http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5041976
Katrina
Louisiana's 'Islenos' Torn Apart by Katrina
by John Burnett
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John Burnett, NPR
Decima singer and woodcarver Irvan Perez, 82, stands in front of the flood-damaged workshop in his home in St. Bernard. He's convinced the community will rebuild.
Songs of The Islenos
Irvan Perez is one of the few Islenos who still remember the old Spanish folksongs called 'decimas.' Perez sings two 'decimas' and explains their background:
'Setecientos Setentaisiete' ('Seventeen Seventy-Seven')
'La Vida de un Jaibero' ('The Crab Fisherman's Life')
Read the Lyrics in English
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John Burnett, NPR
Commercial fisherman Charles Morales, 65, holds up freshly caught blue crabs as he stands in front of damaged buildings on Delacroix Island, Louisiana. He worries about the future of the Isleno communities, and where their inhabitants will go.
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John Burnett, NPR
The Los Islenos Museum, run by the Los Islenos Heritage and Cultural Society, had its front torn off when an 80-foot-tall water oak crashed down on it. Islenos Society officials say they are making plans to rebuild the museum.
Morning Edition, December 7, 2005 � Of all the groups in the micro-melting pot of South Louisiana hit by Hurricane Katrina, it's hard to find a more close-knit community than the Islenos. The descendants of Spanish-speaking Canary Islanders who settled St. Bernard Parish more than 200 years ago are now struggling to restore a community that was dispersed by Katrina's winds and floods.
Drive deep into St. Bernard Parish, and you notice the names on the mailboxes: Nunez, Marrero, Estopinal, Rodriguez, Gonzales, Perez. Two-thirds of the parish's 70,000 residents are Islenos.
Like the population of French Cajuns farther west, Islenos came to Louisiana when it was a European colony. They stayed, and today they're a cultural island.
The French get all the attention in South Louisiana. But the Islenos -- literally, Islanders -- have just as rich a history and culture. The colonial government of New Spain [actually the Captain General and the Bishop of Cuba had jurisdiction over Spanish Louisiana] brought some 3,000 of them here from the Canary Islands between 1778 and 1783, to colonize the wild swamplands of St. Bernard Parish and serve as a frontier militia against British encroachment.
For the next two centuries, they survived hurricanes and epidemics, and became expert shrimpers, crabbers, oystermen, muskrat trappers and bootleggers.
Now there's almost nothing left of the oldest Isleno communities.
Katrina's 20-foot storm surge and high winds destroyed nearly every structure. The hurricane tore new lakes in the marsh. Truck bumpers and boat sterns poke out of the dark waters of Bayou Terre aux Boeufs. Dead marsh grass hangs on everything, giving the appearance of the palmetto huts the Islenos built when they first arrived.
The family of Irvan Perez, an Isleno singer and woodcarver, grew up on Delacroix Island. After Hurricane Betsy in 1965, they moved farther up the parish where they thought they'd be safe.
But then Katrina put five feet of water in their homes. The extended Perez family now lives in FEMA trailers in a state park six hours away. And there are few signs that the battered economy of St. Bernard Parish will call them back anytime soon. Making things less certain for the Isleno culture are the parish's disappearing wetlands, which are central to the Isleno identity.
It will take time, but the Islenos say they're coming back. Some will rebuild, away from the water. Some young people will scatter. But, as Irvan Perez says: "This is home. Where else would we go?"
Related NPR Stories
Oct. 26, 2005The Ties that Bind St. Bernard Parish
Oct. 17, 2005The Many Accents of New Orleans
Oct. 2, 2005Fighting Back in Terrebonne Parish
Sep. 4, 2005Easing Troubles with Zydeco at a Louisiana Cafe
Click here: Preliminary damage assessment of Los Islenos Museum Complex and Canary Islands Descendants Association Museum
http://www.canaryislanders.org/stbernard-iv.htm
III. & IV. PRELIMINARY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF LOS ISLENOS MUSEUM COMPLEX AND CANARY ISLANDS DESCENDANTS ASSOCIATION MUSEUM
III. Los Islenos Museum Complex
Los Islenos Museum Complex consists of ten buildings. Eight are historic structures, all in the process of being restored. Our multi-purpose building, called the Islenos Center is the meeting place of Los Islenos Society and an important gathering place for the community. A replica trapper�s cabin, constructed by Islenos Society volunteers in 2003, had become an important interpretive destination.
