HESTER TOWN HISTORY

Hester is only the latest name for the area sandwiched between Paulina and the plantation stretches upriver toward Convent. Initially, it was known for Welham Plantation and called Welham.� However, the railway station was known as Oneida and the post office was called Hester.� Welham Plantation was built in 1835 by William Welham just upriver from Hester on the present Marathon property.� Welham himself died in 1860, but his widow added on to the property until it attained 2300 acres. �It was owned by the Welham family until the early 1900's acquired by Marathon and 1975 and demolished in 1979, with several of its outbuildings relocated to LSU's Rural Life Center in Baton Rouge.� Most towns along River Road were centered upon plantation houses and Hester's foundation came when Louis LeBoutgeois established Belmont Plantation in the 1850's.� The house, a two-story Italianate Classical Revival mansion, survived the Civil War by extraordinary chance, only to fall victim to the ever-encroaching river.� Finally, after a disastrous fire in 1892, the family abandoned the place and relocated to New York.� Belmont in the height of its glory had 28 surrounding columns, which cost $18,000 to build.� Famous visitors included Edward Everette hale, author of "The Man Without a Country," George Washington Cable and the Grand duke Alexis of Russia.

The first plantation house burned early on and Mrs. LeBourgeois gave her son $100,000 to rebuild.� This landmark house was built of brick cornered in stucco made with milk as a whitener.� Mrs. LeBourgeois rarely left the house, save only to attend services at St. Michael's, attended by her red-turbaned slave, Lucindy.�

However, it was during the Civil War when Union gunboats took pleasure in potshots at plantation houses sighted from the boats that an unusual thing happened.� According to the local lore, the gunboat captain called upon the residents, demanding that the man of the house surrender.� The plantation's mistress declared her husband was not at home and if he shelled the house he would kill only women, slaves, and children.� The officer� accused her of lying and one of the slaves spoke up, addressing the woman by name, surprised the officer by doing so.� For the woman was the widow of a man he greatly respected, as his family had paid for the officer's education.� He gallantly said the house would not be shelled and, indeed, they were under his personal protection.�

After the war, the rice plantation continued to be prosperous, but an 1877 yellow fever epidemic struck down four of the LeBourgeois children.� The 1888 crevasse broke through at Belmont and flooded the ground floor, but an 1891 fire completely destroyed the mansion.� A later levee passed behind the old foundation and for years the chimney was visible on the batture and there are reportedly still old bricks to be found in the batture near the river's edge from the house.� The original Hester Plantation was owned by James Mather , a native of England, who was also the fourth (and first English speaking) mayor of New Orleans. The palatial Belle Alliance Plantation was the later name for the place, which stood until a fire in the 1920's.� The oak trees along Packing House Road remain from Belle Alliance.

Hester's post office was established 1923 and built by Adolphe Roussel.� The shed like structure endured until 1971.� A second post office served until 1984.� A third, which lasted until last year threatened to be its last but local petitioners, aided by U.S. Senator John Breaux and Congressman Billy Tauzin, rescued the local post office and a new structure, opened this year, still features zip code 70743.

In 1901, Carmello "Papa Tony" Carnaggio arrived in New Orleans, fresh off the boat from Palermo, Sicily. He had been born there on October 1, 1862.� Soon afterward, he brought over his wife, Anna Piazza Carnaggio, and 11-year-olld son, Frank.� Papa Tony settled in a three-room house, which he originally leased for 50 cents a year, as proven by the original lease in the family's possession.� That house still stands, though greatly remodeled and expanded, across the street from Belmont Lumber Company.� He ran a small store at the corner of his house, selling fruit and vegetables.� "He used to have the best apples!" recalled Mary Carnaggio wife of his grandson, Camille.� "When he first came from Italy, he and his two brothers would deliver fruit and vegetables up here and as far as Mississippi, traveling only by pirogue."� "Papa Tony" died in 1957 at the age of 95, Mary recalled fondly,� " he could've lived longer but he fell and broke his hip.� He had his good mind, though."

Frank Carnaggio, in time, owned his own barbershop in Lutcher and died in November 1948 at the age of 59.� "He caught two heart attacks and that was it," Mary recalled.

Mary Perniciano Carnaggio, now a spiritedly 86, was born at Belmont in 1911.� Her parents. George and Caroline Alfano Perniciano. Married in 1906 and came to America from Sicily.� Her father later found work at Uncle Sam Plantation.� "I was so skinny and my hair used to be in waves," she recalled.� "We used to shop at A & A Bourgeois store in Lutcher where we got our shoes and clothes for school."

Camille Carnaggio , son of Frank (born in 1911), married Mary in 1932 "at the worst of the Depression" and they settled into the family business.� He launched a cooperage business, which in time, became Belmont Lumber.� They eventually had two children, Camille B. and Vita Chenet.� He died on June 12, 1997, at the age of 86, leaving seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

"I worked with my husband here for 44 years,"she smiled.

Now, it's her grandson, Camille, who has taken over the family business.� He's also been the local fire chief for more than� 20 years serving the 450 residents of Hester.

Camille's son, Eric, is the heir-apparent to continue Belmont Lumber, and the hardy town of Hester, into the next century.