Turgeau is the first communal section of the City of Port-au-Prince, Ouest, Haiti.
Location in Haiti (red arrow pointing to #6)
Map of the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Turgeau
Turgeau is part the core area of what is known as Port-au-Prince's Gingerbread District. This district, concentrated in the neighborhoods of Bois Verna, Pacot, and Turgeau, is where the largest concentrations of Gingerbread period houses are located. It is estimated to contain as many as 300.
World Monunments Watch
On October 2009, the Gingerbread Houses of Haiti were included on the 2010 World Monuments Watch, to raise international awareness about this unique architectural heritage. Many of these once elegant, turn-of-the-century structures, detailed with fretted wood and intricate latticework, had fallen into disrepair. While political instability and economic strife had precluded substantive preservation efforts in recent decades, the Haitian Leadership and Education Program (HELP) brought the Gingerbread Houses to the attention of the World Monuments Fund (WMF), in the hopes of generating support for the revitalization of these important buildings and communities.
About[]
Originally the 6th rural section of the city of Port-au-Prince, Turgeau is located to the south-east of this city, about 600 feet above the sea. The Saint-Anne Parish, as well as the Desprez, Waute, and Babiole habitations hold a level of significance. A limit of the city of Port au Prince passes by the Source Turgeau up to the road to Deprez. Of note is the The Saint Louis Chapel built by Louis Horelle. Water from the Turgeau spring supplies Port au Prince which it owns. The flow rate from this source is 18 liters per second.
This section is known for its excellent temperature, as well as its splendid views over the Bay of Port au Prince. Turgeau water contains in solution, such a proportion of limestone that in a very short time it is deposited in the form of stone in such a large quantity on the inner walls of the cast iron pipes that the volume of water decreases appreciably. The houses are beautiful and pleasant.
There is a cave which has become famous because it has given asylum, it is said, to Jean-Louis Bellegarde, lieutenant of the hunters of the horse guard, accused of conspiring against President Boyer; this is why this cave is called Trou Bellegade.
Domino's Pizza; Turgeau, Haiti
House on John Brown Avenue; Turgeau, Haiti
Turgeau, Port-au-Prince Skyline
Turgeau; Home of Digicel Headquarters
Geography[]
Neighboring sections
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Turgeau's position is located between the rural section of Etang du Jong, PEV and Turgeau, below Boutillier.
There is a path through the hills that leads from one city to another.
Morne à Tuf[]
Morne à Tuf is a populous district located in the city of Port-au-Prince, part of the Rue des Casernes. Established as a parish under the name of Sainte-Anne on April 20, 1872, a holiday is celebrated on July 26. A very beautiful monument was built on a site in the inner cemetery.
There is a very busy market called Marché Debout.
In the cemetery, where one no longer buries, there is the marble mausoleum of the Count of Ennery, who died Governor General in 1776; the tomb of Coutilien Coutard, who died January 1, 1807 the battle of Sibert, saving the life of the general Pétion; that of Civique de Gastines who had come to Haiti to fight the people whose rights he had defended; that of the famous doctor Montégre who had come to study yellow fever, and who died of it; that of Billaud de Varennes, this famous French revolutionary who died in 1819, and the monument of Charlotin Marcadieux.
History[]
• In January 1792, the colored men, camped at Croix-des-Bouquets, sent Pinchinat Port-au-Prince to request a truce from the whites. The municipality, instead of letting him enter the city, as had been agreed, had fired on him all the cannons of Fort Saint Joseph. However, Pinchinat returned safe and sound to Croix-des-Bouquets.
• On June 5, 1794, Blaise, lieutenant colonel of the Western Legion, delivered the Fort Saint-Joseph to the English. A settler named Béranger went there that day, and in the midst of all the whites who had called the English to the colony, he read a list of thirty planters, his old friends who were, he said, republicans. He began with Messiers Goy and Gau. He had them thrown successively into the pit after having burned their brains with his own hand, and saying to each of them: "Republican, make the jump of the Tarpeienne Rock". He would thus have killed all those unfortunate people who had just betrayed the country, if General Whyte, arriving in the fort at 8 o'clock in the evening, had not put an end to this terrible carnage. The English general had him arrested; the next day he had a proclamation published in which he condemned his crimes. Béranger fled, he drowned in the Voldrugue on their way to Jérémie.
