New Orleans Maps

1729 St. Rene (St. Reyne/Sainte Reyne) Concession

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The Canadian Chauvin brothers, Nicolas Chauvin de La Freniere, Louis Chauvin de Beaulieu, and Joseph Chauvin de Lery, followed Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville to the site he would claim for France and name New Orleans. From Bienville they acquired the land in the right portion of this 1726 map of the Chapitoulas Concession. Also known as the Tchoupitoulas Concession, it included land that is now Metairie. The lighter sections of the map are south of Bayou Metairie. The bayou ran down present City Park Avenue where it joined the Gentilly Bayou and ridge along what is now Gentilly Boulevard. The concession of 1720 was the first granted upriver from the city of New Orleans. Land along it was called the Chapitoulas/Tchoupitoulas Coast. The St. Rene (also called St. Reyne and Sainte Reyne) Concession can be seen on the left side of the map. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.)   Part 1 of 2:

The grants extended from the river to the lake. Nicholas Chauvin De La Freniere’s land included 5000 acres; his home was known as the Elmwood/Lafreniere Plantation (built in what is now River Ridge). While clearing the cypress swamp on which he would grow indigo and sugar cane he donated the lumber to build the first church in New Orleans which would later be replaced by St. Louis Cathedral (he also held the first tavern permit in Louisiana). La Freniere’s sister Barbe Therese and her husband Ignace Hubert de Bellair were early settlers -- Bellair Drive was named after them. Claude Joseph Villars Du Breuil who -- by 1744 owned several plantations with 500 slaves growing indigo and sugar -- owned what has been said to be the finest home on the Tchoupitoulas coast. Du Breuil also built the first plantation levee which led to the creation of the Mississippi River levee system in 1724. Bienville’s land can be seen on the right edge of the map.  Part 2 of 2:

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