This old church was located on what was formerly the Rost Plantation, then the Pan-American Petroleum Corporation refinery. It was used as a colored school and church. Source: St. Charles Parish Resources and Facilities Publication, 1948.
Note Card - Commerce along River Road.
Numa Zeringue’s Mamzelle Store was built in 1875 on the River Road in Destrehan where the Capital One Bank is today. Notice the wheel ruts in the road. The family home was located behind the store. (Photo courtesy of Chip Zeringue)
Evelyn Jourdan Gassen.
The St. Charles Parish Courthouse in 1826.
Famous Mississippi River landmark. Located in Destrehan on La. 48 (River Road). First constructed of logs about 1740. Burned and rebuilt in 1806. Famous riverboat landmark, twenty-five miles from New Orleans where boat captains traditionally paid off their crew. Again burned and rebuilt about 1921. (Note: New white stucco Spanish mission-style church was built in 1921 and the 1806 wooden church was torn down later. Oldest German cemetery in the South. Church, cemetery, and school complex built on the original 1770 Spanish land grant.) (Erected by Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry in 1964.)
Little Red Church. Tradition holds that the 1740 St. Charles log chapel was destroyed by fire in 1806 and rebuilt the same year. It was replaced by a wood-framed structure and painted red. The “Little Red Church” became a famous landmark for river travelers. Passengers going downriver were relieved to see the Red Church because it meant New Orleans was only 25 miles away. (Photo courtesy of Fay Walker Louque)