Guarding Madisonville’s Future

by Christina Rukavina

Sitting back on a balmy Saturday afternoon, a tall, frosty drink in hand, gazing at a scenic waterway, while a steady parade of smiling servers offers bites of fried catfish, Caribbean-style chicken, or marinated mushrooms, you’d think your day couldn’t get much better. But it does, as just several feet away, a band cranks up and none other than actor-comedian-blues man Dan Aykroyd belts out a soulful tune. What’s most remarkable about this slice of life is that it’s happening in a town of under 1,000 folks, with the kind of square footage that anywhere else would typically elicit, “Blink and you’ll miss it.”

Only you won’t do that here, not in Madisonville, the little gem of the northshore, that’s grabbing plenty of attention these days.

What brought Aykroyd, along with a state senator (Julie Quinn); Harahan’s police chief (Peter Dale); a local weather personality (Bob Breck); Madisonville’s mayor (Peter Gitz) and hundreds of area residents together last fall was The Blues Brothers Brunch. Hosted by Friends Coastal Restaurant, the event was sponsored by the Madisonville Foundation, recently established by resident Samantha Goodwin to restore historical landmarks in Madisonville, starting with the nearly 160-year-old Tchefuncte River lighthouse.

Last April, while Goodwin was boating with a friend, a close-up view of the lighthouse prompted her concern about its condition and that of its eroding surrounds. She returned for another look in June with Quinn, along with Jake Bushaw, a photographer who is also bar manager at Friends. At that point, Goodwin recalls, Quinn determined it would be beneficial for the state to begin funding restoration and preservation of the lighthouse and the land around it while Goodwin set up the foundation to provide ancillary support and to ensure ongoing efforts are maintained.
A good idea flies itself, as noted by the enthusiastic support the foundation was able to rally for the Blues Brothers Brunch.

Aykroyd was accompanied to the event by Dale, his friend since Aykroyd lent a hand during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, bringing in generators, boats and dry clothes. Already in the area for a summit on law enforcement, Aykroyd was happy to stop by and support raising awareness about coastal erosion. He considers Madisonville a “jewel,” noting, “You’ve got a beautiful, serene marshland here, a national treasure.”

As to his own appearance, Dale stated that, although he’s from the southshore, “Everyone hurts when the coast erodes. I consider us all to be one big family.” Breck termed the event a wake-up call.

Quinn expressed, “No one can come here and not want to stay. We need to make sure that there’s land here.”

The brunch ended on a high note, with plenty of funds and awareness raised, after which Goodwin reflected on the success of the foundation’s kickoff event. “I believe that everyone has a moral obligation to protect the quality of life in their community. Because we have an historical landmark, that’s more reason to fight.” The lighthouse, Goodwin, notes, has not only been witness to historical events, including the Civil War and the adventures of the larger-than-life heroic buccaneer, Jean Lafitte—being perhaps, as legend has it, the last landmark to ‘see’ him before his disappearance—but has also created the very town in which she has resided since high school. It guided ships carrying lumber and bricks throughout the years, thereby providing jobs and housing.

Much of the structure’s history can best be gotten from Gitz, who recalls how, as a young boy in the 1940s, he was able to walk across a sand bar to the lighthouse. “Some folks also drove it, too.” Pointing to a map, he indicates how, as a function of erosion, the sand bar is long gone, as well as a peninsula that jutted west. He also notes that although Frederick Schreiber was the last keeper, back in the 1930s, the lighthouse—which belongs to the town, but has been turned over to the Maritime Museum as part of a management agreement—remains functional. While most boats have GPS (global positioning system) to guide them, smaller craft still need a light to get into the river, he explains. At one time, the light was powered by electricity, but in the past 30 years or so, there’s been a battery-charged solar panel, which the Coast Guard maintains.