The historic structures situated on the museum complex site consist of El Museo de los Islenos, Ducros Historical Museum and Library, Coconut Island Barroom, Estopinal house, kitchen and privy, Esteves house and Caserta house. The structures were built over a 140 year time span, ranging from the late 18th century to 1922.
El Museo de los Islenos was built about 1840 by Vicente Nunez deVillavicencio, the son of Canarian colonists from La Laguna in Tenerife and Aguimes in Gran Canaria. A 90 foot tall water oak collapsed during the flood, caused by the hurricane and crushed the front two rooms. However, Dr. Sherwood Gagliano, of Louisiana State University, who inspected the museum September 15, 2005 believes that the building is recoverable. Much of the structure of the building is intact. Regretfully, all of the interpretive displays were destroyed. About five feet of water remained in the building for an extended period.
Ducros Historical Museum and Library was built about 1800 by Leonardo Estopinal (Estupinan). His father, Diego Estupinan, was a native of Aguimes-Ingenio and settled in St. Bernard in 1783. The house was flooded by about five feet of water. While the exhibits are damaged, the building appears to have received no severe structural damage. Ducros and Islenos Museums are situated in their original site locations.
The Estopinal House was moved to the museum complex site in 1999. The building dates to the 1780's and is identical to those homes constructed by the Spanish Government for the Canarian colonists. The roof of the Estopinal House was shorn off by 150 mile per hour winds. The Estopinal kitchen floated off of its piers and is resting on the ground. The privy will require some repair, but is salvageable.
The Coconut Island Barroom, built in 1922, was flooded but is not irreparable. This Structure was built for Edward Messa whose ancestors originated in Aguimes. This structure is a popular venue for interpretive program illustrating Islenos life in the early 20th century.
The Esteves and Caserta Houses were flooded, but appear to have received no significant damage. After cleaning the structures and the completion of repairs, restoration efforts will resume.
The Isleno Center, constructed in 2000, was flooded and was reset diagonally on its masonry piers by tide water flooding. Consequently, the building is off about 24 inches at the widest point from the piers upon which the structure stands. While some structural damage has obviously occurred, hopefully it is not very serious. The movement of the building is attributable to the force of the tidal wave as it receded. Had the Isleno Center not been positioned where it is, the historic structures beyond the center would have been even more seriously damaged or destroyed.
The replica trapper�s cabin has been seriously damaged. Several structural beams have been cracked.
Although a catastrophe has befallen the facility, we believe that efforts to repair and restore the facility will ultimately succeed. Access to professional architectural and engineering counsel is not possible at this juncture because virtually no one is living or working in New Orleans. All universities in New Orleans are closed for this semester and probably will remain closed for the academic year. We will work diligently to access the professional expertise we need to develop specifications and cost projections to restore Los Islenos Museum Complex to its former appearance.
IV. Canary Islands Descendants Association Museum
This building was opened by the Descendants Association in 2001 as a museum. The Descendants Association owns their museum building and the surrounding property.
Therefore, we are not authorized to speak for the Association. An interesting collection of late 19th and 20th century furniture comprised the majority of the exhibit housed in the Association Museum.
Sergio Ramos Lopez, William Hyland, and Mrs. Barbara Bacot made an exterior site inspection of the Association museum and found the back door of the building opened. We walked in to the kitchen and found that flood waters had reached six feet in height in the building. Furniture, kitchen items and decorative pieces had been scattered throughout the house by the flood water, covered with two to five inches of marsh muck and grass. While the collection has been seriously damaged, much of it can probably be recovered.
