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is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Belle Chasse is part of the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan area. The population was 9,848 at the 2000 census.
There is little concurrence regarding the origin of the name Belle Chasse. In French,
literally means "beautiful hunting." It is widely believed that it was named so for the richness of wildlife the initial French settlers observed when they first settled in the region. Others say that Belle Chasse was named after a Colonel Joseph D. Bellechasse, who lived in New Orleans around the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Belle Chasse was the home town of Confederate statesman Judah P. Benjamin.
Belle Chasse is also home to a Naval Air Station for the U.S. Navy Reserve. It was founded in 1941 the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, but in 1957 it relocated to its current location and has subsequently been designated as a Joint Forces Reserve Air Station. It is home to various naval air units as well as an Air Force Reserves fighter squadron and a Marine Corps Reserve helicopter unit.