Areas such as the Temple and Bois Choctaw included Indian burial mounds. Most of those mounds were destroyed by generations of dredging the clamshells to make masonry walls in New Orleans. More than 100 mounds once existed in the Salvador area. Artifacts such as bottles and French coins are occasionally still found in the area.Image Gallery Simoneaux Ponds Comardelle Village Hogan Children Simoneaux Ponds Building Edna Matherne Bayou Gauche Public School - Image Since early colonial days, families who subsisted on fishing, trapping an...
