Belle Chasse 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, belle chasse 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 the largest town in Plaquemines Parish. Benny Rousselle, a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the former president of Plaquemines Parish government, is from Belle Chasse.