Historic Land Use Study of a Portion of the Barataria Unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, Part 2
Swanson B. 1988. Historic Land Use Study of a Portion of the Barataria Unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, Part 2. National Park Service
In 1865-66, when Rufus King Cutler and Pierre Ernest Beauvais purchased the original tracts of lands for the Christmas Plantation from Marie Julie Gabrielle Lemoine, widow of Pierre Rochefort, the land was probably entirely forested. It had not been cultivated for half a century, and the first task of the new owners was to clear the land. Cutler and Beauvais gave the plantation the name of "Christmas" because the act of sale by which they purchased the first tract was made on December 23, 1865. This sale was for a 20-by-40-arpent tract bordering both sides of Bayou des Familles, stretching southward from the bend of the bayou above its confluence with Bayou Coquilles. On July 27, 1866, they purchased another tract measuring 20 by 10 arpents adjoining the south end of the first tract. The plantation thus stretched for 50 arpents along the bayou. It occupied the center portions of the 10-arpent tracts originally belonging to Alexandre Guerbois and Antoine Marigny Dauterive. The southern limit lay upon the 1794 property line between the Spanish land grants of Louis Pelteau and John Normand. This property line is today marked by an electric powerline right-of-way which forms the boundary of the park and the study area.