GeorgeReymond

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The land was originally assembled in the early 20th century by Edward Avery “E.A.” McIlhenny, a member of the family behind Tabasco on Avery Island. McIlhenny accumulated roughly 150,000 acres of coastal marshland with the idea of creating a huge hunting, fishing, fur-trapping, and recreational property.

The ownership chain is roughly:

E.A. McIlhenny / associated investors / Louisiana Fur companies / Humble Oil / Exxon / ExxonMobil / potentially SpaceX

More specifically, McIlhenny’s interests evolved through several companies, including Louisiana Land and Mining Co., Louisiana Gulf Coast Club, Louisiana Coast Land Co., Louisiana Furs Inc., and eventually Louisiana Furs Corporation/Vermilion Corporation.

In 1958, Louisiana Fur sold the property to Humble Oil & Refining Company, but the owners structured the transaction so that Vermilion Corporation retained a 99-year surface lease. That allowed Vermilion Corp. to continue managing hunting, fishing, trapping and other surface activities even though Humble owned the underlying land.

Humble subsequently became part of Exxon, and the property ultimately ended up with ExxonMobil. Today it’s an enormous contiguous tract around Freshwater City/Pecan Island, extending toward the Gulf. Current reports put the SpaceX-related tract at roughly 130,000 acres.

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