Fontainebleau State Park is located in St. Tammany Parish,

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, on the north shore of

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ; ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from w ...

. The park is in size and was once the site of a

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

and

brickyard A brickyard or brickfield is a place or Yard (land), yard where bricks are made, pottery firing, fired, and stored, or sometimes Commerce, sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed ...

operated by

Bernard de Marigny Jean-Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville (1785–1868), known as Bernard de Marigny, was a French- Creole American nobleman, playboy, planter, politician, duelist, writer, horse breeder, land developer, and President of the Louisian ...

and later by his son Armand Marigny. The park has a multitude of habitats for birds.

History

The

visitor center A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center or tourist information centre is a physical location that provides information to tourists. Types A visitor center may be a Civic c ...

highlights the history of the land which was once owned by the wealthy

(1785–1868) of

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and founder of Mandeville, which lies directly to the west of Fontainebleau Park. Marigny operated a

sugar mill A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar. The term is also used to refer ...

that was built in 1829. He named his large holding Fontainebleau after the beautiful forest near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. In 1840, his son Armand documented the presence of 153 enslaved individuals at the site, including 57 children under the age of ten. Fontainebleau State Park is surrounded on three sides by water:

, Bayou Cane, and

Bayou Castine Bayou Castine is a stream in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Name Bayou Castine is a name derived from the Choctaw language meaning "river of fleas". Variant names are: *Bayou Castin *Big Bayou Castin *Castein *Castein Bayou *Castein Bayouque *Cast ...

. The state originally named the park Tchefuncte State Park and Conservation Reservation, after the

Tchefuncte River The Tchefuncte River ( ) drains into Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 20, 2011 Etymology T ...

. The park was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1999.

Overnight features

* 12 cabins; six are handicapped-accessible including two that are ADA-compliant. * 163 RV and tenting campsites, many with utilities * Comfort stations with showers * Playground * Three group camps and a lodge * Around 200 camping sites in total

Day use facilities

* A hiking trail. * A nature trail. The nature trail includes a boardwalk into the marsh. * Picnic area and playground. * Pavilion. * Beach, fishing pond, and fishing pier. * Visitor center with museum displays and interpretive programs. * The Tammany Trace crosses Fontainebleau State Park. This is a rail-trail conversion of the old

Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, the Great Lak ...

corridor, and is a paved trail for

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

, and

bicycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of bicycle pedal, pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the ...

, with a parallel

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

trail.

References

External links

Fontainebleau State Park
{{authority control State parks of Louisiana Protected areas of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Protected areas established in 1942 1942 establishments in Louisiana Sugar plantations in Louisiana

History

Overnight features

Day use facilities

See also

References

External links