FISHERMAN CASTLE


VILLEMARETTE CASTLE

I received E-Mail that said:

Fisherman's Castle is located on U.S. 11 at Irish Bayou.

More info here:
www.aaroadtrips.com/
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Later, I received E-Mail that said:

The castle referred to as the fishermans castle is in fact a fishing camp built on the Irish Channel a sleepy little fishing retreat outside of New Orleans. It was well talked about when it was originally constructed about 15 years ago. At a cost of over 100,000.00, its no wonder the size of the poured concrete structure could not be larger. It is easily seen from Interstate 10 once you have crossed the twin span traveling south. Just look to the east after crossing the hwy 11 bridge.

On 5-16-06, I received E-Mail that said:

This is in reference to your website information for the Fisherman's Castle on the Irish Bayou in Louisiana. Your website states the castle was built just 15 years ago, when in fact it was built by my grandfather, Simon Hubert Villemarrette in 1981. I was just 4 years old, but I remember spending weekends there swimming in the bayou. I'm not sure if it cost him $100,000 to build, but I do know that when he took ill and died of lung cancer my grandmother couldn't afford the mortgage and lost the castle and a camp across the street in foreclosure.

The castle still remains, and is one of the only structures that withstood Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, without any major wind damage. My grandfather built it to withstand 140 mile-an-hour winds. The castle is now being cared for by a Jon Digman. The location you give on your website is correct.

On 7-8-12, I received E-Mail that said:

I found a scanned newspaper article from May 7, 1981 interviwing the man who built this castle. He called it then "La Chateau Villemarette" Just thought it was interesting.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19810507&id=195LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AIsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6216,1099787

On 8-16-13, I received e-mail that said:

Came across your site while looking for a photo of the castle on Irish Bayou, which I have been driving by since I was a small kid. Love that castle and I still live in Slidell, LA, just across Lake Pontchartrain from Irish Bayou. Drove by it the other day! Anyway, a recent article was on the web about it and the current owners, so thought I'd pass it on to you as an update:

http://wgno.com/2013/05/08/the-story-behind-the-little-white-castle-off-i-10-on-irish-bayou/#axzz2cA5Cqb3y

Does anyone have more information about this?

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This castle found by Katrina Price.
Photo courtesy of AARoadtrips.com.