The place we’re talking about, Bayou Rainette
Possible locations
Since the setting is practically a chara in its own right… I didn’t check on whether the Chitimacha tribe was in this area, I know that Tina had a spot in mind there.
ETA later:
The Chitimacha Reservation is located in LA, St. Mary’s Parish, which is about 45% water. The Parish seat is Franklin, which has a major sports/high school war with neighboring Morgan City. Franklin has an elevation of 10 feet and a lot of well-preserved grand mansions from the plantation era.
This whole area is west of New Orleans, on the other side of the main peninsula from it, probably a little more sheltered during storms; on the east bay side more towards Galveston. Much further west compared to my earlier locational comments below. Along Highway 90 there’s a lot of cleared land fanning away from the highway. Beyond that on either side looks like heavy tree cover and canals. There’s some interesting land in heavy cover and lots of little canals west of Franklin, but a lot more of it runs east and north of Franklin.
It looks like it is less urbanized and has broader wild areas than the area I noted below, I like it better for the story’s purposes.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Map_of_Louisiana_highlighting_Saint_Mary_Parish.svg
https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=30.581179,-90.027466&spn=3.380916,4.943848&z=8
The area I talked about in an earlier edit is north and east of New Orleans, below:
I was surprised recently checking on Goolemaps how urbanized the area NE of New Orleans looked; it was *exactly* like views of the big ricefield towns of the Central Valley here, which is not exactly low population.
I know we discussed the setting a little when Hal’s athnicity was decided.
In addition, a friend of mine with some map expertise suggested the following for “a larger wilderness area with waterways in the track of the storm paths”
…I’d say it depends on how much wilderness you’re looking for. If you want to stay in the immediate New Orleans area, go north and west to the area around Lake Maurepas, west of Interstate 55 and south of the town of Ponchatoula. This isn’t an official wilderness area (and it’s popular with boaters) but it does have a lot of undeveloped bayou.
North of Baton Rouge in Mississippi is the Homochitto National Forest, at about 300 square miles, but it’s not very “wilderness” (and it’s a fairly long drive from New Orleans).[It’s closer to Baton Rouge–would match well with teh description of the area around Fozzie & Lacie’s ranch, though] If you want a larger area of wilderness (or semi-wilderness), you’ll probably have to go further to the east. In Mississippi you can find the De Soto National Forest (nearly 600 square miles). However, it’s not all wilderness; there are two designated wilderness areas, the Black Creek Wilderness and the Leaf River Wilderness. The Leaf River area is about 40,000 acres; the Black Creek area is only about 5,000.
Google map links to the area: https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=30.581179,-90.027466&spn=3.380916,4.943848&z=8
[for a bayou near Ponchatoula, I kind of like the area with the name Skulls Creek, but there’s plenty of highways and towns nearby. It also looks like there’s artifical ponds further south, which *may* be fish farms.]
I’d say it depends on how much wilderness you’re looking for. If you want to stay in the immediate New Orleans area, go north and west to the area around Lake Maurepas, west of Interstate 55 and south of the town of Ponchatoula. This isn’t an official wilderness area (and it’s popular with boaters) but it does have a lot of undeveloped bayou.
North of Baton Rouge in Mississippi is the Homochitto National Forest, at about 300 square miles, but it’s not very “wilderness” (and it’s a fairly long drive from New Orleans). If you want a larger area of wilderness (or semi-wilderness), you’ll probably have to go further to the east. In Mississippi you can find the De Soto National Forest (nearly 600 square miles). However, it’s not all wilderness; there are two designated wilderness areas, the Black Creek Wilderness and the Leaf River Wilderness. The Leaf River area is about 40,000 acres; the Black Creek area is only about 5,000.
