In 1699, Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d’Iberville, a French explorer, became the first European to discover the area of present-day St. Tammany Parish. While exploring lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, Iberville wrote in his journal, "The place where I am is one of the prettiest I have seen, fine level ground bare of canes. The land north of the lakes is a country of pine trees mixed with hard woods. The soil is sandy and many tracks of buffalo and deer can be seen." St. Tammany was originally inhabited by numerous Indian peoples, including the: Colapissas, Bayou Goulas, Chickasaw, Biloxi, Choctaw, and Pensacola nations (although, Frederick S. Ellis, in his book St. Tammany Parish: L’autre Côté du Lac, claims that the regionally prominent Choctaw tribe did not arrive to the area until after it had begun to be settled by Europeans). After the founding and development of New Orleans, French settlers began to enter the region. Their primary industry was the production of pitch, tar, turpentine and resin from the forests. After the French were defeated in the Seven Years War, St. Tammany (like the surrounding regions of the Florida Parishes) became part of English West Florida. Then, after Britain was defeated in the American Revolution, West Florida was governed by the Spanish. During the West Florida period, St. Tammany, like the rest of West Florida, attracted British loyalists who wanted to escape persecution in the 13 colonies. The West Florida period ended with the West Florida Revolt, which preceded West Florida's annexation by the United States. In 1810, President James Madison claimed West Florida as part of Louisiana and sent William C.C. Claiborne to claim the territory. Claiborne established the boundaries of the Florida Parishes, including St. Tammany. St. Tammany was named after Indian Chief Tamanend. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2006-05-02/blake.php Before 1834, there were only two towns in St. Tammany: Covington, LouisianaCovington, a retreat with summer homes and hotels; and Madisonville, LouisianaMadisonville, a shipbuilding and sawmill town. Mandeville, LouisianaMandeville was developed that year as a resort for New Orleanians and became an immediate success, spurring the development of another resort community, Abita Springs, LouisianaAbita Springs. A railroad connected the towns to Mandeville and further to New Orleans, allowing for a burgeoning of growth in Abita Springs, where underground spring waters furnished supposedly healthful baths for public use. After the construction of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, Interstate 12 and Interstate 10, people began to relocate to St. Tammany in large numbers. In 1986, the Abita Brewing Company was founded in Abita Springs. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Tammany_Parish%2C_Louisiana