Louisiana Fresh Shrimp
Louisiana Fresh Shrimp is a family owned small business. Our product is shrimp and seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.
Janice and I are residents of the City of New Orleans but spend quite a bit of time in beautiful Chatham County.
We love Pittsboro, Chatham, and the beautiful state of North Carolina.
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When I was a boy ... I lived in the section of New Orleans known as Algiers Point. Algiers is the second oldest neighborhood in New Orleans and was once a separate town ... settled in 1719. In many ways Algiers reminds me of Pittsboro. Both places go back to the 1700's when this nation was being founded. Algiers has the Mississippi River on three sides which isolates us from the rest of New Orleans. We are a small town inside a larger city and retain the character of a small town.
When I was a boy ... when I would be sent to one of our neighborhood grocery stores, it was to a store where my family knew the owners by name.
There were many small family run groceries in Algiers .... All of these families lived in residences attached to their stores. I went to school with their children. They were all hard-working people who took pride in the quality of the products they sold to their neighbors and they always had time to talk to their customers.
We knew and trusted the family that made our favorite sausages and the family that had the best seafood. We knew which family sold our favorite pickled meat for the red beans, and which one had the best hog head cheese, with plently of greens in it. They all had wonderful vegetables from local farms. Their sons would ride large bicycles with big fat tires and big baskets and deliver the groceries to our house, down the alley, through the back door, into the kitchen, placing the groceries on our kitchen table.
Our seafood shop was Johnny's Seafood where we could always get fresh seafood and especially the stuffed crabs and stuffed artichokes.
There is still a seafood business in Algiers at the same location where Johnny's Seafood once was. It has been there about a decade now. The new owner calls it John's Seafood not Johnny's Seafood.
All the other neighborhood stores are gone or the locations have been converted to convenience stores, selling what convenience stores sell.
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My wife and I still live in Old Algiers. On the same street that I grew up on. I am the 5th generation of my family here in New Orleans. The 6th and 7th generations also once lived in the city.
Like thousands of families in New Orleans we were affected by Katrina. Our children and grand children no longer live in New Orleans.
We now have 9 grandchildren. 3 were born after Hurricane Katrina. Katherine is a Katrina Baby born 9 months after the hurricane. Joshua is the oldest and he is 11 years old. We are blessed with a bunch of little ones. Each one so beautiful and so unique. 4 now live in Florida, 3 in Franklinton, La., 1 in Pittsboro and our first grandchild is in Heaven. Our children and grandchildren are prescious to us.
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I have made many trips to Chatham since the hurricane in 2005 to visit my daughter and grand-daughter, to see how they were doing. Each trip with my truck empty.
It eventually dawned on me that I could put some shrimp in my truck and bring them to Pittsboro to my daughter and some of her neighbors.
So in June of 2008 Janice and I brought some shrimp to Pittsboro. Only 80 lbs. Janice was a nervous wreck. We had never bought more than 10 pounds of shrimp in our life. I think she was concerned for me. How I would be disappointed if we found that no one in Pittsboro wanted our shrimp... the shrimp were all gone in 35 minutes!
When we drive into Pittsboro and circle the Court House ... after an 840 mile trip ... it's a great feeling. I am sure you know what I mean. We love Pittsboro.
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I take pride in the quality of the products we bring to Pittsboro. The shrimp and seafood we bring to Chatham ... I would not hesitate to offer to my own prescious grand-children.
The shrimp we bring to you are harvested by families that have been in the shrimping business for generations.
Please be assured that when you buy our seafood and prepare meals for the people you love, you are giving to them the finest quality seafood in the world.
AL 08/20/2010
Shrimp Boats on Bayou Petite Caillou, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana
("Terrebonne" is French for "Good Earth")