Community of Hackberry
The community of Hackberry is essentially an island only twenty-three feet above sea level. You might wish to sample some of the local culture and color and cuisine at Brown's Food Center on the west side of the road. A deli and public restrooms are available at Brown's as well. Hackberry is home to some of the first oil wells drilled in Louisiana, but today it is most famous as a center for commercial crabbing, shrimping and fishing including several large commercial seafood companies. You will probably also find locals selling seafood right at the roadside docks. Seafood has shaped the regional cuisine and culture. Whether it is families crabbing from bridges along the Creole Nature Trail, fishing in the marsh, or heading out to the Gulf in a 95-foot shrimp boat, the pursuit of seafood by families is a long local tradition going back generations. But the seafood harvest in Hackberry is not just about shaping the local cuisine and culture. No, the wetlands that surround the Creole Nature Trail are essential to the nation's seafood supply. When you enjoy seafood at home or in a restaurant, chances are excellent that it's from Louisiana. Nearly 1/3 of the seafood consumed in the United States comes from Louisiana. Louisiana is one of the top providers of shrimp, oysters, crab, crawfish and alligator in the USA. Although blue crabs are often associated with Delaware or Maryland, if you've eaten crab on the East Coast, chances are good it's actually from Louisiana. Louisiana is the top shipper of live male crabs to the Atlantic coast market. In fact, in the roadside canals you will also see ball-shaped floats marking crab traps.