Gerald Keller and Darroch Watson’s book on Reserve will be released soon. The book tells the history of the St. John the Baptist Parish community through photos mostly collected by the Reserve150 Committee last year as part of the sesquicentennial celebration.

The book is interesting on its own as a piece of the history of the community that was once the economic motor of the parish. But hidden within the pages is a lesson.

It is often said if a people does not pay attention to history they are doomed to repeat it. This advice, however, is usually offered in the abstract. Rarely does a community get to examine its own history so closely to see what was done right, what could have been done better and what was out of its control.

The passage of time and the changes it brings are inevitable. How a community deals with it is not.

By the late ‘70s, Reserve watched as LaPlace became the economic engine of the parish. Whether that was a conscious decision to value community over commerce or a product of poor planning is up for debate.