Bayou Lafourche
Bayou Lafourche (/ləˈfuːʃ/ lə-FOOSH[1]), originally called Chetimachas River[2] or La Fourche des Chetimaches,[3] (the fork of the Chitimacha), is a 106-mile-long (171 km)[4] bayou in southeastern Louisiana, United States, that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The bayou is flanked by Louisiana Highway 1 on the west and Louisiana Highway 308 on the east, and is known as "the longest Main Street in the world."[5] It flows through parts of Ascension, Assumption, and Lafourche parishes. Today, approximately 300,000 Louisiana residents drink water drawn from the bayou.[6]
Bayou Lafourche
Between Timbalier Bay and Caminada Bay
106 miles (171 km)
History[edit]
The name Lafourche is from the French for "the fork",[7] and alludes to the bayou's large outflow of Mississippi River water. The first settlements of Acadians in southern Louisiana were near Bayou Lafourche and Bayou des Écores, which led to a close association of the bayou with Cajun culture.
It was formerly a Mississippi River outlet (distributary), but was dammed at Donaldsonville in 1905.[8] The dam cut off nourishment and replenishment of a huge wetland area of central Louisiana. It changed the formerly flowing bayou into a stagnant ditch.[9]
The Bollinger Shipyards, founded by Donald G. Bollinger, was launched on Bayou Lafourche in 1946.
On August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida made landfall in Lafourche parish. Dam walls at the end of the bayou were closed to prevent a storm surge of salt water from entering.[10]
In popular culture[edit]
The film Southern Comfort is set on Bayou Lafourche.
At the end of the novel Post Office by Charles Bukowski, protagonist Henry Chinaski quits his job at the Los Angeles post office to "pick up 10 or 20 grand for 3 months trapping at Bayou La Fourche. [...] Muskrats, nutria, mink, otter... coon. All I need is a pirogue."[15]
In The CW Network's supernatural-fantasy series, The Originals, the Bayou Lafourche is a major setting and has acted as the home of the Werewolf encampments for decades after the Vampires exiled them from the city of New Orleans.
In the film Hard Target, the lead character Chance Boudreaux, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Cajun from Bayou Lafourche in Southern Louisiana.