Jan 05 2010
Holly Beach, Louisiana
Of all the places we visited on our Texas trip–quirky, touristy, educational, fun, and just plain interesting–I think Holly Beach was the most unexpected.
We had detoured off I-10 at Sulphur, Louisiana, because it was a decent day weather-wise and we didn’t know what the skies or temps would be like when we reached our planned beach outing in Galveston. We also had plenty of time to get to where we were going that evening, and no scheduled stops along the way, so we decided to follow the road that edged the Gulf Coast on the map.
Driving south from Sulphur, we saw things that are unfamiliar to us who have homes with basements: cemeteries whose graves seem to be only partly underground, and houses on stilts. These were our first signs of a different way of life.
A few miles down the road, we saw a yard sign: House for Sale. No Hurricane Damage. Later in the day, we would find that claim hard to believe.
We drove the Creole Nature Trail, through the Sabine National Wildlife area, and saw little more than fishermen and oil company stations. Then we arrived in Holly Beach.
It was definitely not what we expected. Instead of a charming beach community, with picnic areas for eating our lunch, we saw this:
Rows and rows of streets, with a few RV’s parked on lots,
lots for sale,
a handful of newly-built houses,
and of course the beach.
Noting that a picnic area was marked a few miles west on our map, we naively headed in that direction, attempting to find a picnic table.
We never found it.
Instead, we ended up at another slowly-rebuilding community, parked our car at the end of the road, ate our sandwiches, put on our parkas, and headed out to look for shells.
We found the beach,
but it wasn’t as pristine as we’d imagined it to be when we began our journey that day.
We found shells,
but also debris.
New homes have been built,
but instead of having unfettered beach access, they have a seawall in an attempt to protect them from future devastation.
This wall appears to have served a dual purpose in helping with the cleanup from the last round of disaster.
We thought this damage was from Hurricane Ike in September of 2008, and understood, after seeing how long it took to rebuild things after the flood in Grand Forks, that disaster recovery is not quick.
That night, however, in trying to learn more about the Holly Beach area, I came across this New York Times article about the community. It was there that I learned that the destruction of Holly Beach was caused not by Ike, but by Rita three years earlier, in September of 2005.
Wikipedia has a photo of what Holly Beach looked like before Hurricane Rita.
We from the north understand extreme cold and blizzards and tornadoes and even floods, but hurricanes are something we’ve only heard about. To see the devastation of an entire community and the long-term after-effects was very powerful. How long will it be before Holly Beach is rebuilt? Will it ever return to its pre-Rita state? I don’t know.
What I do know is this: Holly Beach opened our eyes to the devastation of hurricanes. Veering off the Interstate onto the backroads can be a real education.
Thank you so much for sharing this…there are so many cities that have been damaged by hurricanes and are still trying to come back from the damage but they are often overshadowed by the major hurricanes that hit more populated areas. Awhile back, I wrote about how my town is still coming back from Hurricane Ivan and it hit in 2004. This is a great article that brings awareness to the damage that hurricanes do.
Great post. I am planning on going to New Orleans this April and I am not sure what I will see. This reminder needs to be fresh in all of our heads. People on the gulf are still facing it every day.
.-= Sharlene´s last blog ..Shark’s Cove =-.
Wow – so powerful. Thank you for sharing. I have a friend that lost a house not to far away from there in Katrina – just devastating.
.-= Julie Roads´s last blog ..Time to hitch this horse to a niche. =-.
Being a native South Louisiana’n, I would love to hug you for shedding some light on an otherwise relatively untouched problem. There are, literally, thousands of communities along the gulf that have not been able to repair from hurricane damage. A lot of attention is on New Orleans, and rightly so – the devastation to humanity there outshone other areas a million times over. But each of those empty lots represents a family that lost its home, too. For those coming to New Orleans to visit, I say, Thank You. Keep coming. You won’t see much – the tourist areas are still lovely and, for the most part, safe. The French quarter was originally built at the highest point in the area… and it still is the highest point, and the least vulnerable. But take a good look at each person that waits on your table, each person that drives your cab, each person that checks your bags into your hotel room. They are the ones that came back. They are about a quarter of the population… but each time you come to visit, you give someone a reason – and the means – to come back home!
.-= Princess Sparklepants´s last blog ..Wormhole =-.