• In 1794, the English landed at Pointe de la Saline and seized Fort Touron. A vast saline land located outside the city of Port-au-Prince, on the other side of Fort Touron and Eglise Saint Joseph, it was a place of execution of the criminals of Port-au-Prince. Among the illustrious dead who sleep in his cemetery, is Sylvain Salnave, Septimus Rameau, and General P. Lorquet. In 1880, the Government of President Salomon, before making concessions of sites at La Saline, there arose a real village.
• On February 5, 1802, when the French army landed at Lamentin, the garrison of the fort had been taken over by the citizens. The 3rd Colonial had fired at the French from Place Vallière, and then retreated into the fort. The garrison allowed the soldiers of the 3rd to enter the midst of them, they did not feel any mistrust, and believing themselves to be with brothers, suddenly saw the guns pointed at them. At the same time the French who were already surrounding the fortification, summoned them to lay down their arms, which was done.
• In 1802, the band leader Basson Langlade occupied Canapé-Vert against the French.
• In 1802, the leader of the bands Adam Duchemin, black, seized the source of Turgeau. It is said that the natives sometimes poisoned the waters by throwing many branches of mancenillier into them. The French made an exit against the natives and drove them from this position, establishing a considerable post there.
• The Want habitation belonged to Louis Jean Adam and at the time was very fragmented, with a dozen or so beautiful country houses. Colonist Want, the former owner, was a district general of prefecture; then in 1802, appointed by Leclerc, prefect of the Southern Department. In 1803 He published a work on the importance of the French West colonies, and particularly on that of Santo Domingo, which, already at that time, was an indepenient state under the name of Haiti.
• On September 25, 1803, during the siege of Port-au-Prince, Dessalines established his headquarters there. The French General Lavalette began negotiations with Dessalines to evacuate the place. He sent General Andrieux to Turgeau to guarantee the execution of the commitments he had made for this purpose. Dessalines, in exchange, sent General Bonnet to Port-Republican.
• During the revolution of Cacos in 1868, the revolutionaries of Pétion-Ville had established an advanced post there. There were several fights in which the Cacos had the upper hand over the government troops, called "Zandolites", after the name of their leader.
• Colonel Francois Lux before evacuating could not resist the desire to go see Dessalines in Turgeau. As soon as he appeared, Dessalines asked who this old man was. It's Colonel Lux, they told him. Come closer, he cried, you fought like a lion in Sarthe. I would like to know you. The French colonel told him how much he was flattered by the reception he gave him, and he said how sorry he would be to leave for France without having seen him. Although he was leaving, Dessalines said that if he was not white he would appoint him his lieutenant in the native armies. The apostolic prefect Lecen also came to visit Dessalines in Turgeau.
• On December 19, 1869, President Salnave, beaten by the Cacos in Port-au-Prince, passed through Turgeau to reach Pétion-Ville and the frontiers.
• On May 3, 1875, General Boisrond Canal took refuge in the house of the American consul ED Bassett, in Turgeau. The day before the Fête de l'Agriculture (Labor Day), the government of President Domingue had sent to arrest the generals Pierre Momplaisir-Pierre, Brice and Boisrond Canal. The first two were in town; they defended themselves and perished in the struggle. Boisrond Canal was on his Freres home; he resisted the armed force sent against him, and fell into the woods. Left for exile, he returned to the fall of Domingue and was appointed president of Haiti.
A. Fleury Battier sang Turgeau in a piece of verse which is in his collection entitled "Sous Les Bambous". Paul Lochard congratulating him on his inspiration said,
"So don't be afraid Turgeau, Mariani whose wave
caresses with pride the plain that it floods
Rolling her crystal through so many flowers;
All these charming places celebrated by your lyre,
Long after your death, rekindling your delirium,
Will pour out perfumes and flowers on you."
Translation
Ne crains donc rien Turgeau, Mariani dont l'onde
caresse avec orgueil la plaine qu'elle inonde,
En roulant son cristal a travers tant de fleurs;
Tous ces lieux si charmants celebres par ta lyre,
Longtemps apres ta mort, ranpelant ton delire,
Feront sur toi verser des parfums et des fleurs."
Belair
Villa Rosa, a neighborhood of Turgeau
Localities[]
| 1. TUG 1re Section Turgeau
Bourdon, Boutilier, Canape-Vert, Deprez, Fort National, Turgeau. |
References[]
Haiti_SautdEau - Lexy Sewall Photography [1]