What is the importance of Avery Island?
What is the importance of Avery Island?
Avery Island is the largest of five salt domes along the Louisiana coast. It is the home of the interrelated Avery and McIlhenny families, as well as the Jungle Gardens, a 170-acre semitropical estate open to the public since 1935, and McIlhenny Company, maker of Tabasco brand products for more than 140 years.
How big is the Avery Island salt mine?
about 2,200 acres
It covers about 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) and is about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) across at its widest point.
How deep is the Avery Island salt mine?
Salt is mined only on one level, about 510 feet below Gulf level. Estimating the amount of salt that was taken from open quarry mining, together with records kept since the advent of subsurface mining, indicates that about 8 million tons of salt have been taken from Avery Island.
Was Avery Island a plantation?
Marsh, from Connecticut, brought enslaved people from New York and New Jersey with him to his sugar plantation in Louisiana. By 1840, the plantation was known as Marsh-Avery plantation, and by the time of the Civil War, was known just as Avery Plantation.
Is Avery Island still open?
Today, Avery Island remains the home of the TABASCO® brand pepper sauce factory, as well as Jungle Gardens and its Bird City wildfowl refuge. The Tabasco factory and the gardens are open for tours.
Who owns Avery Island?
Avery Island, Louisiana, the birthplace of TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce, has been owned for over 180 years by the interrelated Marsh, Avery and McIlhenny families.
Who owns Avery Island salt mine?
Cargill
The mine is owned by Avery Island Inc. and has been managed by Cargill since 1997 when it acquired the lease from Azko-Nobel. Avery Island is one of three salt mines operated by Cargill.
Is Avery Island actually an island?
The island is approximately 2,200 acres in area and about three miles in diameter at its widest point. Avery Island is not an island in the traditional sense. Located a few miles inland from the nearest body of open water, it appears insular because of its conspicuous height and encirclement by wetlands.