The lighthouse is just one item on an ever-growing punch list for Gitz’s small but sprightly community. The 2007 closing of the local library, which had been housed for 20 years in an elegant, century-old building on Cedar Street in the center of town, remains a topic of debate and concern. Although the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its historical significance to area residents has much to do with the memories it has instilled over the years. It began as a bar frequented by shipbuilders, became a bank and then served as the only hospital in St. Tammany Parish until about 1953. “I had my tonsils taken out there—got treated for two broken arms and a broken ankle,” recalls Gitz, adding, “People still come up to me now from Slidell, or a rural area, and say, ‘I was born there.’”

After transitioning through several more businesses, the stately building became home to the town’s library, thanks in great part to Pat Pelloat. Gitz recollects, “She was the first woman ever elected to the town council, back in 1976—a good person we lost to cancer. She pushed for the library,” which until its promotion to the Cedar Street location resided in a small wooden structure. Due to structural safety issues, the library was closed by parish library board officials in February 2007, and moved last fall to a one-story structure several miles away on Highway 22 deemed the Black River Branch.

In the midst of ongoing arguments and analyses involving architectural, fiscal and legal nomenclature, Gitz offers in plain English, “I’ve done all kinds of construction and this is just my opinion on what happened. The building wasn’t designed to hold the weight of books. The structure was stressed over time. Katrina, especially with the water, made it settle a little more, until it just wasn’t safe for books and people. Ideally, we’d like to go back there, but we need to bring it to code.”

While the mayor shares the residents’ affinity for the Cedar Street landmark, he is considering an alternative solution. “There’s a possibility of building a new one by the Maritime Museum. The town owns the land. Now, the downside is that just about everyone would have to drive there. The upside, however, is that it would be the right type of building, built high with parking underneath and an elevator. Many kids like to visit the museum, and they could go to the library, too.”

Ultimately, Gitz says, the goal is to get the library back into town, and he clearly views the Highway 22 location as temporary. Gail Perry, who with David Stefferud and Susan Kierr Dyer, comprise a town library committee, agrees, noting that the committee has been working for several years to find a site in town where a new library can be built that can service the area’s 40,000 people.

Perry has complete faith that Gitz can facilitate achieving that while maintaining the town’s overall appeal, which first captured her heart when she organized a tour of German historical sites in 1988. Looking for a smaller home in which to retire, she and her husband, Joseph, now deceased, moved to Madisonville the following year. Since that time, the town has provided the once-stay-at-home mom with plenty to do via her involvement in the garden club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Youth Boosters recreational program and the Krewe of Tchefuncte Boat Parade.
“The local government and town council are very responsive to citizens and interested in what everyone thinks. It’s a nice combination of old and new timers.” She especially lauds Gitz. “He’s easy to work and talk with, and he’s kept a steady hand.”

Yet another issue to spark debate in this far from sleepy hamlet centers on the simple raising and lowering of the bridge that acts as gateway to the town. A post-Katrina boost in the area’s population and concomitant traffic has resulted in a lengthening stream of drivers whose collective patience wears thin when their commute is protracted even further by bridge openings. “It’s worse in the summertime with more traffic and more boats,” he says, taking it all in stride as one of many challenges in the course of traversing the Tchefuncte River over the year. “We had a ferry that traveled from the west side of the river to the east until Model Ts came out. We first had a wooden bridge in the 1930s that was knocked down by the 1947 hurricane. It was rebuilt as steel and concrete, and there were a couple more mishaps until we built the new bridge around 1980.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge discussed by residents, both new and longtime, is how Madisonville can retain the kind of small town appeal that attracted them in the first place, without being spoiled by growth. Notes Perry, “The people here are hardworking, but there’s a sense of ease, less pressure. We always know that things are going to change. That’s inevitable, so it’s in our best interests to work together to find ways to make everyone comfortable and maintain a warm and homey atmosphere.”

