It’s been a while, but I’m back at it and this time I’m “goin’ down the bayou, takin’ you all the way” to where Goose Bayou meets Bayou Barataria in Lafitte. While I didn’t find Ray or Mama Odie, I did find this interesting property for sale. A little over an acre, this camp features several residential and commercial buildings, including two covered wharfs along 600 feet of waterfront. It’s perfect for someone with a boat who’s interested in giving fishing charters (as is evidenced by the many charter businesses nearby), or perhaps for a boat builder or repair person who wants employees and/or extended family nearby as there are three separate living spaces with a total of five bedrooms.
Although the property is not something I would typically peruse, the late 1800s Eastlake-style camelback caught my eye. I’m not wildly familiar with life on the bayou and haven’t even virtually visited many properties in the area as living in the city proper has always been by aim, but I’d never seen a city shotgun located waterside in Lafitte, propped up on stilts to the base flood elevation (8 to 9 feet) no less. Narrowly avoiding demolition, this little beauty was moved by barge from Old Algiers (my current neighborhood) to the bayou in the wake of development surrounding the 1984 World’s Fair. How cool is that?
The camelback still retains the front floor-to-ceiling windows, old hardwood floors, brick fireplaces, transoms (some stained glass), and interior shiplap siding, and the roofed side entrance has become a small balcony. A large, roofed rear porch is now enclosed by screens, and though it seems to be used as a huge laundry space, I think it would make a fabulous sunroom/breakfast room as it looks out over the water.
Another quirky feature of this bayou property is that it sports its very own cemetery! The Lafitte Cemetery is not included in the sale, but it’s right there on the property occupying a short length of the waterfront. There are no fences, walls or separate entrances to the tiny cemetery with several unmarked, but well-cared for graves.
In the 1940 Jefferson Parish Yearly Review, an interview with a then, 73-year old Mrs. Mary Perrin (former resident of the property) reveals fascinating tales about the old cemetery, also called the Perrin Cemetery. Dubbed “the oracle of the countryside,” Mrs. Perrin spins a terribly cool, though unverified yarn about famous French military general Napoleon Bonaparte, Scottish naval officer John Paul Jones and the infamous pirate Jean Lafitte.
As Mrs. Perrin tells it, Napoleon didn’t die on the island of St. Helena, as historians say, he was saved by Jean Lafitte and John Paul Jones. Unfortunately, the doomed French general didn’t survive the journey to Louisiana, but Lafitte buried his body in this little cemetery near the bayou. She also claims that John Paul Jones and Lafitte himself are buried there, too.
Listed at $595,000, this property is a relative steal, especially if you’re thinking of following in the famous, gold-bootied feet of scoundrel and local hero Jean Lafitte.
