Dear Julia and Poydras,
When I was young, in the early 60’s, I recall some sort of markers in the lake. [You] could see them from the seawall. I don’t think they were buoys or were floating. They were pretty big.
I’ve wondered what exactly they were. They are no longer there, and I don’t recall when they were finally removed. The early 60’s wouldn’t have been that long removed from WWII.
My suspicion has always been that they were marking a distance that [perhaps] Higgins boats used to test their boats, say they marked a mile, and the boats were tested to ensure they could do that distance within a certain time?
Hope you and Poydras can get to the bottom of this mystery?
Frank Barnes, New Orleans
Thanks for the question, Fred, only Poydras gets a little nervous when the phrase “get to the bottom” is used in the context of a discussion about Lake Pontchartrain.
Instead, we went to the top. No one knows more about the lake than Carton Dufrecheau, the former director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin foundation and the reigning CEO of the Greater New Orleans Expressway Foundation. (The organization that operates the Causeway.) According to Dufrecheay, your assumptions are correct:
“These were red and white steel towers used for distance/time/speed calculations primarily for PT boats built by Higgins. The new PTs did their initial shakedowns/sea trials in Lake Pontchartrain. The onshore eastern most tower was near Franklin and Lakeshore Drive, and one or possible two more were further west along Lakeshore Drive. Similar towers were in the lake to mark the entrance and exit gates for the speed tests. Over the decades post-WWII, with recurring storms, I believe the towers in the lake went the way of the waves. The onshore towers were removed after Katrina to make space for raising levees/constructing stronger floodwalls for the new hurricane protection system. Pontchartrain has a lot of history.”
So, there you have it. By the way, Poydras’ suggestion that the markers were placed there as rest perches for parrots is absolutely wrong.
Also, speaking of birds near the lake, Dufrecheau provides some exciting extra information: “Bald eagles have been sighted recently patrolling the south shore as far east as the Causeway and along the north shore to Mandeville.”
Unlike certain parrots, eagles are not lazy.
Hi Julia,
When there use to be K&B drug stores, they made a specialty item called Creole Cream Cheese ice cream. As I recall, it had the consistency of ice cream and cream cheese but with an extra flavor, possibly vanilla. Does the item exist anymore?
Marylynn Jones, Ferriday, LA
Marylynn, nowadays a local ice cream chain, The Creole Creamery, operates four stores in the area. (Lakeview, Uptown, Old Metairie and Bay St. Louis.) As the name suggested they specialize in the Creole cream cheese flavor. Dorignac’s Grocery is also famous for the real thing – its own homemade Creole Cream Cheese (not ice cream, but pure cream cheese). It is sold in the dairy department and should not be missed.
Back to the Creamery. It certainly has an imaginative menu including “Goat Cheese and Mission Fig” ice cream. They’re all tempting, though I am not sure if I am ready for the “Creole Tomato Sorbet.”
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