David Schexnaydre
Current Hometown: Prairieville Schexnaydre’s mother was from Grand Bayou and he visited almost every weekend. Favorite Thing to Do Just go visit all my kin people and play out in the country. Favorite Memory Chatting with all my uncles cause they were some characters. And probably one of the funniest things was always chatting with my Aunt Hazel Rousseau Aucoin. She was such a funny lady, she would always make you laugh. Most Missed I miss everything about Grand Bayou. Everything. You brought a tear to my eye. We have so many stories we can tell from when we were little. Grand Bayou Traditions Knowing that we are a close-knit caring family and we always always always hug and tell each other we love ’em. I miss everything about Grand Bayou. Everything.
Donna Booty
Current Hometown: Plattenville Booty, whose mother grew up in Grand Bayou, was the first grandchild of the Dupre family that owned the grocery store by the bridge. Favorite Thing to Do I used to love to go to the store. The house was right next to the store. We were always in the store visiting. It was an old community all the people would come in and buy groceries and visit. Favorite Memory Visiting with my Great Aunt Lou. I really enjoyed visiting with her, she would show my pictures and tell stories and I would just stay there all day long. She would just talk and I would listen. Most Missed I miss my grandparents house being there. When all that happened, they moved my grandparents house to Paincourtville. When you were in the house, you could almost think you were still there. You know, but when you walked out and realized you weren’t in Grand Bayou. I do miss the house not being there and being able to visit on holidays. Grand Bayou Traditions We used to get together for every holiday and my grandpa would make a crawfish stew and that was the tradition for every holiday and we still to this day have that tradition in my parents and my family. With my children and my grandchild, we still do the crawfish stew. We used to get together for every holiday and my grandpa would make a crawfish stew and that was the tradition for every holiday and we still to this day have that tradition in my parents and my family.
Greg Leblanc
Current Hometown: Pierre Part Leblanc is from Grand Bayou and, as he says, “In fact I never really left Grand Bayou you could say because my mother and father still lived there until they were displaced.” Favorite Thing to Do All my life was hunting and fishing. I’ve always been there, I’ve always hunted and fished in the area. Favorite Memory A lot of favorite memories. My mama and daddy actually picked turtle eggs and hatched them and caught little turtles on the water. We did all the things that could be done — fishing truck lines, hunting, catching frogs, things like that. Most Missed I see it now, the habit that we have lost in the last 50 years. What the landscape was before and now, how it’s just eroding rapidly. I’m still there on a weekly basis especially during hunting season, so I get to see first hand how rapidly we are losing ground. Grand Bayou Traditions I still pick turtle eggs with my grandkids. Ever since they were two and three years old I still picked a few turtle eggs and hatched them and showed them how they did things in the olden days. I still pick turtle eggs with my grandkids. Ever since they were two and three years old I still picked a few turtle eggs and hatched them and showed them how they did things in the olden days.
Joey Dupre
Current Hometown: Belle Rose Dupre grew up in Grand Bayou and lived there for more than 20 yeras. Favorite Thing to Do Probably fishing because the bayou was 100 foot from our house. We had that, and we had a little pond, which was a 200-300 yard walk from there, so we fished a lot as kids. Favorite Memory That’s hard to say, I guess when we used to fish after a really big rain there’d be a lot of catfish, we’d catch a lot of catfish right there 100 feet from our house. We’d catch enough to, you know, have a big meal and stuff. That was probably my favorite thing. Most Missed Just the people mostly, because a lot of them were relatives. Basically it was such a small area, that we knew everybody, you know, we just knew everybody, all the family and everything. It’s kind of like one big family. When I was there, I think we might’ve had 100 people, so I mean there were no strangers in town, we knew everybody. So that’s probably what I’d miss the most. Grand Bayou Traditions No, not really I don’t think so. That’s pretty much all lost I think. Maybe just being from a small town, you tend to be more friendly, I guess, on average, you know, when you first meet people. That might be a hold-over maybe. We used to fish after a really big rain there’d be a lot of catfish, we’d catch a lot of catfish right there 100 feet from our house. We’d catch enough to, you know, have a big meal and stuff.
Judy Rousseau Clark
Current Hometown: Labadieville Clark grew up in Grand Bayou and lived there until she was 19 years old. Favorite Thing to Do My favorite thing to do was swimming with friends in the bayou. Favorite Memory Swimming in Grand Bayou with friends and family. Most Missed I miss the closeness of the community. Grand Bayou Traditions I guess the only thing I still do is try to stay in touch with family and friends, if you can call that a tradition. My favorite thing to do was swimming with friends in the bayou.
