Hermitage Plantation was destroyed when the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers expropriated the land to build the Spillway. George Kugler, was born in Kirchhain, Germany and came to America, married Sophia Marie Arthemise Madere and bought the Hermitage.
He and his wife raised a large family and they all worked hard on their sugarcane plantation. Some of the young men attended Holy Cross School in New Orleans, one of the few private Catholic schools at the time. According to stories told to me by my father, who went to school at Holy Cross with them and socialized with them, they loved music and baseball. And, true to their German heritage they were all handsome, strapping young men.
The Kuglers had a commissary which opened certain hours every day to serve the people on the plantation. Ralph Block ran the store at the Diamond Plantation a short piece downriver.
Dr. Bonmaire, a Frenchman, was the doctor for the area and at one time was also the postmaster. He boarded at Perilloux Plantation. His theory was that almost anything could be cured with soap and water and encouraged people to wash often. He treated everyone for almost nothing.
St. Isidore Chapel was built by Fr. John Basty in Montz in 1924. It was part of the St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Destrehan. The Kugler family and other plantation families attended St. Isidore's mass on Sunday.