Reggio, Louisiana
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Reggio
Bencheque | |
|---|---|
 Raised houses of the community along the Reggio Canal. | |
  Reggio (Bencheque)  Reggio (Bencheque) | |
| Coordinates: 29°49′53″N 89°45′16″W / 29.83139°N 89.75444°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Louisiana |
| Parish |  St. Bernard Parish |
| MCD | Parish Governing Authority District E
|
| Historic colonies | Louisiana (New Spain) Louisiana (New France) |
| Established | 1783 |
| Named after | Louis de Reggio; Montaña y Barranco de Bencheque |
| Area | |
• Total | 5.06 sq mi (13.1 km2) |
| Elevation | 3 ft (0.91 m) |
| Demonym(s) | benchecano, -na |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (Central) |
| ZIP code | 70085 |
| Area code | 504 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1628038 |
Reggio (/ˈrɛdʒioʊ/ REJ-ee-oh, French: [ʁɛdʒjo]), also known as Bencheque (/bɛnˈtʃɛkeɪ/ ben-CHEK-ay, Spanish: [benˈtʃeke]), is an Isleño fishing community located in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.[1] The community was established in 1783 with the settlement of Canary Islanders along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs.[2][3] During the last decade of the eighteenth century, Louis de Reggio purchased land from the Isleños to establish a sugarcane plantation.[4] It is perhaps the only community in the United States that bears a Guanche-language name.[3]
After the American Civil War, the community greatly expanded as Isleños moved deeper into the eastern portion of the Parish to engage in fishing, trapping, hunting, and Spanish moss gathering.[2][3] During the twentieth century, forces including urbanization, modernization, improved transportation, and natural disasters among others led to the migration of Isleños away from their traditional communities.[2][3][5][6] Following the complete destruction of Hurricane Katrina, only a handful of the original families returned to rebuild.[7][8]
The community was originally named for the Montaña y Barranco de Bencheque, a mountain and ravine on the island of Tenerife near Icod de los Vinos where many of the Canary Islander colonists originated.[3][9][10] The name comes from the Guanche language and is believed to mean "the place of the trees" or "the place of the plant".[10][11] An individual from the community is known as a Benchecano.[12]
The latter name for the community, Reggio, originates from Louis de Reggio, the owner of the sugarcane plantation that was located in the same area.[4]
The distinction between the Reggio plantation and the community of Bencheque had been maintained into the 20th century.[13] Towards the second half of the century, Reggio came to refer to the former area of the plantation and Bencheque. Isleños, particularly those who know Spanish, maintain this distinction and their descendants continue to do so today.[3][5][10][11][12] Legal descriptions of land tracts in the settlement use Bencheque while Reggio has been used by St. Bernard Parish Government, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and other organizations.[14][15][16]
