Welcome to Patterson

The shrimp boom reached Berwick Bay in the Depression. Jumbo white shrimp turned up in deep Gulf water, and when one Florida owner sent a boat from his fleet of 24 to fish out of Morgan City, ten to fifteen more followed almost overnight. Locals who had earned ten to fifteen cents an hour saw wages roughly double, by one local account. In 1937 a parade of fishermen, crabbers, dock workers and oystermen became the first Blessing of the Fleet, with a dance at Egle's Place, the start of the state's oldest chartered harvest festival.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum — 1.3 mi
  A Louisiana State Museum in Patterson on the world's largest cypress sawmill town and the Wedell-Williams racing planes, with a theater and changing exhibits.
• Grevemberg House Museum — 14 mi
  Franklin's 1851 Greek Revival townhouse, the official St. Mary Parish museum, saved from demolition by one vote and set in the Franklin Historic District on Bayou Teche.
• Chitimacha Museum — 19 mi
  The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana's own museum at Charenton: the tribe's account of its territory, the French wars and enslavement, the land held in trust, and river cane baskets.
• E. D. White Historic Site — 25 mi
  A National Historic Landmark house of about 1790 on Bayou Lafourche, built by enslaved people and home to two Whites, a governor and a Chief Justice, with an exhibit on the bayou's history.

More markers nearby

• Battle of Bisland — 4.0 mi
• Southwest Reef Lighthouse — 5.1 mi
• Welcome to Berwick — 5.2 mi
• Morgan City Floodwalls — 5.5 mi