St. Bernard Parish

St. Bernard Parish is one of Louisiana’s great fishing communities. Recreational fishermen who visit invariably leave with a full ice chest. But with its immediate proximity to New Orleans, it has a long and exciting history. It hosted the greatest U.S. victory in the War of 1812: the Battle of New Orleans. It was at Chalmette Battlefield that Col. Andrew Jackson became a national hero. He defeated a British invasion at the head of a motley army of federal soldiers, local privateers, Choctaw warriors, and militias from New Orleans, consisting of both white Creoles and Creoles of color. You can get the full story at Chalmette National Historical Park. Though French culture is strong here, St. Bernard was named for the patron saint of the great Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Galvez. It attracted a great number of Spanish “Isleños,” immigrants from the Canary Islands, whose influence remains considerable.