Delacroix, Louisiana

The community was originally established by Canary Islander colonists during the late 18th century. The area was named La Isla (The Island) and continues to be known as such by many Isleños, particularly those who know Spanish as a first language.

On July 3, 1894, the community was renamed to L'île de la Croix after its landowner the Countess Pauline Stéphanie de Livaudais du Suan de la Croix. This name was adjusted later into the English name for the community Delacroix or Delacroix Island. In St. Bernard Parish, the community often is referred to informally as "the Island".

Beginning in 1779, the Spanish government began settling Canary Islanders along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs and throughout the state of Louisiana to defend New Orleans and the territory against Great Britain. This original settlement was known as the Población de San Bernardo (St. Bernard Population) and was composed of smaller establecimientos (establishments) or puestos (posts). Delacroix represented the final community in a long chain leading to the western limit of Saint Bernard.

Following the American Civil War, many Isleños moved to the easternmost portions of St. Bernard Parish to fish, trap, hunt, and gather Spanish moss.{{cite book|last=Din|first=Gilbert C.|title=The Canary Islanders of Louisiana|date=1 August 1999|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0-8071-2437-6|location=United States of America|pages=51–52, 114–115, 123, 125, 196}} During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the seafood from Delacroix and other Isleño fishing communities supplied many restaurants in New Orleans. Not only this, families dedicated themselves to trapping fur-bearing animals in the marshlands of St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes.

Like other Isleño communities of eastern St. Bernard Parish, the residents of Delacroix have faced a series of challenges. In 1915, the New Orleans hurricane left many dead and destroyed nearly every building in the community.{{Cite news|date=1915-10-02|title=Severe storm destroys life and property|volume=XXVI|work=The St. Bernard Voice|issue=39|editor-last=Roy|editor-first=William F.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/282143099}} Two years later, over one thousand people, mostly Isleños, perished from the Spanish flu pandemic and were buried at a mass burial site in the St. Bernard Catholic Cemetery.{{Cite journal|last=Hyland|first=William de Marigny|date=2020-04-23|title=Louis Alfred Ducros M.D.: Biographical Sketch|journal=Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society of St. Bernard Newsletter|pages=3}} The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and dynamiting of the Mississippi River levee at Caernarvon left the community completely flooded.{{Cite journal|date=December 2007|title=Through the Eye of Katrina: The Past as Prologue|url=http://archive.oah.org/special-issues/katrina/gloss/_neighborhoodb5df.html?key=stbernard|journal=Journal of American History|volume=94|pages=693–876|doi=10.2307/25095129|jstor=25095129}}

File:Delacroix drinking 1941.jpg trappers from Delacroix drinking after the sale of animal pelts.]]

Due in large measure to the isolation of Delacroix, many Isleño customs and traditions were preserved by community members into the later half of the twentieth century. During this period, various academics visited Delacroix to study the Isleño identity and culture, namely the unique dialect of Spanish used by the community. Some of the academics who visited Delacroix include John M. Lipski, Samuel G. Armistead, and Alcée Fortier.{{cite book|last1=Lipski|first1=John M.|title=The Language of the Isleños: Vestigial Spanish in Louisiana|date=July 1, 1990|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=0807115347|location=Baton Rouge and London|pages=}}{{Cite book|last=Fortier|first=Alcée|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFcTAAAAYAAJ|title=Louisiana Studies: Literature, Customs and Dialects, History and Education|publisher=F.F. Hansell & Bro.|year=1894|location=New Orleans|pages=}} Also of note, the former Prime Minister of Spain Adolfo Suárez visited the community.{{Cite web|last1=Kolker|first1=Andy|last2=Alvarez|first2=Louis|date=1983|title=Mosquitoes and High Water {{!}} Folkstreams|url=https://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=75|access-date=2021-09-01|website=Folkstreams|publisher=Center for New American Media|language=en|archive-date=2021-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804151400/https://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=75|url-status=dead}}

In 1965, Hurricane Betsy leveled much of the community once again.{{Cite web|last=Ouchley|first=Kelby|title=Hurricane Betsy|url=https://64parishes.org/entry/hurricane-betsy|access-date=2020-05-28|website=64 Parishes|language=en}} Following this, the visibility and practice of Isleño culture diminished substantially.{{Cite web|last=Harris|first=Sara-Ann|title=The Evolution of the Isleño Identity|url=http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/islenos.html|access-date=2020-05-27|website=Folklife in Louisiana}} In 2005, Hurricane Katrina completely devastated the region and reshaped the community entirely. Only a small number of the original inhabitants of Delacroix returned to the community.{{Cite journal|last=Miloshoff|first=Andrew|date=2020-05-26|title=The Last Echoes of Spanish Louisiana: Observations of the Isleño Spanish Dialect of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana|url=https://www.mackseysymposium.org/virtual2020/all/presentations/343/|journal=2020 JHU Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium|access-date=2021-08-31|archive-date=2020-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609181025/https://www.mackseysymposium.org/virtual2020/all/presentations/343/|url-status=usurped}}{{Cite news|last=Laviolette|first=Julie Landry|date=2015-08-28|title=Hell & High Water: How Hurricane Katrina transformed St. Bernard|work=Miami Herald|url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article32639868.html}}

