Manchac (also known as Akers) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

in Tangipahoa Parish,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

, United States.

Etymology

Dr. John R. Swanton, a linguist who worked with Native American languages, suggested that the name Manchac is derived from ''Imashaka'', which is a Choctaw word meaning "the rear entrance." An early Choctaw language dictionary written by Cyrus Byington defines the word ''im'' as a preposition meaning "place" and ''ashaka'' meaning "the back side or rear"

Willie Akers

Willie Akers carried the same name as his father who founded the city of Ponchatoula. In the year 1871 Willie moved to Manchac with his family and built a house near a section of high ground that the locals called ''Jones Island''. Then in the year 1857 Willie was appointed as the first postmaster of Manchac and served as the local

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

operator. The local community became known as "Akers" during this period.

History

Fort Bute or Manchac Post, named after the then British Prime Minister

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

, was established in 1763 at the junction of Iberville River ( Bayou Manchac) with the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

, and remained an important military and trading post in British West Florida until captured by Spanish forces under Luis de Unzaga who built a new fort, Manchak fort, in August of 1775; later, his brother-in-law Bernardo Galvez captured Manchac Fort from English again on September 7, 1779, during what became known as the

Battle of Fort Bute The Capture of Fort Bute signalled the opening of Spanish intervention in the American Revolutionary War on the side of France and the United States. Mustering an ad hoc army of Spanish regulars, Acadian militia, and native levies under Gilbert A ...

of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

. Manchac was raided in February 1778 by American forces under the command of James Willing—see related articles,

Continental Marines The Continental Marines were the amphibious infantry of the American Colonies (and later the United States) during the American Revolutionary War. The Corps was formed by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775 and was disbanded in 1783 ...

and USS ''Morris''. Fort Bute/Manchac Post/Mississippi River at Bayou Manchac is 45 miles from Manchac. The British used Manchac as a trading post with which the British agent in 1772 was reported to attempt to recruit a translator of Quapaw to undermine Spanish authority in Spanish Louisiana. Apparently it was a favorite object of deputy Indian agent John Thomas there. When the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern railroad was commissioned in 1852, Manchac was one of the stations originally planned, which were generally at ten-mile intervals. Willie Akers' father, William Akers, was the founder and first mayor of the town of Ponchatoula, the next station to the north. Manchac straddles the railway, which, at the start of the 21st century, is part of the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

system.

Location

Manchac is located on Lake Maurepas on the Pass Manchac waterway, which connects to

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 wes ...

. It is home to the ruins of one of the five lighthouses set up for Lake Pontchartrain, the

Pass Manchac Light Pass Manchac Light was a historic lighthouse in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, which was originally established in 1838, to mark the north side of the entrance to Pass Manchac, the channel between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas. The fourth a ...

. The last lighthouse to be built on the north side of the entrance to Pass Manchac (the fourth one on that site) was completed in 1857. It was automated in 1941, and the dwelling was razed in 1952; the U.S. Coast Guard decommissioned the light and abandoned the property in 1987.

Hurricane Isaac Hurricane Isaac was a deadly and destructive tropical cyclone that came ashore in the U.S. state of Louisiana during August 2012. The ninth named storm and fourth hurricane of the annual hurricane season, Isaac originated from a tropical w ...

destroyed the Pass Manchac Light structure in August 2012. However, the lantern room had previously been removed from the tower, for restoration purposes. Since 2008, Pass Manchac Light's lantern room has been located at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum in Madisonville, Louisiana.Pass Manchac at LighthouseFriends.com
accessed 25 Mar 2015. Manchac is known for

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

, duck

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/ tusks, horn/ a ...

, seafood restaurants like

Middendorf's Middendorf's, also known as Middendorf, is a Louisiana seafood restaurant, considered a local institution. History Middendorf's was opened in 1934 during the Great Depression by a German couple named Josie and Louis Middendorf. The restaurant ...

, and swamp tours. It is also home to the Port Manchac Distribution Center, with storage facilities and rail, truck, and water links to the east, west, and north. Interstate 55 has exit and entrance ramps for Manchac.

References

External links

Port Manchac
{{authority control Canadian National Railway History of Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Louisiana Tourist attractions in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana 1763 establishments in the British Empire