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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Why The Name La Belle?

After working tirelessly to create the perfect candle, it was time to find a name for my creations.   Sure, I could keep it simple and call them "Bill's Candles" or "Candles by Bill", but what fun would that be?  So the search began or what some like to call, "brainstorming". 

Where should I begin?  First and foremost, I wanted a name for my candles that represented where they came from, Victoria, Texas, or at least the general vicinity.  There were a lot of names that I could think of but none that really represented the historical significance of the area.  I started running through the list of the plentiful historical events that shaped the surrounding area.  As I was generating the list, I remembered the Belle shipwreck which occurred in the late 1600's in Matagorda Bay, just a short distance from Victoria. 

In the late 1600's a French explorer named LaSalle made his way into the Gulf of Mexico in search of the mouth of the Mississippi only to find himself along the middle Texas coast.  On a cold winters day in 1687, one of his ships, Belle, ran aground in the eastern part of Matagorda Bay and began to settle into the muddy bottom.  The ship remained submerged below the muddy waters of the bay for more than 300 years until the wreck was finally discovered by the Texas Historical Commission in 1995.  Once the ships remains were discovered, the Texas Historical Commission began an unprecedented excavation of the ship.  A cofferdam was built around the ship and all the water was pumped out and the excavation began.  Over a million artifacts have been catalogued providing an insight into the life and times of the early explorers. 

Maybe I was onto something here.  A ship wreck, beautiful artifacts, Belle - French for beautiful.  That sounded like the perfect name for my candles.  La Belle (The Beautiful).  Beautiful in appearance, beautiful smell....couldn't be a better match.  And so began, La Belle Artisan Candles.



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