Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana
| Pointe à la Hache | |
| Census-designated place (CDP) & unincorporated community | |
 Ruined Parish Courthouse in 2012.
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Louisiana |
| Parish | Plaquemines |
| Elevation | 3 ft (0.9 m) |
| Coordinates | 29°34′35″N 89°47′30″W / 29.57639°N 89.79167°WCoordinates: 29°34′35″N 89°47′30″W / 29.57639°N 89.79167°W |
| Area | 1.762 sq mi (4.6 km2) |
| - land | 1.762 sq mi (5 km2) |
| - water | 0 sq mi (0 km2), 0% |
| Population | 187 (2010) |
| Density | 106.1/sq mi (41.0/km2) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Postal code | 70082 |
| Area code | 504 |
  Location of Pointe a la Hache in Louisiana
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 Location of Louisiana in the United States
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Pointe à la Hache (pronounced /'pɔɪnt lə'hæʃ/) is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. Located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, the village has been the seat for Plaquemines Parish since the formation of the parish. As of the 2010 census, its population was 187, less than half its 1930 population. It suffered severe damage in hurricanes in 2005 and 2011.
The Pointe à la Hache Ferry, which connects to West Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana across the Mississippi, is the furthest downriver vehicle crossing point on the river.
Pointe à la Hache was the home of E. W. Gravolet, a cannery businessman. He was elected to both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature from Plaquemines Parish, serving in total from 1948 until his death in 1968.
Native American settlement in the area goes back thousands of years. The earliest European settlement in the area was by the French about 1700. The name "Pointe à la Hache" is French for "axe point, or cape". In the Mitchell Map of 1755, this is marked as "Hatchet Point"
Ruins remain of the early 18th-century French installation, Fort de La Boulaye, that was built by French colonists to defend their claim of territory against the Spanish and English interests. The land there is mostly marshland, with a strip of higher land less than a mile wide between the wetlands and the Mississippi River.
Plaquemines Parish was one of the original 19 divisions of the Territory of Orleans established in 1807 after the United States acquired the territory in the Louisiana Purchase. After Louisiana achieved U.S. statehood in 1812, it was one of the original state parishes. In the 1812 Louisiana hurricane, a storm surge from the Gulf pushed all the way into the River, and there was widespread death and destruction.
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