ENGLISH TURN (WESTBANK)

English Turn, or Détour des Anglais, is an older place name than the city of New Orleans. In fact, if it were not for what occurred at English Turn on September 15, 1699, New Orleans may never have been established. Bienville, accompanied by five fellow Canadians in two canoes, encountered an English corvette sailing up the Mississippi River and waved them down at that point. Bienville, who would later found the city of New Orleans in 1718, with much bravado bluffed the English capitain into thinking that the French had already firmly established a colony upriver. He told them that they would be wise to turn around and find some other suitable locale for their colonization efforts, or they would be sunk from the French fortifications upstream. And turn is exactly what they did. Although détour was used to describe the "bend" in the river, the other connotation seems to be equally appropriate. Sieur de Bienville would later begin work across the river on his new city, Nouvelle Orléans.

English Turn today is a fabulous masterplanned Jack Nicklaus golf and country club community. The Jack Nicklaus Development Corporation was formed in 1983, and construction of the 18-hole golf course began in August of 1986. English Turn can be reached by taking the Crescent City Connection to the West Bank, then taking General De Gaulle East across the Intracoastal Bridge, and finally taking a right on Louisiana Highway 406 and following the signs to English Turn.

Just fifteen minutes from the CBD, English Turn is 630 acres surrounded by the Mississippi River, the Donner Canal and the Intracoastal Canal. It has been home to the USF&G Golf Classic each spring, later to be sponsored by Freeport-McMoran and McDermott. In 1998, Entergy will be the sponsor. A more recent addition has been The Lakes, a gated community with magnificent waterfront and golf course views. Homesites in English Turn are as large as 3 1/2 acres, and the luxury custom homes are quite stunning.