Over the past six decades Donald R. Sharp has researched the history of how the Sharp family came to St. Tammany. Here are the results of his work.
In this interview taped on April 12, 2022, historian Don Sharp tells about the history of lighthouses on the Gulf Coast, with a focus on the Tchefuncte River lighthouse south of Madisonville, La.
Here are a couple of aerial photos from 1965 showing the Tchefuncte River from Madisonville to the lighthouse.
Click on the images to make them larger.
Don Sharp recently did an interview telling about how he got started in historical research.
Don Sharp, who celebrated his 92nd birthday recently, met with Jim MacPherson, executive director, and Jeanne Brooks, educator, both with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum, on Wednesday, August 18th, to share with them his extensive historical research into the "Tchefuncte River Corridor." The museum is located in Madisonville, just a few yards from the river itself, and Don's findings are of considerable interest to museum officials.
For a brief time, the Covington area had a military cantonment on the Little Bogue Falaya River, just a few miles upriver from Claiborne Hill. It was located where the "Old Military Road" branches off and heads up to the Bogue Chitto River.
Don Sharp in his research says the following:
In 1805 a crossing over the Bogue Falaya River at Covington was located on land owned by Massey West Baker, and a wooden bridge was built at the site. Things began happening quickly in that area as new settlers came in.
The military cantonment was established in 1811 with the cooperation of Governor Claiborne of Louisiana and Governor David Holmes of Mississippi Territory. Lt. Colonel Leonard Covington of the U. S Army assigned the 3rd Regiment stationed in the Mississippi Territory for the job. Barracks for the troops and housing for Officers were built five miles from the Bogue Falaya Fork on the road to the settlements northeast on the Bogue Chitto River.
A declaration of War with Great Britain was received in July, 1812, and the Military Cantonment on the road between the Bogue Falaya and Bogue Chitto Rivers was closed. The Detachment of the 3rd Regiment stationed at the Cantonment was recalled back to Mississippi Territory.
Jessie R. Jones purchased land from Jacques Drieux around 1813 and had a house there when John Wharton Collins laid out the Town of Wharton.
In 1813 Governor Claiborne wrote to Governor Holmes of the Mississippi Territory and tells Holmes that since the Cantonment was closed on the Little Bogue Falaya roving bands of Choctaws have become increasing hostile along the area of the Bogue Chitto River.
On November 29, 1814, General Jackson and five aides, including Major Howell Tatum,
who kept a dairy, came down the Military Road from the Bogue Chitto
River settlements. They passed the abandoned Cantonment at the crossing
of the Little Bogue Falaya and entered the newly dedicated town of
Wharton.
It was Samuel Ott who had the saw mill next to the "old cantonement" that was mentioned in Howell Tatum's diary, and Ott's property is clearly marked on the Tobin map shown above.
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