“Comfortable” is also the term used by business partners Chris Binnings, Tim Reese and Richard Taubin, who opened Friends Coastal Restaurant in May 2006. The three came together through Binnings, who had worked for Reese at another local restaurant, and who had been best friends with Taubin since the fourth grade in Abita Springs. Former owners Ronny and Karen Durham, who’d run the eatery as Friends on the Tchefuncte for 15 years and were looking to retire, approved of the new team’s “New Orleans meets Key West” concept. Even older than the library, the building has similarly gone through various incarnations, including a shanty house, a camp, a couple of restaurants, and finally, a pile of shreds, complete with black mold, thanks to Hurricane Katrina.

The new owners’ investment, including a lot of sweat equity, has paid off, as the restaurant’s tropical flavor has brought in steady business since it opened. This is good news for the threesome, who are committed to the area. “Madisonville is a quaint town with a lot of really nice people supporting us. Everything feels close here. It’s the only place where the lake meets the river. We can go from home to work by boat.”

As Gitz notes, Friends’ island theme may be more appropriate than one initially realizes. “Madisonville really is just like its own little island. There’s Lake Pontchartrain to the south, Bayou Desire to the north, marshland to the west, with a little opening northwest.”

Another eatery with a twist in Madisonville is Speakeasy Too, a foreign language center and café, which debuted in conjunction with the signing of the 2007 Wooden Boat Festival poster created by artist John Goodwyne. Speakeasy owners, Brigitte Gomane and Beatrice Germaine, both natives of France, initially came to New Orleans to live and work in the areas of language teaching and festival organization. They made their way here when Reid Falconer, a student of Gomane’s and a community leader on the northshore, convinced them there was a need for their talents on this side of the lake. The two women opened a language center in Mandeville in February 2005, thinking they would just provide coffee and a bite to eat for their students. The business soon expanded to include a café and lessons in the art of Provence-style cuisine.

They became involved with the Chamber of Commerce themselves, and while attending an installation dinner were advised that the landlord of a renovated building adjacent to the former Madisonville library site wanted to include a coffee shop in the assemblage of businesses there. After a glass or two of wine, they felt enthusiastic about expanding their business, but in the light of day wondered if they were getting ahead of themselves. However, after seeing the space, they decided to go for it, with an ultimate goal of providing a full cultural experience, from language to cooking to theater.

Another of the building’s tenants who decided to “go for it” is Mary French, who, with her daughter, Andree Dupepe, is enjoying the success of her antiques shop, Mélange, in its new location. French started out in the antiques business in Old Metairie, and then transferred it to New Orleans. When her daughter, who moved to the northshore after the storm, urged her to bring the shop to Madisonville, she complied, initially with trepidation. “I was apprehensive at first, but it’s been great,” she smiles, expressing appreciation both for her customers and the area.

Pat Ward, an artist and framer whose business, Frame Art, is also flourishing in the Covington Street space, likewise feels he’s made the right move here. Like French, the storm ‘carried’ him to the northshore, in this case, from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He, too, has a daughter, Ashley Gernon, who resides in Mandeville, joining him in the business. Ward’s recollection is that the site was once an architectural salvage shop that had fallen into pretty bad shape. The revitalized building is now an airy, charming and unique space, and serves as a template of what Ward believes could follow in this area. “There is going to be the old battle between over-development and keeping it quaint, but I think it’s going to become a cultural hub.”

In the midst of a bevy of afficionados of art, antiques, language, wine and sweet treats, when the owner of the building, Murray Fincher, 94-years young, is asked what he thinks of what’s transpiring in this space, he responds with a wink and a smile, “I love it.”

Of course, Mayor Gitz is always at hand. A man of easy manner, ready chuckle, measured speech and salt-of-the-earth demeanor, he is ever ready to exchange warm greetings and fill in interested parties with a bit more history about the structure, from its high tin ceilings to the polished cement floors and wood-paneled walls. It was actually a hardware store from the late 1800s to 1969, he says, also recalling a one-pump gasoline station in front of the store. He notes that General Morgan, who was in the Battle of New Orleans, is buried in the Catholic cemetery, just around the bend. And as for the site of Lakeside Amusement, a stone’s throw down the road, he says, “That’s where I used to see Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Gabby Hayes. We called it the ‘picture show’ back then.”

