Between Grand Isle and Cameron, Cypremort Point is the only locality near the Gulf of Mexico that can be reached by car. Its name comes from the French words for cypress and dead. This point of land at Vermilion Bay may have been created by an old distributary of the Mississippi River during the building of the Maringouin Delta between 5,000 and 7,500 years ago. The Chitimacha Tribe inhabited this area before European contact, and tribal tradition holds that one of their boundary markers, an especially large cypress, grew here. The Chitimacha had some permanent villages inland, but members also traveled to the coast, especially in winter, to fish and harvest oysters, then typically moved inland in summer to avoid high water during hurricanes and tropical storms. To the northwest, Weeks Island is one of five major salt domes along the Louisiana coastline in the Gulf Coast Salt Dome Basin, formed as salt rose from thousands of feet below the surface and created island habitats for birds and other animals. Because significant hills are unusual in south Louisiana, the view is especially striking. At the end of LA Hwy. 319 lie the open waters of Vermilion Bay and, beyond them, the Gulf of Mexico. The area is especially vulnerable to inundation storm surge from hurricanes and tropical storms between May 1st and November 30th each year. In the distance, Marsh Island, a barrier island, provides some protection from storm surge. Its low-lying coastal marshes are home to waterfowl and crustaceans, a colony of snow geese winters at the Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge, and its shores contain relict oyster reefs, remnants of the few not mined during the 20th century. Today Louisiana's coastal oyster reefs are protected, and restoration efforts are helping rebuild this critical ecosystem, which defends shorelines and provides habitat for many species of fish and crustaceans. Cypremort Point also includes a half-mile stretch of man-made beach used for picnics, fishing, crabbing, water skiing, and sailing. Its geology is Holocene deltaic deposits of the Teche course of the Mississippi River.