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History · Pointe a la Hache

1 of Pointe a la Hache’s places is on the National Register

Most of Pointe a la Hache was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: 12 old photos and papers and maps from 1891 on.

1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Pointe a la Hache’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Pointe a la Hache’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 18915 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1973. Watch Pointe a la Hache change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Pointe a la Hache, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1755–1935.
★ What stands out · On the map

Pointe a la Hache on the map, 1891 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pointe a la Hache. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Pointe a la Hache on the 1891 USGS mapPointe a la Hache on the 1939 USGS mapPointe a la Hache on the 1944 USGS mapPointe a la Hache on the 1962 USGS mapPointe a la Hache on the 1973 USGS map1891Pointe a La Hache sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pointe a la Hache.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Martin, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Poirte A La Hache
1852–today
Martin
1889–1891
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BeshelMartinPointe à la Hache
Gone or out of use
Plaquemines Parish Fire Departmentbuilding

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

By decade

Pointe a la Hache, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1750s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1750s1 item
Mitchell Map-Louisiana 1770s1755Mitchell Map-Louisiana 1770sMap
1890s1 item
Plaquemines Parish Pointe à la Hache Map 18911891Plaquemines Parish Pointe à la Hache Map 1891Map
1900s–1920snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1930s10 items
Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaPriest at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Priest at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaPriest at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Priest at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaPriest at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Priest at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaCemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaCemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaCemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, LouisianaTomb painter in cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Tomb painter in cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisi…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Cemetery at Poin…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Priest at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana1935Untitled photo, possibly related to: Priest at Pointe…
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
The story

How Pointe a la Hache came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pointe a la Hache.

Read it all →

Native American settlement in the area goes back thousands of years. The earliest European settlement in the area was by the French about 1700. The name "Pointe à la Hache" is French for "axe point, or cape". In the Mitchell Map of 1755, this is marked as "Hatchet Point"

Ruins remain of the early 18th-century French installation, Fort de La Boulaye, that was built by French colonists to defend their claim of territory against the Spanish and English interests. The land there is mostly marshland, with a strip of higher land less than a mile wide between the wetlands and the Mississippi River.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Pointe a la Hache, 1755 to 1935

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1755In the archiveMitchell Map-Louisiana 1770s
  3. 19th century
  4. 1852Post officeThe Poirte A La Hache post office opens
  5. 1889Post officeThe Martin post office opens
  6. 1891In the archivePlaquemines Parish Pointe à la Hache Map 1891
  7. 1891Post officeThe Martin post office closes
  8. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 20th century
  10. 1935In the archiveCemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Cemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana
Retake this viewCemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana, 1935

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pointe a la Hache’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Pointe a la Hache

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2018
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church and Ceme…
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church and Cemetery
Districts
All 1 listings
St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church and CemeteryDistrict · listed 2018

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Pointe a la Hache’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCemetery at Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Pointe a la Hache’s history

What is on the National Register in Pointe a la Hache?

One place: the St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church and Cemetery (listed 2018).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (10), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.