The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In the last quarter of the 18th century, there was an Atakapa chief named Nementou. On April 16, 1784, he sold land on Bayou Plaquemine Brule to Antoin Blanc for $100. Nementou is later mentioned as chief of a village on a river with the same name. Eventually, through a clerical error, Nementou became Mementou and this was then corrupted into Mermentau through confusion with the French word mer, which means "sea".
The Mermentau area was once reputedly a refuge for smugglers. It was a crossing point for brave travelers on the Old Spanish Trail, but had such a bad reputation that until the Louisiana Purchase no one would go there to see how many people there were.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Mermentau’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mermentau’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Mermentau, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Mermentau is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Mermentau has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Camp Hamilton House in Jennings, 4.2 miles away.
Mermentau and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.