The Canarian descendants organizations will work together to recover from the disaster posed by Hurricane Katrina.
Click here: StBernard
http://www.losislenos.org/history.htm
St. Bernard Parish's
LosIsle�os.OrgHistory - How We Began
St. Bernard Isle�os
LOUISIANA'S SPANISH TREASURE
Beginning in the 1300s, kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula (predating the establishment of the Kingdom of Spain) began searching for gold and other mineral wealth to enrich their realms. King Henry of Castille commissioned Jean de Bethancourt to explore and colonize the Canary Islands, which he began with the conquest of Lanzarote Island in 1399 and ended with the conquest of Tenerife in 1496. The Canaries became the first colonial territory of the Spanish Empire.
Christopher Columbus' last stop before discovering the New World was Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Because of their geographic location, the Canaries became the unquestioned gateway to the Americas throughout the period which sailing craft dominated the seas. The islands, situated off the African coast were located at about one-third the distance along the sailing route to the West Indies and are the last land mass lying between Europe, Africa and the Americas. The Canarian chain consists of thirteen islands of which seven are inhabited. St. Bernard was settled by colonists from each of the inhabited islands which are named Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Hierro, Tenerife, LaPalma and Gomera.
The Canary Islands became a proving ground for policies, which were utilized in the administration of the Spanish Empire. Slavery and the cultivation of sugar cane were introduced to the Americas through the Canaries. Canary Islanders or Isle�os formed the vanguard of colonists in colonization programs throughout the Spanish Empire. Canarians settled in Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, Santo Domingo, the Philipine Islands and other areas throughout the Spanish Empire. Colonists predominately from Gran Canaria founded San Antonio, Texas in 1731.
France ceded Louisiana to Spain and Great Britain in 1766 following the French and Indian War. Spain acquired that part of Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi River and the Island of Orleans, an area east of the Mississippi including New Orleans. Early in the 1770's Spanish officials learned that the British were planning to invade and occupy the Province of Louisiana, using the province as a base from which to attack Mexico and deprive Spain of the vast deposits of Mexican silver and gold. The British attempted to realize their plans almost fifty years later during the Battle of New Orleans.
Consequently, Spanish administrators started developing Louisiana as a barrier between Mexico and the British colonies east of the Mississippi River. Reacting to successful British colonization efforts along the Gulf Coast in British West Florida, Spain settled thousands of immigrants from Malaga and the Canaries, as well as Acadian refugees, in Louisiana. The settlers came to Louisiana to increase production of food, populate the province and defend it against the projected British invasion.
The first Isle�os arrived in Louisiana during 1778 and continued to arrive in the province until 1783. They were settled in four locations, strategically placed around New Orleans to guard approaches to the city.
Galveztown, situated just below Baton Rouge, was the first settlement. The others were Valenzuela, located along Bayou Lafourche; Barataria, located along Bayou des Familles in Jefferson Parish; and La Concepcion, later San Bernardo, located in St. Bernard Parish along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs. A fifth settlement for Bayougoulas was planned, but never completed.
Isle�os fought against the British during the American Revolution through their service in the Galvez Expedition. Militiamen from the four Isle�o settlements, including San Bernardo, participated in the three major military campaigns (Baton Rouge, Mobile and Pensacola) of the expedition, which resulted in the expulsion of the British presence from what is now the United States Gulf Coast.
The male inhabitants of Terre-aux-Boeufs and the river area, including Plaquemines, were organized into the Volunteers of the Mississippi during the 1780's. This regiment of militia remained intact and was incorporated in the state militia after 1803 as the Third Regiment of Louisiana Militia. In September of 1814, news of a possible British invasion began to circulate along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs, and arouse concerns among the Canarian farmers. The Isle�os were organized into three of the regiment's companies.