Big money and BIG government has hampered the rebuilding of Holly Beach. The poor man who built Holly Beach can not afford to rebuild on his own property because of government regulations,yet with tax money from the very same poor man who can’t rebuild on his own property, HUGE government buildings are going up everywhere. There is surely something wrong with this picture!!!!!Go figure.
My parents rebuilt a camp at holly beach after Rita. The only reason that it is still there is because of the new building codes. If it werent for the new codes Ike would have wiped us out again. Holly Beach has changed and will hopefully never be the same. Things are a lot more quite and family friendly these days. There is no longer raw sewage flowing into the road ditches. You can enjoy a nice afternoon on the beach without all the dangerous drunks driving on the beach fighting and causing trouble. Not everyone has come back and built a mansion. My familys place is a modest fishing cabin. It is very well built but was not horribly expensive. People want to come back and build the same shacks that got washed away by Rita. It didnt work before why would it work again. If people want to worry about something they should worry about coastal erosion. More and more of the beaches are being washed away every year. We have lost hundreds of yards of beach in just the last few years. Holly Beach will come back and will be a better but diffrent place and needs to be loved for what it can be not what it was.
Wesley, thank you for the background and information. I appreciate learning more about Holly Beach.
Linda
My grandmother and grandfather – Willis and Susie Trahan had a camp at Holly Beach for years. We grew up spending vacations and summers at Holly Beach. The funny thing is, years later, I live in Georgia. The beaches we go to now are in Florida, South Carolina, the Georgia coast, etc. They are beautiful, white sandy beaches with crystal clear water. But you know what? I can’t really say that I have a really memorable moment from any of those trips – but I can remember Holly Beach all the back to when I was little (I am now 41), sitting in the water by the Pogey (sp?) while mom and dad fished. And, OMG, the crabbing along the side of the road in the canals and down by the locks. Those memories always make me smile, I can remember them all. I remember the people, the faces, and I’m sitting here with tear rolling down my face.
A correction to my post above – my grandmother and grandfather are Willis and Susie Bourque – Trahan was my grandmother’s maiden name. So sorry..
I appriciate the story that you have shared with us all of your experience with Holly Beach. I am actually sitting online going in circles trying to figure out how to get the beaches cleaned up on Holly Beach and Johnson Bayou when I stumbled upon your article. I am simply lost at where to begin. First, I would like to say that my husband and I own a home on Johnson Bayou which is within miles of Holly Beach. We made the purchase as a second home for our family to enjoy on the weekends and summer days. Shortly after we bought the home in 2007 is when the storms began to come in and the devistation began. We are just now finishing the rebuild of our home and I can not tell you how excited we are!!! We brought our 4 children to our home a few weeks ago for the first time since the storms and they were extremely excited… It was driving our there with my family that I realized that the area has been forgotten. To this day there are pieces of homes, toilets, cars, boats, stoves, debris, etc along our beaches. The trash alone is awful. When we got to our home instead of playing and enjoying we spent hours picking up trash, debris, etc along our beach. It makes me extremely angry that all has been left this away. It has been years, new homes are being built and we can get life back in this community with help from all. Someone stated that the poor man cant build on his property and the government is taking over. First, there are no government buildings! Second, the poor man can not survive mother nature along the coast. The new building codes and regulations are to protect mans home, business, family,etc. My heart goes out to all the families that lost thier homes, lives, etc. I have lived in Calcasieu Parish my entire life and very much familiar with hurricanes. The power of these are unbelievable and I am sorry but those (poor man) who lived on the gulf in thier trailors and campers are not SAFE! Nothing to do with government its nature! The codes are more strict yes, it is more costly to build yes, the homes going up are more of second homes for families yes BUT we can still get life out there, businesses open. There is not even a gas station to get milk for kids!!! There is nothing!!! Until you experience a hurricane and the power of destruction it can cause I dont think its fair to comment…. As for the beach- I adore the beach. I would love for my children to be able to walk along the beach bare foot, swim, collect shells, etc but at this time I can not allow them to do so because of the mess we have along the entire area.
I thank you for drawing attention to it and I pray that I find a way to make something happen… I will be writing letters, emails, phone calls, trying to organize a beach sweep, etc… so please wish me luck and pray i find the way to make this happen….. Its a shame that its all we have here in Louisiana and we have families sitting on the beach with thier kids in pure trash… If we want more life on the gulf then we must clean it up!!!!
