Lake Pontchartrain

New Orleans's location would likely have been different had Native Americans not shown French explorers a route between Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico. Early in the history of Greater New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain became a hub for transportation, commerce, and industry. Its role expanded, and by the 1960s two amusement parks (Lincoln and Pontchartrain Beach), restaurants, several harbors, a municipal airport, the world's longest bridge, five lighthouses, a state park, and hundr...