At that time Grand Isle was advertised as a place which cured nervous conditions and various ailments. It's pure air, fresh seafood and tranquility usually worked.
In the 1870's & 1880's fishermen and business people from all over arrived and sailors 'jumped ship' for the opportunities Grand Isle offered. Some were on the run, which made them seek out this secluded island retreat.
By 1890 Grand Isle was a prosperous fishing and agricultural center.
The Chinese had arrived 20 years earlier with knowledge of shrimp drying techniques, and they actually exported shrimp back to China at $65.00, a barrel. In processing the shrimp, they first boil them in salt water with a little salt peter added. They would constantly rake the shrimp so they would dry evenly. The peelings then had to be removed by putting them in cloth bags and beating them, or by walking on them (dancing the shrimp).
The average resident of Grand Isle lived a good life in the fashion of the times. There was frequent dances with fiddle, accordian and harmonica players. They also enjoyed card games. They lived life to the fullest!
Most of their food came from the sea and their gardens. Their cash income was from the sale of seafood and cucumbers. The sale of seafood was to local seafood dealers, to the Chinese drying platforms and the New Orleans French Quarter. The sale of cucumbers was to the purchasing agents of the Chicago market, in New Orleans.
From the late 1870's to the end of world war II, in 1945, the cucumber was the Big Cash Crop. In 1889 more than three million dollars worth of cucumbers was harvested from the gardens of Grand Isle.
From the late 1940's to the mid 1960's Grand Isle was Las Vegas, Baytona Beach & Atlantic City all rolled up into one. And then in September of 1965, the prayers of every preacher was answered. A kill-joy came to Grand Isle, by the name of Hurricane Betsy. And every Dance Hall, Casino & Pleasure Palace was flattened.
From the late 1960's to about 1989 was the glory days of the oil boom. Many residents 50 and older can tell you of wild & wooly nights on Grand Isle at the height of the oil boom. At every Bar Room and many of the camps there was wild parties that lasted days (some two & three weeks) at a time. In 1990 the oil boom was over on Grand Isle.
Throughout Grand Isle's illustrious history, Grand Isle has been a home away from home for the Great and Near Great--Actors, Millionaires, Politicians, Entrepreneurs, and Ocean-going-Drifters.
Throughout the 1950's and 1960's a number of actors snuck in and out of Grand Isle, to have a goodtime, with out the press along. In the 1960's part of an episode of the television show Route 66 was filmed on Grand Isle. In 1989 the motion picture "Grand Isle" was made.
From the 1860's to present day many self-made millionaires own unassuming vacation retreats on Grand Isle.
From the late 1920s till 1935 the political enemies of Huey P. Long held clandestine meetings on Grand Isle. Huey P. Long was governor and political boss of Louisiana in the late 1920s and early 1930s, who was assassinated at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on September 8th, 1935, by Dr. Carl Weiss; Weiss was then killed by Long's bodyguards. Long was a powerful Southern politician who had consolidated his hold on Louisiana after successfully fighting impeachment charges in 1929, and had developed presidential ambitions.
Former Louisiana governors Edwin Edwards and Buddy Roemer have visited Grand Isle. And Louisiana governor Mike Foster has a vacation home on Grand Isle. It is said that in 1989 the then governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas visited (incognito) Grand Isle for a fishing trip.
