Lake Pontchartrain (Images of America)

Mark Twain

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Thence, we drove a few miles across a swamp, along a raised shell road, with a canal on one hand and a dense wood on the other; and here and there, in the distance, a ragged and angular-limbed and moss-bearded cypress, top standing out, clear cut against the sky, and as quaint of form as the apple-trees in Japanese pictures--such was our course and the surroundings of it. There was an occasional alligator swimming comfortably along in the canal, and an occasional picturesque...person on the bank, flinging his statue-rigid reflection upon the still water and watching for a bite”. Mark Twain, 1874, Life on the Mississippi.

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Also from Life on the Mississippi, “And by-and-bye we reached the West End, a collection of hotels of the usual light summer-resort pattern, with broad verandas all around, and the waves of the wide and blue Lake Pontchartrain lapping the thresholds. We had dinner on a ground-veranda over the water--the chief dish the renowned fish called the pompano, delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.”

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“There are good clubs in the city now--several of them but recently organized--and inviting modern-style pleasure resorts at West End and Spanish Fort. Thousands of people come by rail and carriage to West End and to Spanish Fort every evening, and dine, listen to the bands, take strolls in the open air under the electric lights, go sailing on the lake, and entertain themselves in various and sundry other ways.” Mark Twain again, describing the pleasures to be found on Lake Ponchartrain in Life on the Mississippi.

    

Other books by Catherine Campanella:

Excerpts from New Orleans City Park (Images of America)

Home
Introduction
The Beginning
Milneburg
West End
Back to the Bayou
Lighthouses
Literature
Jazz
Change
War and Peaceful Pursuits
Life on the Lake
Photo Gallery
Acknowledgments
More Lake Pontchartrain History

Pages Recommended by Your Friends:

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book is dedicated to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation's efforts to rebuild the historic New Canal Lighthouse.

Contact Catherine Campanella