1955 Map of Isle Au Pitre

About this map

Isle au Pitre and the western tip of Cat Island anchor this coastal survey where the waters of Mississippi Sound and Chandeleur Sound meet. The map reveals a complex aquatic landscape of shoals and channels defined by the maritime boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana, separating Harrison County and St. Bernard Parish. A lone Lighthouse at West Point serves as a critical navigational marker for vessels transiting the Pass Marianne and South Pass. Submerged features like Cabbage Reef, Porpoise Shoal, and the South Shell Bank Flats illustrate the shifting sands of the Gulf Coast before modern coastal erosion significantly altered these barrier island footprints. The inclusion of the Juan De Cuevas Claim provides a direct link to Spanish colonial land grants and the early 19th-century settlement of the Gulf islands.