Just five miles downriver from the ornate, iron-lace balconies of New Orleans' French Quarter, bright stucco buildings and raucous bars give way to a more serene landscape stroked in wild marsh grasses and thick mud. Fishermen sell fresh shrimp along the roads that cut through St Bernard Parish as their boats bob in the bayous nearby. The quiet, 200-year-old suburb is famous for its fishing industry and unique geography, appearing to rise up on a map from Louisiana's eastern coast like a cresting wave before spitting dozens of islands and marshes into the Gulf of Mexico.
