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Echo staff photos by Bennie Shallbetter
David “Cairo” Wheeler, on the steps of his and wife Lori Gordon’s art studio at their Clermont Harbor home.
sunlight is filtered through resides. He was here a the tall trees that are a minute ago, he says. The standard in the area. A two have a separate studio wooden bridge crosses a kept private by a grove of small creek where Cairo tall bamboo, a treehouse says a large snapping turtle and a dock on the harbor
fay to the Mississippi Sound from their dock in the harbor.
that allows them access to the Sound during high tide. An ideal day for the pair includes a bike ride to watch the sun come up over the gulf, a few hours of painting for Lori, woodworking for Cairo, a boat ride in the harbor if the tide is up, dinner and an early bedtime.
The harbor, almost invisible to the casual observer, has been a cornerstone of activity to those who grew up here. As with the other nearly invisible small lakes scattered throughout the area, the harbor and nearby Sandy Bayou hold memories of golden sunsets, swimming, boating, and fishing for green trout. And with the Sound just down the block, it’s not hard to guess that much of life in Clermont Harbor has centered around the water.
For lifelong resident Russell Guerin memories centering around the harbor and the Sound are abundant. His family began to visit the coast when his grandparents Emily and Morinville would come to the area for the summer. Guerin’s father, Wilfred and his mother Camille bought property in Clermont Harbor before Russell was born and built a summer home on Forest Ave. Later the family acquired a lot on
the beach front and rolled the small house down to its new location on logs. It was a nice house with a wrap around porch, Guerin remembers.
Coming out from New Orleans each summer Guerin and his brothers Wilfred Jr. and Roland, and sister Gloria, made friends with the “county kids” easily. The civic association took care of the one pier into the sound and it was about 900 feet long. Many a friendship was struck up along the long skinny pier.
“No child could come out and not make friends,” said Guerin. “Because we would all meet on the pier.”
An ice cream parlor at the foot of Bordage St. was also a favorite meeting place for the kids. Softball games were played in the cleared area behind the parlor. “It was the country boys versus the city boys,” said Guerin.
Most weekday mornings the fathers of the city kids drove their cars to the L & M depot and took the train into New Orleans to work. In the evening the men would play cards and have a drink or two on the train on the way home. It was easy living. “Sometimes my father would get home in
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