Terrebonne County Louisiana Archives News.....Last Island (part 1) August 9, 1890
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Savanna King savanna18king@gmail.com August 11, 2023, 12:31 am

The Thibodaux Sentinel August 9, 1890
Thirty four years ago, in company with three friends, I passed two weeks, 
sailing along the bays and visiting the various islands lying west of the mouth 
of Bayou Lafourche, fishing bathing in the rolling surf, and otherwise enjoying 
myself in this, to me, new experiences. 

After visiting Caillou Island and friends who were enjoying the pleasant breezes 
thereon we sailed westward as far as Last Island, then becoming a famous summer 
resort, for the citizens of the Lafourche, Attakapas, Opelousas countries, as 
well as, of the coast above Donaldsonville as far as the mouth of the Red River, 
and New Orleans.

The S.P. Railroad, then the New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad 
was finished almost to Berwick’s Bay, making access to the Island, thence by 
steamboat easy and pleasant. In 1856 steamboats left either Tigerville or Bayou 
Boeuf connecting with the island. 

Last Island was a strip of land some 20 miles long, extending East and West, 
with a width varying from 200 yards to a mile.

At the spot, on which were erected the Hotel and some 30 or 40 cabins, the top 
of the Island, above ordinary high tides was not over 200 yards in width, 
perhaps less, but on the Bay side, there was a plateau of equal width that usual 
high tides would submerge. 

The houses were light frame structures, erected upon posts, in the sand, of 
which the location almost entirely consisted. These cottages were built and 
occupied during the summer by the families who annually visited the Island. It 
was a delightful place. On the East the Gulf of Mexico rolled great waves upon 
the beach, affording as fine surf bathing as could be had anywhere. For miles, 
the beach furnished a smooth, level solid road for driving the numerous teams, 
or riding the fine horses that were transported thither by the visitors. 

No more pleasant spot to pass the warm summer months could be found in the South 
than Last Island afforded in 1856. There the old and the young assembled, and on 
every evening the large hall in the Hotel was filled with stalwart men and fair 
women, engaged in the pleasures of the dance. 

On August 10, 1857, Sunday as is the present, wind blowing from the East caused 
the tides to rise higher, causing serious apprehensions among the guests, until 
on Sunday that portion of the Island occupied by the visitors was completely 
submerged, the water covering the floors of the cabins in many instances. Still 
the dance continued, and gayety, among many, found no cessation. 

The winds were not dangerously strong, which served to allay fears, and maintain 
confidence.

But as night was approaching, the winds suddenly changed, and rushed from the 
land side upon the doomed Island with terrific fury and soon the cottages were 
overturned, and the unfortunate people thrown into the mad waters. The guests of 
the Hotel were forced to leave it, as the waves from the Gulf began to undermine 
the foundation, and well they did, for the next morning the site of the building 
was in the deep sea.

To add to the anxieties of the situation a steamboat load of passengers had just 
landed. The reader must imagine the horror of the scene, in which (none knows 
how many) from two to four hundred people were cast into the white billows that 
were rolling furiously over the Island.

Fortunately, the steamboat drew too much water to float across the crest, 
otherwise she would have gone to sea and every soul on board found a watery 
grave. As it was her passengers were put into the hull whilst captain Abe Smith, 
who died a few months ago, and Thomas H. Ellis, of Terrebonne, who was a 
passenger, won immortal honors rescuing and saving the unfortunates, who were 
ready to perish; with a rope bound around their waist, they waded through the 
waters, picking up whomever they found and putting them on the steamer. Many 
persons owed their lives to those heroic men on that fatal night.

Many wonderful preservations were recorded. Mr William Rochelle having only one 
leg, found himself afloat, upon a billiard table, that had been overturned, in 
company with a negro and negresse. All night long they floated upon the waves, 
and when daylight came they were lost in the sea marshes. The negro, a few days 
afterward, in his sufferings jumped off the table and perished. On the Sunday 
following the storm, a lugger sailing along the coast discovered and rescued 
them, and carried them to the home of the owner on Bayou DeLarge. Mr. Rochelle 
begged the owner of the lugger to make another search, and find some other 
unfortunates which he did on Wednesday, ten days after the storm.

(To be continued in our next.)


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