Delacroix is located in southeastern Louisiana on the Mississippi River Delta. The community lies on top of a thin strip of sandy meander belt deposits from the Plaquemines and Balize delta lobes which formed over the last 1,500 years.{{cite journal|last1=Blum|first1=M.D.|last2=Roberts|first2=H.H.|year=2012|title=The Mississippi Delta Region: Past, Present, and Future|journal=Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences|volume=40|issue=1|pages=655–683|bibcode=2012AREPS..40..655B|doi=10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105248}}{{Cite book|last1=Heinrich|first1=Paul|url=https://www.lsu.edu/lgs/maps/100k-Geology/Black_Bay_100k_Geology.pdf|title=Black Bay 30 x 60 Geologic Quadrangle|last2=Peele|first2=R Hampton|last3=Massom|first3=Marcus B|last4=Renken|first4=Katherine A|last5=Paulsell|first5=Robert L|last6=Pond|first6=Lisa G|publisher=Louisiana Geological Survey|year=2014}} These deposits are built upon alluvium from the St. Bernard delta lobe which dates to between 4,000 and 2,000 years ago. This material contains clay, mud, sand, peat, and silt.

Although the community is popularly referred to as "Delacroix Island", or simply "the Island", the community is not an island at all. Delacroix is located southeast of Lake Lery and along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs which is divided between St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish. Bayou Lery also bisects Delacroix and joins Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs from the northwest.

File:DelacroixLAHighHouseWithBrackets.JPG construction.]]

The buildings and residences of Delacroix are situated on the eastern bank of Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs which is backed by a levee.

{{US Census population

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|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.html|title=Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades|publisher=US Census Bureau|access-date=}}
2020

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In 2020, the CDP had a population of 48, and 62.50% were non-Hispanic white, 2.08% multiracial, and 35.42% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The local economy is largely dependent upon recreational fishermen and hunters as well as ecotourism.{{Cite web|last=Sneath|first=Sarah|date=2020-12-17|title=Pedal through Da Parish and learn about Louisiana's coast|url=https://mississippiriverdelta.org/pedal-through-da-parish-and-learn-about-louisianas-coast/|access-date=2021-09-01|website=Restore the Mississippi River Delta|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Barker|first=Kim|title=Gulf's Delacroix Islanders Watch As Their World Disappears|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/gulfs-delacroix-islanders-watch-as-their-world-disappears?token=HwZY0YeVERyokHjp4PP9OHEDcpGGkKee|access-date=2021-09-01|website=ProPublica}} This being said, some measure of professional fishing still remains in Delacroix.

In 2018, the first St. Bernard Parish-owned boat lift and shipyard in the eastern portion of the Parish was installed in Delacroix.{{Cite web|date=2018-10-03|title=Delacroix Island Shipyard Opens|url=https://thestbernardnews.com/2018/10/03/delacroix-island-shipyard-opens/|access-date=2021-09-01|website=The St. Bernard News|language=en-US}}

Today, only a small handful of the original inhabitants of Delacroix reside in the community. As such, Isleño culture has all but disappeared in the community. Even so, much of daily life is centered upon fishing, hunting, and recreation as it historically has been.

The Blessing of the Fleet is an annual event where the fishing fleet of Delacroix is blessed by a Catholic priest before the start of the fishing season.{{Cite web|last1=Kolker|first1=Andrew|last2=Alvarez|first2=Louis|date=1983|others=Armistead, Samuel G.; Guillotte, Joseph|title=Mosquitoes and High Water|url=https://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=75|access-date=2020-05-27|website=Folkstreams|publisher=Center for New American Media|language=en|archive-date=2020-01-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112192224/http://www.folkstreams.net/film-detail.php?id=75|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|last=Reuther|first=Dustin|date=19 February 2021|title=Blessings of the Fleet|url=https://64parishes.org/entry/blessings-of-the-fleet|access-date=2021-09-01|website=64 Parishes|language=en}} Large processions of highly decorated boats can be seen traveling along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs during the event.

File:End of the World (El Fin Del Mundo).jpg

To the original Isleño inhabitants of Delacroix, the dead end of Louisiana Highway 300 (LA 300) was locally known as El fin del Mundo (The end of the World). Various markers have been installed at the "End of the World" as well as other signage using this phrase but these signs have been consistently replaced due to storm damage or vandalism. An annual cycling event known as the Tour da Parish takes off from Los Isleños Museum and Historic Village in Saint Bernard and ends at "The End of the World" in Delacroix.{{Cite web|title=Tour da Parish 2021|url=https://www.stbernardchamber.org/tdp-2021|access-date=2021-09-01|website=St. Bernard Chamber of Commerce|language=en-US}}

• Musician Bob Dylan refers to the community in the song "Tangled Up in Blue".
• The television series Supernatural refers to Delacroix and its fishing culture in the episode "Two Minutes to Midnight".
• Delacroix was featured in the documentary film Rodents of Unusual Size in 2017.
• The 2021 television miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sets Delacroix as the home of Sam Wilson and his sister Sarah.

• Irván "Puco" Pérez
• Joseph "Chelito" Campo
• Manuel Molero
• Mabel Isabel (Molero) Quatroy

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{{Commons category|Delacroix, Louisiana}}

{{St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana}}

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Category:Populated coastal places in Louisiana

Category:Louisiana Isleño communities

Category:Fishing communities in the United States