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Lopinot was named after Charles Joseph Count de Loppinot (1738–1819).Loppinot was a young knight who rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General in the French army. He left France to serve time in the North-American French colony of Acadie (today known as New Brunswick, Canada). He left the colony of Acadie around 1755, when the French were expelled from the area. He then headed to Louisiana until he recognized signs of future annexation by the United States. His journey then continued to Haiti which was, at the time, one of the wealthiest sugar-producing territories of the world. It was at this time that Loppinot seized the economically viable opportunity to become a sugar planter. He quickly amassed great wealth and acquired land, slaves and a good reputation among his fellow associates. However, his stay in Saint Domingue was curtailed as a result of slave uprisings which began in 1791. After fighting alongside the British in an attempt to reclaim the island, he fled when victory proved unattainable. Legend has it that on dark, stormy nights the Compte Charles Joseph de Lopinot appears on a black horse, dressed in military regalia, and gallops across the Lopinot savannah — the site of the cocoa and coffee estate he established around 1806 after he fled to Trinidad. He died in 1819. After a visit in 2011, TV show Ghost Hunters International (SYFY Channel in the US) reported that they had found more evidence of paranormal activity here than anywhere else in the world. Incidentally, the Ghost Hunters also tracked down some spine-tingling phenomena Down the Islands in Chacachacare, Trinidad…have a look.
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Our Pitch Lake in La Brea is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world and is one of only three natural asphalt lakes in the world (the other two are in Venezuela and California). It is the result of a fault in the sandstone 250 feet down, through which crude oil or bitumen seeps, the pitch has been exported for decades, for use on roofs and road surfaces. Though you can walk on its surface, objects have been swallowed up, sometimes reappearing years later as the pitch slowly swirls. The Amerindians are said to have believed that the Pitch Lake was created by the Good Spirit to drown a village whose people had sinned by killing too many hummingbirds. When Sir Walter Raleigh discovered the Pitch Lake in 1595, it was already known as the Tierra de Brea, it's Spanish name, by the Amerindians guides who introduced Sir Walter to the 100-acre lake of black gold. Sir Walter Raleigh immediately recognized the potential and began caulking his ships with the tar. On his second voyage to Trinidad, Sir Walter Raleigh took some of the asphalt home with him, where it was used to pave Westminster Bridge for the opening of Parliament. Unfortunately the raw pitch melted in the sun, as it has a tendency to do, covering horses hooves and gumming up carriage wheels. |
T&T news blogThe intent of this blog is to bring some news from home and other fun items. If you enjoy what you read, please leave us a comment.. Archives
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