June Dupre Bouchereau
Current Hometown: Donaldsonville Bouchereau was raised in Grand Bayou and lived there until she was 20 years old. Favorite Thing to Do Having all the age group of you know…. within say 5-10 years, lower and higher to have all those friends and relatives to play with and spend time with. So if you bottled everything that I love to do…..I never did anything by myself. But just getting together with everybody. Favorite Memory Swimming in the bayou. Most Missed Being surrounded by everyone you knew and loved, and you knew they loved you. Everybody knew each other. That’s just the best secure feeling. Grand Bayou Traditions We have crawfish boils. I’m still in touch with my friends and family from Grand Bayou. [I miss] being surrounded by everyone you knew and loved, and you knew they loved you.
Tracy Scioneaux-Gaudet
Current Hometown: Brusly St. Martin Scioneaux-Gaudet was born and raised in Grand Bayou. She lived there until 2006 when she was forced to leave and built a home 5 miles down the road. Favorite Thing to Do We had so many good childhood memories, my father was a sugarcane farmer. I’m the youngest of seven children, we spent a lot of time outdoors. We played outside, riding four wheelers, I use to play with my cousin a lot. We built wood boats and we would go up and down the display with our wood boats we would build. Favorite Memory I miss the close knit community and having my family so close by. Everything was in walking distance, all of my memories are good for Grand Bayou because I was young growing up. I had both of my parents, they both were very loving. I cannot pick a favorite because I just have so many memories. My mom passed away right before we moved. She was still living before the evacuation, she had cancer. She was going through chemo and so, one of my favorite memories is just having my parents. Most Missed I miss most the small community, where you did not have to lock doors, where you visited with your neighbors. Before all the technology took over it was a very simple, happy place to grow up. Grand Bayou Traditions No, not really. When we moved from Grand Bayou, I lost a part of my soul. Part of my soul and heart stayed in Grand Bayou because that is where all my great memories were. You know it was unfair that we had to give up our childhood and our childhood memories and now it’s a ghost town. So, now when I pass through there, there’s no good vibes anymore. There is nothing that exists, the community I knew and grew up knowing is diminished and all gone. When we moved from Grand Bayou, I lost a part of my soul. Part of my soul and heart stayed in Grand Bayou because that is where all my great memories were.
High Water // A Seasonal Reality
Nicki Lirette Boudreaux
Current Hometown: Thibodaux Boudreaux’s mother was born in Grand Bayou and she visited extended family on weekends. Favorite Thing to Do & Favorite Memory I grew up in Paincourtville, about 5 miles away, but my grandmother lived in Grand Bayou my whole life, and I would go there on the weekends. I was a lot younger than all the rest of my cousins. My mom was 15 years younger than her closest sibling, so when I would go to Grand Bayou, I was one of the only kids around. I would go spend weekends wih my grandmother, and we would play a lot of cards. I would sit under the big oak tree and read. I would just sit and swing on her porch, we would visit her and my great aunts and listen to them tell stories, and we would walk across the bridge and go to the store. I would play cooking under the oak tree with a stick and some dirt. We would play a lot of hide-and-seek with some friends if I was able to bring some. I just enjoyed a lot of the simple things. Most Missed Probably just my grandmother in general. I can picture so many things about her she’s been gone now since 1997. My grandmother and Grand Bayou are one in the same. Her house isn’t there anymore, so it’s just…. she was Grand Bayou. Grand Bayou Traditions My grandmother’s cooking. Just like any good Cajun, the thing that lives is food. We talk a lot about things Maw Maw cooked and so that’s how Grand Bayou still lives on for me. It’s cooking the things she cooked or trying to cook the things she cooked. So far, I have her spaghetti and vegetable soup recipe down pat. I would say that’s how Grand Bayou lives on for me, is through my grandmother’s food. I would say that’s how Grand Bayou lives on for me, is through my grandmother’s food.
Finding Grand Bayou // Mislabeled Waterways
By Chakyra Butler, Staff Writer With only a few abandoned buildings left in Grand Bayou, it can be a difficult place to find. An internet search for Grand Bayou, Louisiana, pulls up a community in North Louisiana near Shreveport. And when the area is finally found on a map, Google Maps has mislabeled the area’s waterways — once the center of the vibrant community. Online, the waterway along Highway 69, near Highway 70, is labeled as Avoca Island Cutoff. That bayou, along with many other surrounding waterways, are all mislabeled with that same name. Some former residents of Grand Bayou were not even aware of the bayou being incorrectly named. “I don’t know why it’s like that,” says Nicki Boudreaux, whose maternal family is from Grand Bayou. “We talked about calling Google and having them fix it.” Former resident Jerry Rousseau says he did not know Grand Bayou was mislabeled until it was recently brought to his attention. He said the bayou and the canals go to Lake Verret, not the cutoff. “So, Avoca Island is definitely not right there,” Rousseau says. “It’s just mislabeled.” Rousseau says his property, the Hebert property, in Bayou Corne is mislabeled at Assumption Parish Assessor’s Office. The real Avoca Island is located south of Morgan City and off the Intracoastal Waterway in the Morgan City bayous. It’s bay, Avoca Island Cutoff, is more than 40 miles away from Grand Bayou.