- City:
- Mandeville, LA
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Paths and Trails, Campgrounds and Cabins, Shelters, Picnic and Other Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Started:
- 1938
- Completed:
- 1942
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
“On the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain, this 2800-acre park encompasses the remains of a nineteenth-century plantation, Fontainebleau, named after the Parisian forest…
The plantation was converted to a park beginning in 1938, one of Louisiana’s first state parks. Originally called Tchefuncte State Park, it opened in 1943 as Fontainebleau State Park. The State Parks Commission hired landscape architect William W. Wells to design the master plan, which was partially implemented by the Civilian Conservation Corp. The plan included group campsites, numerous Creole-influenced brick and rustic wood buildings, a beach, and a picnic area with an open-air shelter. An access road from State Highway 190, loosely influenced by a plantation road, terminates in an oval drive near the lake. Beyond the drive, park buildings face each other symmetrically across open lawn edged with wide sidewalks and planting beds. The group camps were added in 1948 further east from the park’s main center.” (https://tclf.org)
Much of the original CCC works still exist today.
Source notes
https://tclf.org/landscapes/fontainebleau-state-park https://www.woodallscm.com/tag/fontainebleau-state-park/Contribute to this Site
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