Waterproof, LA
View from Buffalo Bayou 2001
Folks in North Louisiana pronounce Moro as MO-row (heavy accent on the first syllable). When we were children my brother and I thought it meant something like "more rows" of cotton. It was for the cotton ground that our father had bought it in the early 1950's. Located on the Mississippi River about 27 miles north of Natchez it has some of the richest alluvial soil in the world. It was not until Easter Sunday of 2004 when my brother and I were walking through the French Quarter of New Orleans that we found what is probably the origin of the name Moro (French for "Black" pronounced mo-ROW, accent second syllable and spelled Moreau.)
We stopped to browse in the Faulkner bookstore just to the backside of St. Louis Cathedral. The owner of the bookstore asked us if we knew the name of the first owner and we replied that all we had found in parish records was the name Theophilus Freeman and he was from New Orleans. We knew that the land grant for property was dated April of 1843. Whereupon the owner pulled off his shelf and showed us the following......
FREEMAN, Theophilus, slave dealer. Born in Georgia. Arrived New Orleans, 1840-41 and set up slave yard on Moreau Street....
Moreau Street is now Chartres and the slave yard was probably in the vicinity of where the Old French Market now stands. The street was named for Victor Moreau, a general of Napoleon's (most likely a rival) who spent time in New Orleans and was very popular. It is said that he pointed out the Chalmette battlefield and remarked that if the city had to be defended that here was the place to make a stand.
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