581. Pointe à la Hache, Plaquemines Parish (LA60)

There was some question as to whether I should go to the governmental center or the courthouse in the parish, so I covered my bases by going to both since the center was on my way down. Oddly enough, the address for the center led to a defunct animal shelter. There was a nearby governmental compound that was the place, but that didn’t turn out to be the main quarry. The courthouse would be my aim (as it should be). Pointe à la Hache turned out to be a first out of all the seats, county or parish, that I’ve visited because…

…it required a ferry ride to get there! While I sat there waiting for the ferry to arrive, I checked and noticed someone put caches at both sides of the ferry. I grabbed the one on this side even though I had already grabbed my official one on the way down. It was just something magnetic on a guard rail, but I had time to kill. Once the ferry arrived, I paid my dollar and then…

…crossed to the other side of the mighty Mississippi. Of course, there was the other cache on the other bank and that would have been wonderful symmetry, but I ended up missing it because I had other things to do. I was at the foot of the courthouse. And what did I find when I got there?

Interesting! I don’t know what happened to the old courthouse to leave the façade like this, but kudos to the parish for having the mindfulness to keep it as its own monument. They even kept the clock tower functional! I assumed it was one of the many hurricanes that have passed through over the years, but it was actually a fire that destroyed it in 2002. The new courthouse, modern as it obviously is, wasn’t completed until 2019, and is much more forward looking than I would have expected from this parish. May I also say Pointe à la Hache looks like it’s taking another superlative. With its population of 187, it looks like it’s stealing the position of smallest town from Paint Rock! That said, I still intend to mock Concho County‘s seat as the paragon of small towns even if there is a new community sitting atop the Petit Trône (that’s the Tiny Throne for those of you who do not parlez vous [I do not parlez vous]). Overall, may I say I’m impressed with the courthouse. This is most certainly not what I expected to find out here in the seemingly middle of nowhere.

As for the official cache, welcome to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans which, ironically, is actually in Belle Chasse, the most populous town in the parish. I had little idea what the condition of caches might be once I got down towards the courthouse, so I grabbed one on the way there. Whatever weirdness wouldn’t wield weight once I claimed the virtual out front. The Blue Angel there provided the key to this one, though there’s other stuff required out of frame. But that was simple enough and, with the cache and the courthouse done, I was off again. Driving up the other bank, I passed through small hamlets, one after another, until I came to my next courthouse in…