The Third Regiment was called to active service on December 16, 1814 to help defend against the British invasion. They had very few weapons, relying on their shotguns as their primary weapons. Many did not own shotguns, and some served unarmed. Their officers furnished a small number of weapons, but the government supplied none. The Isle�os fought in the night battle of December 23, 1814 and sustained the worst property losses and hardships resulting from the British invasion of Louisiana.
de Galvez was governor of Louisiana when the Isle�os arrived. Galvez took a personal interest in the Canarian settlers, many of whom had been "recruited" for service in Louisiana during Mat, as de Galvez's governorship of the Canaries (Matias was Bernardo's father.) The Spanish government had houses constructed for the Canarian colonists and their families and awarded small grants of land to each Isle colonist. These land grants were awarded according to the size of each family. Hence, larger families received greater acreage. Subsidies of food, cloth and tools, as well as annual subsidies of money were given by Spain to most Isle�os colonists. The government's subsidies began in 1778 and continued in St. Bernard until the settlement was declared self-sustaining in 1785
Of the four Isle�o settlements, San Bernardo was most successful. Established along the banks of Bayou Terre-aux-Bouefs, an abandoned channel of the Mississippi River, the Isle�o farmers of San Bernardo provided the New Orleans market with the majority of garlic, onions, beans, potatoes and poultry consumed in the city in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The settlement of St. Bernard began in 1779 on land, which was donated to the King of Spain for the colonization of Canary Islanders by Pierre Phillipe de Marigny. St. Bernard was settled by two successive groups of Isle�o families.
The first group arrived in 1779 and settled an area extending from Poydras Plantation to Contreras Plantation, establishing settlements now known as St. Bernard and Toca Villages. This settlement was originally called "el Primero Poblacin," or the First Settlement. Isle�os from Gomera Island were among the first to settle in "el Segundo Poblacin,"or the Second Settlement, during 1783.
Eventually, this settlement was named Benchijigua after a mountain and region in Gomera from which several colonists had originated. The settlement name was later corrupted to Bencheque by French-speaking sugar planters and is currently known as Reggio. Originally, the Bencheque-Reggio settlement extended roughly from Verret through Woodlake.
Isle�o colonists from Tenerife brought the tradition of domesticating cattle to St. Bernard. Ranchers throughout Louisiana and eastern Texas brought herds of cattle to St. Bernard Village for training by Isle�os, who became renowned for their ability to domesticate animals. The tradition of cattle training evolved in Tenerife because of a scarcity of horses and mules. Tenerfenos were forced to utilize oxen in the cultivation of crops throughout the island. In addition to cattle training and farming, Isle�os in the 19th century worked on the sugar plantations, harvesting sugar cane and cypress.
Drayage performed by ox-drawn carts declined rapidly following the establishment of the Mexican Gulf Railroad in 1836, one of the earliest railroads in the South. By the 1840's, the railroad had begun to penetrate the Terre-aux-Boeufs section of eastern St. Bernard Parish in fulfillment of plans to establish a deep water port connecting the Mississippi Sound to New Orleans and serve the sugar plantations and vegetable farms located in that area. After several years of vigorous opposition by Isle�o farmers and draymen, railroad construction was completed to Lake Borgne at what became Old Shell Beach by 1850. The bulk of sugar cane, produce and wild game harvested in St. Bernard Parish was shipped to New Orleans using the railroad after the War Between the States.
The homes of the Isle�os along Bayou Road were virtually identical to the numerous houses of small farmers residing above and below New Orleans along the Mississippi River. They typically consisted of four rooms with porches in the front and rear. Two small storage rooms flanked either side of the rear porch. The homes were covered most frequently with steeply pitched gabled roofs. The kitchens were always detached from the residence. Other outbuildings included barns, corncribs, chicken coops and stables for livestock.
