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Mandeville on Lake Pontchartrain

 There’s an old Levon Helm song that goes, “I was born in the rain on the Pontchartrain,” and I’ve read about the big lake north of New Orleans in many books, but this week I got to see it for myself. It is BIG, an oval about 25 miles by 30 miles or so. We found a state park on the north shore, and from the campground we could see New Orleans rising like an architectural ghost on the far shore. Much closer was the 25-mile-long causeway that bisects the lake and connects the north shore to the city; it begins in Mandeville, Louisiana, and that’s where Fontainbleau State Park is located.

Lake Pontchartrain, with New Orleans in the far distance

I learned a bit of marine lore and some history, too, while we were there. First, it’s called Lake Pontchartrain, but it’s actually a lagoon—it’s salt water, and it is connected to the Gulf of Mexico by a small channel. I read a fun fact, the only way you can get into the city of New Orleans without crossing a bridge is by boat . . .

The state park encompasses some of the huge sugar plantation of Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville, a member of one of the earliest families to settle New Orleans. He was intrigued by the north shore, and bought a huge swath of land there. He founded the city of Mandeville, which is named for him, and established both a plantation to grow cane and a mill to process it. The brick sugar mill ruins are still on site, and when we rode our bikes around the park, we stopped to see the remains of the mill, which was built in 1829, as well as a garden growing different kinds of sugar cane, including a variety that was developed by de Marigny.

What's left of Bernard de Marginy's sugar mill

We rode back to the shore of Lake Pontchartrain to watch the sunset . . . at 4:56 pm that evening. The full impact of standard time really hits you when you are camping in November, we learned that last year on our Thanksgiving trip out to Oregon. But it still surprised me every day when it’s pitch dark before I’m even thinking about dinner. It’s nice to have electric lights in the Scamp; much easier than cooking in the dark like I did last year.

Sunset on Lake Pontchartrain

Our campsite was on the edge of a swamp, which caused a mosquito problem, because it was quite warm while we were there. But there was also the delightful sound of frogs croaking away at night, and we saw a whole herd of deer wander through at dusk one day. And I'm willing to put up with a few mosquitos for 78-degree days. (Mike, not so much, but he does have fun hunting mosquitos.)

We stayed for two days—that has been our rule, most times, to stay at least two days after we’ve set up—but then we moved on, or back, to Mississippi, this time down on the Gulf Coast, where Mike has found another state park, this one right on the Gulf. It's a nice park, and it was good to have time to ride our bikes and explore around us, not to mention soak in that warm sun. Which reminds me, they had a free sunscreen dispenser near the park's beach. I never saw one of those before, but it seemed like a good idea, Louisiana is going to save our skin, I suppose.

Camping in the sun on the Pontchartrain


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