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In some areas of Lafourche Parish, time appears to have stood still, at least architecturally speaking.
Changes have occurred but some landmarks, like the Lafourche Parish courthouse, a few plantation buildings and churches have remained unscathed.
Head Archivist at Nicholls State University’s Ellender Memorial Library, Clifton Theriot preserved many of them and resurrected others in his new pictorial book, “Images of America Lafourche Parish” (Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014).
The book’s 128 pages are graced with photographs of landmark places that figure into the parish’s history, including some dating back to the early 19th Century.
The book is part of Arcadia’s Images of America series, joining profiles of other venues such as the Alaskan whaling coast, Jackson Heights, New York and Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina.
Theriot said that other books have been written about individual communities in Lafourche such as Thibodaux and Raceland, this is the first comprehensive treatment of historic sites parish-wide.
Theriot said history professor Dr. Paul Leslie approached him with the idea.
“He brought the idea to me, and we discussed it. We knew there were several books on community history throughout this parish. If you come into the area, you have to buy all those different books to have a complete view of the parish.”
Theriot added, “This would be a way to fit the entire parish into one book. I really liked that idea. It took a few years to find the time to get it all together.”
Theriot said the most difficult part was limitations on how many photos could be used.
“I had way more photographs than I needed because you are limited to how many you can put in the book. They have a set number. That was the hard part,” Theriot said. “I could have probably done a book just on Thibodaux because of how many photos I had. To represent the whole parish, you have to take some out and put the most important ones in. I tried to pick things that people would recognize or remember. I picked things like the courthouse or old City Hall, things that people could relate to.”
The cover features a vintage picture of ferry landing that once ran across Bayou Lafourche near St. Charles Borromeo Church, which Theriot said gives a good idea of what awaits inside.
“I chose the photo because it is very typical of Lafourche Parish because the bayou is in it, the church is in it and there is a large congregation,” the Gheens native said.
Theriot combed through the archives and making notes of which photographs he wanted to use. Theriot even reached out to folks for photos in areas that did not have much in the archives.
The archivist said his favorite photo is the last one in the book.
Theriot received the picture from Louella Picciola Pitre, which features a trapper’s cabin located in Perrilliat near Port Fourchon and Grand Isle.
“I had never heard about it before and wanted to know the history of it so we found the original spelling of it, who settled and who owned it,” Theriot said. “I thought, ‘you know, I will bet there are not know about this so this needs to be in the book.’ That is the last photo in the book. I didn’t know they even had photographs of it.”
After figuring out which pictures would be used, Theriot wrote the captions using multiple historical resources to give readers the basic history behind what is featured in the photograph.
“You are limited to so many words. I had to focus it,” Theriot said.
One the biggest challenges for the captions was deciphering truth from fiction.
“Over the years, things have been published about some of the buildings so it was hard to say ‘This contradicts this’ so what do I say? Sometimes I had to take what was written and research myself whether it was correct or not,” he said.
Once Theriot finished writing, the next step was layout. He axed the option of an index because he would have less space for the pictures.
Theriot decided to arrange the book geographically. There is a map of Lafourche Parish at the beginning of the book that shows the most northern tip down to the most southern tip.
“I figure that even without an index you can figure out where to go because it is arranged geographically,” he said.
With the hard work over and Images of America Lafourche Parish being available in stores, Theriot said he enjoyed the entire process.
“I liked doing all of it,” he said. “It was hard cutting out, but it was fun seeing everything.”
That passion for history and specifically that of Lafourche comes from Theriot’s memory of his grandmother Lorena Plaisance Dufrene, to whom the book is co-dedicated along with his deceased friend and fellow historian Doris Mae Ledet.
“When I was young, [Dufrene] would always tell me stories about how she grew up,” Theriot said. “She told me about her family and what life was like so I wanted to know more about it.”
Theriot grew up at Golden Ranch Plantation, much like the four generations before him.
“Including myself, there were five generations of my family who lived on that property,” he said. “We did not own the plantation, but we lived and worked there.”
When Theriot first got a job in the archive department as a student worker at Nicholls, he began to look at the genealogy resources to trace his family history.
“The more I realized what was out there, the more I wanted to learn,” he said.”
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in history, his enthusiasm for History took him to Baton Rouge where he received his master’s degree in Library Science and became a certified archivist. The job opened up for head archivist so Theriot jumped on it and has not looked back.
“When I got the job here in archives, I thought it was cool,” Theriot said. “I have always loved history and felt this was a way to help preserve local history.”
The book can be found at local retail outlets, online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other sites, or direct from the publisher at www.arcadiapublishing.com. Its retail price is $21.99.
“Images of America: Lafourche Parish” author Clifton Theriot’s interest in history goes back five generations. When Theriot was young, his grandmother, Lorena Plaisance Dufrene, shared stories of family members working the Golden Ranch Plantation.