Isle�o social life was centered on the family and Roman Catholicism. Three and occasionally four generations of Isle�o families lived together on farms along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs. Families ate all meals together and were dominated by the eldest male family member or patriarch. Isle�os celebrated religious feast days with great ceremony, followed by much dancing and the consumption of large amounts of food. (Isle�os Cookbook).
St. Bernard Church, established in 1785, became the first church parish below New Orleans. The first permanent church building was begun in 1787 and built at the geographic center of the Isle�o settlements along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs.
Public proclamations were posted on the doors of the church from the colonial era until the War between the States. Public meetings were held on the grounds in front of the church and the local militia was periodically mustered there during the colonial period. Founded in 1787, the St. Bernard Cemetery began in the churchyard, but burials were soon moved directly opposite the church. This is one of the oldest existing burial grounds in Louisiana. The cemetery is the burial place of the original Isle�o colonists in St. Bernard.
Manuel Solis and Antonio Mendez, two officials in the Spanish administration of Colonial Louisiana, perfected the process of granulating sugar at their plantation in Woodlake in 1787. By the early 1790s, sugar cane was rapidly replacing indigo as the major cash crop of Louisiana. The soil and climatic conditions below New Orleans proved particularly conducive to the cultivation of sugar cane. Sugar planters began purchasing Isle�o land grants and gradually amassed large estates along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs. At least ten large sugar plantations were established by the 1840s in the former Isle�o settlements
After selling their land grants to the planters, the Isle�os frequently worked on the plantations they helped to create. Those who tired of plantation work began to resettle in the easternmost reaches of St. Bernard around the 1820s resulting in the firm establishment of Delacroix Island fishing community before the Civil War. By the end of the nineteenth century, Yscloskey and Shell Beach near Lake Borgne were thriving communities inhabited primarily by Isle�o commercial fishermen. Seafood harvested by these fishermen in the 1800s and 1900s supplied New Orleans restaurants with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of shrimp, fish and crabs.
Trapping of fur bearing animals, which had always been important to Louisiana since its inception as a French colony, became a particularly important livelihood for the Isle�os following the Civil War
Before World War II, the marshes of St. Bernard Parish were nationally recognized for their abundance of mink, muskrat and other fur bearing animals, all of which produced pelts, which were highly prized in the manufacture of coats and clothing. Many Isle�os enjoyed a new prosperity resulting from their pursuit of trapping and commercial fishing. The fur industry was a multi-million dollar industry in Louisiana prior to the 1940s.
Hunting was another important occupation of the Canary Islanders who migrated to Louisiana. Isle�os hunted not only to partially sustain their households, but also to supply a commercial market in New Orleans with game. Ducks were the most highly sought after type of game commercially.
Improved roads begun in the 1920s gradually opened eastern St. Bernard Parish to the remainder of southeast Louisiana. The Isle�os who had been previously isolated began traveling outside the fishing communities of eastern St. Bernard to sell seafood and fur pelts.
Following World War II, many Isle�os returning home began to seek work opportunities in the large industrial facilities, which developed along the Mississippi River in the 1940s and 1950s. Their children were reared outside the traditional Isle�o cultural environment and did not learn to speak Spanish. Today, thousands of Isle�o descendants live throughout the metropolitan New Orleans area.
Nevertheless, the elderly Isle�os still speak an archaic Spanish dialect, brought to Louisiana more than two centuries ago. They have preserved to a large extent, their distinct cultural identity.
Today, the Isle�o communities of St. Bernard Parish survive as the last living vestige of Spanish Colonial Louisiana.
Additional History on the Los Isle�os Heritage & Cultural Society!
Other Isle�os links:
Paul Newfield III's Brass Cannon
Canary Island Descendents CIDA Site
Genweb: La Genealog�a de Las Islas Canarias
Canary Islanders Society of Louisiana
Somos Primos (Spanish Heritage)
Canary Islanders Heritage Society of Louisiana
Canary Island Migration
Lousiana Folklife Center: Isle�os
People in Louisiana
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