It was called Ile Fourchue, in the 1880s, when the first
families came to settle the ridge that in those days was broken
only by trails made by the herds of cattle that roamed the
marsh. Jules Schexnayder and his family were the first pioneers
to settle in the area but they settled it good, rearing 22
children at their old homestead south of the Intracoastal Canal.
Other early families included those of Onezime Gaspard, Theodore
Rung, Helire Broussard, Remy Hebert, Lodias Stelly Sr., Columbus
Dartez, Anatole Touchet, Arville Suire, and Oneal Sicily. The
old stories say black bears roamed the area in those pioneering
days, and children couldn't go outside in the afternoons unless
Momma was standing nearby with a loaded musket. Forked Island
was truly an island then, and log rafts were used to ferry
families to it. The first road to the island was built about
1917 by men using little more than shovels and wheelbarrows. A
new and better road was built in the 1930s as part of the Works
Progress Administration und