St. Bernard Parish - A Historian's Delight

The pictorial cartoon map currently in production shows St. Bernard Parish, comprising Arabi, Chalmette, Delacroix, Hopedale and all those places in-between. Why am I drawing a map of St. Bernard Parish? Well, not only is it a parish rich in history, resources, and interesting cultural backgrounds, but I am a native of Chalmette. When I was born, my family was living on Urquhart St. just a couple of blocks northwest of Paris Road. 

Here is the rough draft layout of the map, which is still a work in progress. The final map will be bigger with more details. 

I think I remember living in Chalmette, even though I was pretty young at the time. 

We moved to Gentilly when I was five and I attended kindergarten and first grade at McDonogh No. 9. My grandfather lived on Reynes St. in the lower Ninth Ward, and my father and I would visit him every so often. He had a great tool bench in his garage, lots of power tools, hand tools, jars full of screws, washers, and bolts. I'm sure it had something to do with him being a Greyhound Bus mechanic at one time.