Historical Marker
Grand Isle
Grand Isle, Jefferson County · Louisiana
The Chitimacha are the first known inhabitants of Grand Isle, hunting and fishing here before Spain divided the island. The four grantees of the 1780s were Jacques Rigaud, Francois Aufrey, Joseph Caillet and Charles Dufresne, and they ran cash-crop plantations alongside shrimp and oyster harvests. Some early settlers traded with Jean Lafitte's privateers. In the nineteenth century wealthy New Orleanians began arriving by steamer, the Harvey Hotel opened in 1866, and a highway tied the island to the mainland in 1931.
Where it stands
29.24300, -89.97740 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Fort Livingston — steps away
- Grand Isle, Louisiana — 2.0 mi
- Leeville Cemetery — 14 mi
- Golden Meadow High School — 20 mi