LEWISBURG - QUICK HISTORY: Things to SEE and DO in LOUISIANA

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Host: Kyle Crosby
Camera/Editor: Michael Malley
Transcript:
This is Lewisburg on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, but many residents of Louisiana probably don’t know it exists due to its close proximity to the much larger town of Mandeville. The Acolapissa Native tribe called this area home as well as another tribe called Mougoulacha. Mougoulacha is thought to mean “people from the other side”, and their language was Muskogean and it is very closely related to Chickasaw and Choctaw which are also Muskogean. They would maintain perpetual fires burning in two villages at their temples that were decorated with animal carvings like possums, which they called choucouacha. Some sources I found said that the Mougoulacha could’ve been the same tribe as Tangipahoa, but at some point Mougoulacha was used to identify many tribes in the area like Quinipissa and Acolapissa.
The Mougoulacha would settle on the high ground of Lake Pontchartrain and make use of the bountiful fish and shrimp. When Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville arrived here in 1699, the chief greeted them wearing a blue serge coat that was given to him years before by Henri de Tonti when he and La Salle were exploring the area. At this time, the tribe had about 180-250 warriors defending nearly 1,250 people combined with the Quinipissa people. These two tribes would be extinct by the following year after the Bayougoula tribe massacred them both.
Today, Lewisburg is immediately to the left of the Causeway Bridge if you’re driving North, but the first land grant was given to a guy named Lt. John Jones in 1767. The namesake of the town actually stems from Meriwether Lewis aka Lewis of Lewis and Clark, you might’ve heard of them. Meriwether Lewis had a nephew named Joshua Lewis, who was appointed to the Supreme Court of the Territory of Orleans in 1806. Joshua would run for governor of Louisiana in 1815, but lost to Jacques Villere. He would then buy land on the North Shore to retire.
It’s believed he wanted to get away from the city of New Orleans after a few Yellow Fever outbreaks, but it’s not really known why he chose to come here. He eventually died in 1833 and his heirs would name his tract of land “Lewisburg” after him. They divided the land into lots after getting it surveyed and began selling them off.
When the Civil War came to Louisiana, Lewisburg saw active combat. The area was plundered by marauders and the docks and landings were all burned by the Confederates in order to stall Union advancements. A Union vessel called the Grey Cloud traversed the waters around Lewisburg and exchanged gunfire with Confederate forces. It even shot a cannonball at a Madisonville home. The Grey Cloud anchored off the shoreline and a company of troops got in a small boat to get on land. Once there, they searched the area for a Confederate camp in the woods, but found it completely deserted with nothing left to plunder.
Two years later, in May of 1864, another Union boat called the Stockdale made her way towards Lewisburg. The destination was Madisonville via the Tchefuncte River, but Lt Thomas Edwards learned of a Confederate plan to capture the Stockdale. Six boats were waiting to capture the vessel, but were inevitably defeated without achieving their goal.
After the war ended, the lumber boom came to Lewisburg with a large sawmill being built right where the Causeway toll booth stands today. There was a pond right behind the sawmill where lumber was soaked long enough to get to the right moisture point for production. That pond is still very visible to the right of the bridge if you’re heading North. A railroad bridge was proposed that would’ve connected New Orleans to the North Shore via Lewisburg that would take passengers all the way to Meridian, Mississippi then to New York. This would never come to fruition as the railroad was eventually built over the Rigolets Pass and passed through Slidell and Pearl River, which was then known as Halloo. Lewisburg would get direct access to New Orleans nearly 100 years later in the form of the Causeway aka the Longest Bridge over water contiguous in the world. Yes, it is. Please just use Google if you don’t believe me.
One of the main things to check out in Lewisburg is the famous Seven Sisters Oak Tree. This thing is massive! So massive, in fact, that for years people thought it was actually several individual trees growing together. Federal foresters came to inspect the oak tree in 1976 and found it to have a single root system. It measures about 57 feet high with over 153 feet of limb spread. Astoundingly, the Seven Sisters Oak is said to be between 500-1000 years old, which means it has seen the history of Louisiana from early indigenous life to modern times. This oak tree was inducted into the Live Oak Society and was awarded the distinction of being the society president because of its size and age.
#quickhistory #louisianahistory #northshore #mandeville #lahistory

[@invisigoth777]

you should do one of your haunted areas.. the old cemetery, near where you are standing, is where the Lewisburg werewolf, or Rougarou lives
i watched your Chateau Bleu video, that one, and this place, is on the top 10 most haunted places in St Tammany... Onionhead didn't even make the list

[@LouisianaDread]

Check out the HORROR STORIES playlist on our channel to see the Rougarou video! I’d love to learn more about the ghosts and beasts in St. Tammany Parish. Let me know some more!

[@cajun-n-va.8091]

Another great video!!! Always looking forward to seeing the next!

[@LouisianaDread]

Thank you very much for the positive words, my friend!

[@alexmartin4772]

Interesting history. Id like to check this place out.

[@LouisianaDread]

It’s a super small community that’s best explored in a vehicle.