She was a little girl (Audrey Kugler) when the federal government expropriated the land where she was born. Hermitage Plantation, the big house, the smaller houses, the barns etc. were all destroyed to build the Spillway. Her father gave up sugar cane farming and they moved to another part of the state where he began strawberry farming, a totally different kind of agriculture.
She visited the Spillway this day with me and furnished me with much history for which I am very grateful.
Several hundred people gave up their homes, their livelihood and their friends when the Corps of Engineers built the Spillway in 1929-1931 in order to keep the City of New Orleans from flooding during the River's rise. Was it worth it?
2020- She passed away in 2020 and I am sorry I could not go to her funeral.