Bayou St. John

Bayou St. John is a slow-moving waterway that flows into Lake Pontchartrain. Today, it winds through several neighborhoods and forms a boundary for one side of City Park on its journey to the lake.

Before and during French colonization, Indigenous people used the bayou as a shortcut to navigate between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River, taking advantage of the place where the river and Bayou St. John were closest together. They portaged their boats between the waterways, carrying them along a slightly raised road formed by sediment deposits.

Traveling up the river in 1699, colonial administrator Pierre Le Moyne de Iberville recorded an Indigenous guide showing him what may be this portage. A few years later, Iberville’s brotherJean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville chose the present-day site of New Orleans for France’s colonial outpost in part because of this shortcut. Because of this, bayou- front properties were some of the first to be developed in the area during the colonial period.

Learn about some notable historic sites as you stroll along Bayou St. John.

Access: Walking or biking

Distance: ~1 mile, ~30 minutes