Bayou St. John is a narrow, slow-moving waterway that cuts through the city, distinguished by its calm, reflective surface and the green, grassy banks that separate it from the surrounding streets. This bayou provided the vital portage route that Native American guides showed the French explorers Iberville and Bienville in sixteen ninety-nine. By offering a direct path from the Gulf of Mexico through Lake Pontchartrain, the waterway allowed settlers to bypass the treacherous mouth of the Mississippi River, directly influencing the decision to establish New Orleans on its present site in seventeen eighteen.
Bayou St. John
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