1966 Map of North Bend

About this map

The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway cuts through this portion of St. Mary Parish, providing a window into the industrial and agricultural landscape of the mid-1960s. The settlement of North Bend and the Lottery Field Oil and Gas Field illustrate the region's reliance on both maritime transport and natural resource extraction. The Southern Pacific railroad parallels the historic Bayou Sale, serving as a lifeline for the sugar and oil economies that defined this coastal stretch. Numerous family and local burial grounds, such as North Bend Cem, Midway Cem, and the Shadyside-Fairfax Cem, are scattered along the natural levees, marking the deep ancestral ties of the people living in the marshes. Inland, a complex network of waterways including Heckerson Bayou, Clausen Bayou, and Big Bayou Oaks weave through the wetlands toward Wax Lake, showing a landscape where the boundary between land and water is constantly shifting.