Reggio, Louisiana
Reggio
Bencheque | |
|---|---|
Raised houses of the community along the Reggio Canal. | |
| Coordinates: 29°49′53″N 89°45′16″W / 29.83139°N 89.75444°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Louisiana |
| Parish | St. Bernard Parish |
| MCD | Parish Governing Authority District E
|
| Historic colonies | Louisiana (New Spain) Louisiana (New France) |
| Established | 1783 |
| Named after | Louis de Reggio; Montaña y Barranco de Bencheque |
| Area | |
• Total | 13.1 km2 (5.06 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 0.9 m (3 ft) |
| Demonym(s) | benchecano, -na |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (Central) |
| ZIP code | 70085 |
| Area code | 504 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1628038 |
Reggio (/ˈrɛdʒioʊ/ REJ-ee-oh, French: [ʁɛdʒjo]), also known as Bencheque (/bɛnˈtʃɛkeɪ/ ben-CHEK-ay, Spanish: [benˈtʃeke]), is an Isleño fishing community located in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The community was established in 1783 with the settlement of Canary Islanders along Bayou Terre-aux-Boeufs. During the last decade of the eighteenth century, Louis de Reggio purchased land from the Isleños to establish a sugarcane plantation. It is perhaps the only community in the United States that bears a Guanche-language name.
After the American Civil War, the community greatly expanded as Isleños moved deeper into the eastern portion of the Parish to engage in fishing, trapping, hunting, and Spanish moss gathering. During the twentieth century, forces including urbanization, modernization, improved transportation, and natural disasters among others led to the migration of Isleños away from their traditional communities. Following the complete destruction of Hurricane Katrina, only a handful of the original families returned to rebuild.