Jimmie,
Thank you for your insight. I don’t claim to know anything about hurricanes or their recovery, but we were really touched by the sight of Holly Beach and Johnsons Bayou. When we neared Johnsons Bayou, I was excited because it looked like there might be something–a gas station, small store, etc.–but there was not. It was especially sad to see the school building in ruins, just left there.
I appreciate your telling your story and hope you can find some answers.
Linda
we went to holly beach every summer when i was 5 to 12yearsold we would rent those big tractor intertubes and play in the gulf and you could drive on the beach and throw a tent out stay the weekend and we would crab on the lil bridges i hate to see this now i got pics of then …sam
[...] Holly Beach, Louisiana | Travels with Children by minnemomStumbling into Holly Beach, Louisiana, the author finds the unexpected. … Of all the places we visited on our Texas trip–quirky, touristy, educational, fun, and just plain interesting–I think Holly Beach was the most unexpected. … We had detoured off I-10 at Sulphur, Louisiana, because it was a decent day weather-wise… [...]
Your story is very discriptive of the last trip we took down there. We used to spend many a summer weekend in Holly Beach pre Rita. Yes it was a little rowdy at times but the Cameron Parish Sherriff Department kept it at a minimum. It was nice to pull onto the beach and set up a tent for the day and let the kids play. It was a shack town and that was part of the charm. If we wanted 16 foot high beach houses on white sand beaches we would go to Gulf Shores, Holly Beach will never by that. Even if the houses back then were built up to the present code today the result would have been the same. The waves that caused the distruction were estimated at 25 feet during hurricane Rita. I worked recovery after Katrina, Ike and Rita and the damage at Holly Beach was 2nd only to what I saw in Waveland, MS to Gulfport, MS. I’m glad I found your story this morning because I am loading up my jeep and headed down there today to check out what has been going on in the last year. It will never be the same as it was but niether will New Orleans, Waveland, Gulfport, Galveston or any of the other towns slammed by the hurricanes. I know Holly Beach is not for everyone but there are alternatives for those folks. As for most of us in Louisiana who work and play hard, we like the idea of a beach side weekend with a small grill and good friends where you can still “tailgate” Louisiana style. I am glad you took the detour to see it and took the time to post the story.
Hello,
the Holly Beach area is being protected and developed via the local banks and lawyer’s associations. Good for tourist, good for some people who are interested in real estate, and it’s good for the surrounding areas. I can’t say that i agree with it’s bounds in socialism, however maybe over it time it will become developed, or it may be that it would remain as someone’s private beach access.
I have known about Holly Beach for years from my sister in La. and never made it before the hurricanes. I would love to come there soon from Texas with a few friends to camp on the beach if the facilities are in place for such. We want to camp on the beach or as near as possible in tents. I have searched the net and have not found any information on the camping out situation there yet. If anyone knows please post us any info we can use. We love Louisiana, y’all come see us, bring the kids, spend the night.
thanks for your post. i am going down this weekend and cant wait. Nancy, you can camp any where on the beach down there. there are no facilities,unless you bring them. We stayed in johnson bayou last year at the shady grove cabin. we love it down there. gators everywhere! i try to spend as much money as i can when i go down there, bait, ice, food, gas i get when we get down there. anything to give to the local community, and then take a cooler of shrimp home too! will be surf fishing all day saturday. making a long day trip from shreveport. need my salt and sand fix!
Dear Friend,
This was the only place we ever went on vacation when I was a child. We had one vacation, and Holly Beach was it. In my mind…it is still as beautiful as it was then. Though there was seaweed, loads of mosquitos in our cabin, and crabs snapping at our feet along the streets…I will never forget it. The little neon sign at The Crab Shack, the big golden sunset, the open water that touched forever. Glory days they were! Holly Beach is in my heart and soul forever. I hope to return there before I die. It is perhaps the only thing on my Bucket List. Imagine. I wrote a poem about it after Hurricane Rita…called Cameron Christened. It is in my poetry book called Vivisection, available at amazon.com. See Holly Beach with your soul. Through the eyes of a child…it was and still is pure magic!
Love,
Patti