Oddly enough, this fourth-generation Madisonville resident doesn’t have the same kind of angst about the town losing its quaintness that some others express. As to population, he says, it pretty much stays the same. “We’re around 850-900,” he estimates, pointing out that back during World War I, the population was considerably higher due to some 2,000 shipyard workers who lived in camps built in the swampland. “There were about 1,000 workers during World War II, but we didn’t need camps because there was transportation by then for them to drive from different communities. Then the shipyard moved out of town in 1950.”

“Things do change,” the 30-year mayoral veteran concedes, “but I have no problems with new business coming in. I just want people to remember the history of the town.” The loss of quaintness, he explains, has more to do with attitude than business. In fact, he points out, the blending of old and new has resulted in Madisonville being named in 2007 as one of the top 100 places to live, according to RelocateAmerica, with Mandeville being the only other Louisiana city on the list.

What are some of the things he wants people to know? For starters, “We’re the oldest town on the northshore. We were chartered in 1811.” Moreover, he asserts, the town has always been good to its residents. “No one in Madisonville ever went hungry during the Great Depression,” Gitz says, explaining that even if families there didn’t make money during that time, they could sustain themselves off the land and water. He and his three brothers were raised on a farm right outside of town, and he continues to raise cattle and sheep with a little help from some younger family members. He recalls that as a child, “We saw whole families walking along Old Ponchatoula Highway, and my mother fed them.”

Gitz also concurs with Gail Perry’s assessment of the town’s work ethic. Although he has taken a break from baling hay and running Badeaux’s restaurant to talk about his town, that’s nothing compared to his past responsibilities. At one time, he muses, he was simultaneously working in construction, running two restaurants, farming and serving as mayor. “I love to work,” he smiles. Even a brutal mugging he sustained in June 2006 at the hands of a transient career criminal didn’t keep him from one town council meeting. Although he suffered a broken jaw and teeth, and multiple head wounds, he showed up bruised, stapled and stitched, much to the admiration of his constituents.

If anything, perhaps, Mayor Gitz doesn’t want Madisonville to become too quiet. “This was a town of tremendous activity,” he points out. We had the finest boat races in the country here from 1938 to 1970. We had two or three a year. We even had the nationals here one year.”

That loss is countered, he notes, by a couple of recent additions to the town’s heritage. He cites Joy and Rob Curtis, a Texas couple who had a boat here, in helping start the annual Wooden Boat Festival, which has become the primary source of funding for the Maritime Museum, the latter of which is, at this point, his favorite achievement. It all started out when he met Alan Salters, an archeologist who taught at Southeastern Louisiana University. Salters was diving in the river to find sunken boats and in the process discovered artifacts that, in turn, piqued the mayor’s interest. “Maybe we could build a museum,” he considered, after which the town agreed to put up $25,000 as a down payment for the land. “We put in the streets and water and sewage in trade for six acres of land.” And so, five years ago, the museum was born.

Besides the boat races, what else does he miss? “The Ladies Progressive Club and the Fire Department put on dances. We had a New Year’s Eve dance, a Labor Day Dance, a Thanksgiving Dance, and a dance the Saturday before Easter. We had large bands come in from New Orleans to play Guy Lombardo-type music. People came from Ponchatoula, Mandeville and Abita Springs, especially before there was TV. At one time we had twelve ballrooms in Madisonville.”

What happened? “The people kind of got away from that,” he says, noting that the town still has a Mardi Gras ball and dance the Saturday before Carnival. Still, he wouldn’t mind at all if someone decided to get the town kicking up its rhythmic heels again, especially if it might aid in the cause of some of those restoration projects.

Considering that the mayor may well be the town’s greatest asset, it’s not too soon to request a spot on his dance card now.