Natalbany, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Aug., 2000

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From Tangipahoa Centenial Book, 1869-1969: 
Donated to the archives by the Tangipahoa Parish Tourist Commission

Natalbany

According to William Read, the word Natalbany might derive from the 
Choctaw nita, signifying "bear," or perhaps from the adjective bano,
meaning "mere," or "only." Natlabany could, therefore, be translated
"Lone Bear."

On the other hand, the Choctaw noun, abani, means "one who cures meat 
over a fire."  This noun steams from the verb, abani, "to barbecue."
The 2nd half of the word Natalbany might be derived from abani.  This 
suppostition seems logical since early explorers often referred to 
barbecued bear meat.

Romans, in A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida, 204 (1775),
writes of a "... Nita Albany, or Bean-Camp, at Lake Maurepas." His 
intention, says Read, was to record Bear-Camp; and he definitely failed to 
write the second element in its literal form by using the word camp, the
Choctaw for Camp being abina.  All of the early maps consistenly show
bani to be the second element.  Romans' interpretation, therefore, is
probably near the truth; for Read contends that someone almost assuredly
dealt in the curing of bear meat along the Natalbany River.

The Natalbany River heads both in the parishes of Tangipahoa and St.
Helena, flows through the weastern part of Tangipahoa and a section of 
Livingston Parish, and unites with the Tickfaw River about two miles north 
of Lake Maurepas.

The village of Natalbany is located between Tickfaw and the city of Hammond 
on U.S. Highway 51.  In 1960 the population was about 350.