Google map links to the area: https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=30.581179,-90.027466&spn=3.380916,4.943848&z=8
I was envisioning a place closer to Houma, a little further south and a lot more watery. I was looking at actual swampland. Hal doesn’t have to be near the res to be a Chitimacha. *shrug* I do think I need to figure out where they are, because where I was figuring was wildly different from where you were. I can change the places I’ve referred to easily enough. -Tina 8/24/09 6:24 PMActually, I’d rather go with your idea for more swamp/water, just haven’t checked it out yet for ideas or pix. -Heather Gladney 8/29/09 11:49 AM
Added a note that Keisha is related to Lacey -Heather 5/6/09 5:55 PM
I love the diagram!! cute!! Which one is the clinic, and where’s Tee-Pom and Coral’s house, and Steve’s, and the Trio? Dance and Emma walk over tot he clinic, so they must be on the same side with Steve.-Heather 12/30/08 7:46 PM
Thanks, I’ve been sick this week, so I’ve had a lot of time to futz around with wierd stuff. -Tina 12/30/08 9:58 PM So Jackie’s at five has a chicken coop(s), right near by, there’s an “empty” slot at 3 where the neighbor lady said Dance could grow stuff on her land the other side. Also, one of those is Tee-Pom and Coral. It looks great! who’s in the one at Seven? I an’t help but the think having an empty place next to you would really be right up Turner’s sort of alley! -Heather 12/30/08 8:05 PM Yeah, I figured the coop is probably inside one of the smaller fenced areas. -Tina 12/30/08 10:07 PM had to revert again, that grab-delete trick drives me bonkers. Are you feeling any better? -Heather 12/30/08 8:09 PM Heh. Not really, but I saw the doc today and didn’t get put in the hospital over New Year’s, so that’s good. I have a respiratory thing – repressed immune system is one of the lovely things about fibro. I’ve been thinking about having a tender romantic bit about Dia getting sick *snerk* Thanks for asking, tho — I have drugs now, and I’m not afraid to use ’em! -Tina 12/30/08 10:10 PM better living through chemistry! Yaya! -Heather 12/30/08 8:13 PM Yup! If you’re looking for empty lots, there are some across the dirt track, and more across the bayou — there’s a road there somewhere, I’m sure. It can’t have a name, since it’s not there…. Not officially, anyway -Tina 12/30/08 10:13 PM Which means the empty places must be zoomorphs or weres with summer places?? The road probably has a community name from its history, like the name of the family who usd to own all the land there, or somebody who lived on a dirt track at the end of it backin teh twenties or thirties(like Steve’s Mom! Or Mama Gigi’s family!), or the name of that with some feature in the landscape, so-and-so’s well, etc. -Heather 12/30/08 8:15 PM It might just be Rainette Road after the bayou name, or we could think of something else. Gigi is from NOLA, and Steve is from Arkansas (I had to cheat and look) BTW, a Rainette is a tree frog… maybe Frog’s family was there first??? It could be -Tina 12/30/08 10:17 PM -Tina 12/30/08 10:22 PM Thanks! a frog? How perfect is that? Yes, I bet Frog’s family were there first! that works! I bet th road is on the “empty” side of the levee, on the side with Seven. -Heather 12/30/08 8:18 PM -Heather 12/30/08 8:22 PM
I still have the program file, so if you would like some changes, like an empty lot (which I forgot about, frankly) I can futz some more. -Tina 12/30/08 10:24 PM well, the space between 4 and 5, with the tree on it, could be another lot, or between 3 and 4. I don’t want to make you have to work on it again! It’s a great graphic, I love it! -Heather 12/30/08 8:25 PM Thanks! XD Now I want to do moar!!! Have you heard anything from Stella about the State of POM? -Tina 12/30/08 10:28 PMIt’s interesting,w hen I was working on text, the empty yards were just there, obvious, but I didn’t think about them much. Just how it is, yeah? And then when I see it here, I’m thinking, that’s a zoomorph group of folks, there’s money in there, they wouldn’t let just anybody move in there. Haven’t heard from Stella. I did see lj post from kiya awhile back talking about extra shifts from the snowstorm (sounded nasty) so that’s gonna delay her getting in gear with us, but at least she’s working on Antler pr0n, a good sign! Haven’t heard from Gj. -Heather 12/30/08 8:31 PM Yeah, like sixteen hour shifts with 7 hours in between, and then more. I was exhausted just reading it! It’s too cold by the door to read Antler prOn, but it’s on my list of yummy things to do when I feel better. -Tina 12/30/08 10:33 PM yep! -Heather 12/30/08 8:33 PM Hopefully I can stay up later soon, but I’m dead right now. I’ll try to write something newish tomorrow! 😀 -Tina 12/30/08 10:35 PM okay, hope you feel better soon–and I love the drawing, it helps! -Heather 12/30/08 8:36 PM
One = Aunt Frog’s house (with workshop and shed)
Two = the other two Wyerd Sisters, Penelope and Steve
Three = Tee Pom and Coral
Four = DD&E
Five = Rene and Jackie
Six = Miss Hester and the Tiggers
Seven = beats me *shrugs* probably the Bienvilles. Think there’s a road there, but it’s not drawn in.
The clinic is totally portable — not in the picture. Probably moored at the dock next to Six.