DIGGING UP THE PAST

In October, 1961, I was 9 years old and a 3rd grader up the Bayou at Golden Meadow Lower Elementary. I remember my uncle honking the horn to tell me that he was here to bring me to the bus stop up the street. Before going out the screen door, I looked back into the kitchen--my dad, Curtis Vizier, was sitting on a chair with a blanket around him. He was freezing. He was so cold that my mom had turned on the oven and opened it so that my dad could sit by it and warm up. He had severe headaches and nausea, the same symptoms that I had a few weeks before when I had to be rushed to the hospital during a hurricane(the cause was never found- but my mother suspects that I had the same thing Dad had, but,because I had been immunized, it was not severe). This was the last I saw of him for 5 months. I went to school with that on my mind. That image has stayed with me for all those years. It was a turning point in my life and in the life of my family. Soon afterwards my dad was found to have polio. It was many years later, and after much pain, that he would have the strength to go back to work. To read about his personal account with polio, please click here."Meet Curtis Vizier".)

To keep up his strength after having had polio, he did a lot of walking. This led to him finding many "treasures" buried on the shores of Caminada Bay. My dad, known as Be'Be' on the island, has been digging up Grand Isle and Cheniere for years since then. In the 20+ years that he has been treasure hunting, using a long stick, sometimes with a nail on the tip to hear the clink of a bottle, he has unearthed thousands of bottles and artifacts, mostly on the shores of Caminada Bay. He tried using a metal detector, but there is so much junk metal buried in Grand Isle that it was a waste of time. Besides he prefers finding all the items he has . He doesn't think there was much old money to be found. These are mostly items that have been washed into the bay during the Hurricane of 1893. He, also, searches the sites of old homes and hotels. In addition to collecting bottles, Be'Be'collects Indian, eagle, and lighthouse figures, old radios, and license plates.People know of his collections and are always adding to it.Norma and Be'Be' have been featured in the book, Only in Louisiana, and in the PBS Documentary, Lost Louisiana.

Be'Be'in his boat.

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Norma and BeBe standing in front of just a small part of his bottle collection. Momma(Norma) is a very remarkable person also.When Daddy was sick, she worked hard, very hard. Some of the people she worked for back in the 1960's took advantage of our situation and her desperation to provide for us by paying her very little. But she still did her best. Momma was born in the part of Golden Meadow known as the Pointe a Saussis. Her parents were Torres(a fisherman and trapper) and Viola Guidry Cheramie. They lived in a small shotgun home across the bayou from the Golden Meadow School. When Momma started school, she was unable to speak English and French was not allowed to be spoken at school. She remembers one teacher hitting her for saying something in French. Living on the side of the Bayou as she did was not easy. Electricity did not come to them at the same time it did on the other side. She had to take a wooden raft-like ferry to school across the Bayou. The "FERRY MAN" would pull the ferry from one side to the other with a rope. The cold bayou water would rush over the platform and soak their socks and shoes. The teacher would dry both by the heater. Momma was very good at basketball and she loved playing but when she had to have her appendix removed and was unable to play for the season, she quit school and soon after was married. She then moved to Grand Isle and has been there ever since.

This is one of about 2 dozen jugs unearthed on Grand Isle.

Another "small" part of his bottle collection.He has bottles up and down 2 walls in this small room. His old jugs are on the floor.

These beer bottles, along with about 70 others, were found in 1980 on the site of the Herwig Hotel, which had been badly damaged by the Hurricane of 1893 and later torn down. They were found in a large circular cement structure buried in the ground in what would have been the back of the hotel.It must have been a dump.

This piece of depression glass was found by Norma by the bay behind the Cheniere Cemetery.

These doll heads were found near the site of the Herwig Hotel. He has also found many porcelain arms and legs.

This Heinz Sweet Gherkins bottle was found in the attic of the home of Tomasin Santiny, which has since been torn down.

Schlitz "red" bottles. Worth about $60 each.(no picture available yet)

He also has a very nice collection of cobalt blue bottles.(Milk of Magnesia, Noxema,Chelf's Caffein Compound, and others)

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The Great Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root Kidney, Liver, and Bladder Remedy(What a great name!)

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This Coca Cola bottle is dated December 25, 1923.

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Pictures not available for these yet.

Spoon Glass

Holy Water bottle

Thomas Edison

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Census records show that around 1800 there were about 9 people living in Grand Isle. There is a lot of history buried and also in plain view. This is one of the older streets in Grand Isle. You wouldn't want to walk down this street at night...or even during the day!

A big part of Grand Isle's past deals with hurricanes. Hurricane Betsy hit us hard in 1965. Here you see our garage, but the house is gone. I wrote a short story of our experience with Hurricane Betsy in a link in my Cemetery page.

Mom and Dad's house today---up on pilings

Beautiful Lighthouses Dad has built. The largest one is 6 feet high.

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