After receiving numerous emails and phone calls regarding the Air Force jet that crashed into Mud Lake in the early 1950s, the Herald-Guide is asking for community help in solving another area mystery.
This time, the target is Black Prince Island, which can be viewed as a clustering of cypress trees across from the pump station near Bayou Gauche Road. There are several different rumors regarding how the island got its name, but no one seems to know the real story behind it.
Councilman Paul Hogan said that neither he, nor anyone he has asked, knows the why the island was named Black Prince.
“I asked all my elderly relatives and some of the other elderly people in the area and they have just always remembered it as Black Prince Island,” he said. “Someone said it may have to do with the devil, but no one knows for sure.”
In the early 1900s, The St. Charles Development Company Inc. of Waterloo, Iowa was trying to get people to move to a tract of land on Black Prince Bayou in Des Allemands.
According to a promotional poster, the area consisted of “thirteen thousand acres of smooth prairie land and five hundred acres of timber, consisting of cypress, gum, hackberry, and live oak.”
A hotel was also situated on a boat landing, but the project faded away over the years.
“I’m not sure what the connection is between Black Prince Island and Black Prince Bayou,” Hogan said. “I’m not even sure if there is a connection.”
Anyone who believes they have information about Black Prince Island may send an email to editor@heraldguide.com or call (985)758-2795.
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