Editing St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana (section)

===19th century===
In the early 1830s, there were only two towns in St. Tammany: [[Covington, Louisiana|Covington]], a retreat with summer homes and hotels; and [[Madisonville, Louisiana|Madisonville]], a shipbuilding and sawmill town. The area south of Covington to Lake Pontchartrain's northern shore and extending eastwards to the [[Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana)|Pearl River]] border with the state of [[Mississippi]] was known as the Covington Lowlands. This region included the present-day towns of [[Mandeville, Louisiana|Mandeville]], [[Abita Springs, Louisiana|Abita Springs]], [[Lacombe, Louisiana|Lacombe]], [[Slidell, Louisiana|Slidell]], and [[Pearl River, Louisiana|Pearl River]].

Mandeville was founded in 1834 by [[Bernard de Marigny|Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville]] and was developed as a health resort for wealthy New Orleanians, because it was believed that [[ozone]] was both salutary and naturally emitted by the numerous trees in the area (both beliefs later proven false), giving rise to an early name for the region&nbsp;— the "Ozone Belt".

Regular ferry service commenced across [[Lake Pontchartrain]], and shortly thereafter another resort community was founded, Abita Springs. A railroad was constructed in the 1880s connecting Covington and Abita Springs to Mandeville and to [[New Orleans]], allowing for further growth, particularly in Abita Springs, where underground spring waters permitted supposedly healthful baths.