St James Parish History Lesson


A couple Saturdays ago we had a history lesson on the Acadians who migrated from Nova Scotia to the Saint James Parish in 1765, by Mrs. Connie Donadieu of Crazy 'Bout History, Inc. given in St. Michael's Church. 


Acadians were deported from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island by the British in 1755 and dispersed along the east coast in British colonies in an attempt to keep their numbers down and not be a threat to the British.


By 1764 the Acadians made their way to New Orleans and were given land on the west bank of the Mississippi where they soon thrived to become the ever popular Cajuns of Louisiana.

Connie Donadieu dressed as an Acadian.

Dressed as an Acadian or Cajun, Connie showed the kids some of the toys and items that were used in everyday life by the individuals of the time period.

Marbles made of clay.

Connie is explaining how they used to save all of the hair that collected in their brushes in a hair receiver.  Then they would use it to make jewelry and paintings.

Connie showing the kids her antique hair receiver.

A piece of jewelry made by weaving human hair.  It was very common to have jewelry made with the hair of a loved one during this time period.

  Jewelry made from human hair.

Chloe made out especially well with a doll from the time period which is hand made from a handkerchief.  This style of baby doll was church friendly since it did not make any noise if dropped on the floor during service.  Although, the child may fill the void of silence with an earth shattering scream until they get the toy back.

Chloe playing with her handkerchief doll.

All of the kids got to try on a pair of pince-nez or spectacles that were very popular in the 19th century.   All the kids thought that they were really neat!

Ian trying on the spectacles.

Courtney's turn to try them on.

Ethan being admired by Avery while wearing the spectacles.

Avery looking cute as ever.

Tia getting help trying them on.

After our Acadian lesson we walked to the cemetery located behind Saint Michael's church to learn some of the history about it and the individuals buried there.

Tour of Saint Michael's cemetery.

One grave in the cemetery is for Florian Dicharry who, along with Christophe Colomb, designed and built the grotto of Lourdes in Saint Michael's Church in the year of 1876.

Grave of Florian Dicharry.

Here Connie is explaining how to boil Spanish moss to remove the outer hull in order to prepare it as a mattress filler, which was the common practice during the 19th century. 

Connie telling us how they used Spanish moss for bedding material.

We are very appreciative to Connie for taking time out of her Saturday to give us some history on the Acadians and Saint James Parish and on how they used to live and play.

When I contacted Connie to see if she would be willing to come out and talk to us, she did not hesitate and did an excellent job.  You could tell that she loves history and wants to pass that love to others.


We just hope we can always find someone like Connie everywhere we travel to help give us some local history and make it fun.

Chloe, Ian, Ethan, Courtney, Connie, Tia, and Avery in Saint Michael's Cemetery.

Until next time, God bless!

Don, Misty, & Kids.
 

Home is where the slides are out!



Oak Alley Plantation

The third plantation we visited was Oak Alley which is properly named due to the massive column of oak trees that line its front lawn.

Ian, Courtney, Ethan, Chloe, Tia, Don, Misty, & Avery Lively at Oak Alley.

The quarter mile lane of oak trees that run from the Mississippi river to the main house are evenly spaces and believed to be almost three hundred years old. 

In the tour we were told that the original owner, Jacques T. Roman, came upon the massive row of oaks when they were around one hundred years old and decided this is where he would build his house. 

The tour guide mentioned that a Frenchman planted the trees earlier, but for what purpose I do not know.  I may have to do some research on this to satisfy my curiosity.  I would have to wonder why someone would plant the trees in such a way if not for their entrance to a mansion.

In the picture below I wanted to show the width of the tree compared to the kids.  This tree is only thought to be a little over one hundred years old and was planted by the second or third owners of the plantation.

Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Tia, & Ian standing in front of a one hundred plus year old oak tree.

As mentioned earlier, you can see why the plantation is named "Oak Alley".  This is what you expect to see when visiting a true southern plantation.  The massive rows of trees leading up to the main house.

Looking towards the main house from the Mississippi river.

If the main house looks familiar, it may be that you remember it from the movie, Interview with a Vampire, that stared Tom Cruise and Brad Pritt which was filmed here in 1993 and featured Oak Alley as Louis' home place.

There were other movies and TV shows filmed here too, you can check them out here.

There are also stories that Oak Alley is haunted, these stories are what prompted Sci-Fi to film an episode here on Ghost Hunters Season 4, Ep. 19 "Oak Alley Plantation".

We watched the above episode and found it entertaining, especially since we were actually there.  We did notice many changes in the setup of the house compared to when the episode was filmed back in 2008 until now.

We did not see or hear any ghosts while there, but then it was the middle of the day with a lot of people around.

Rear view of Oak Alley.

We liked the grounds around Oak Alley and as far as its main entrance way, it is the best of all the plantations that we have visited. 

East side view of Oak Alley's beautiful hedge design.

South side or rear view from the house.

Oak Alley is a very beautiful plantation and with its suspected hauntings, it has you wondering whether or not you really believe in ghosts.  


We enjoyed our visit and its grand oaks in front which really can not be appreciated from a picture, but must be viewed first hand.


We did not think our tour guide was as pleasant as some we have had at other plantations especially when it came to kids.  We fully understand that anyone seeing our crew ascend upon them may have some fears that our kids may be rowdy or unruly, but usually once they see how behaved they are, we get complemented.


That never happened at Oak Alley and you could tell that our guide was watching the kids like a hawk, which made me and Misty nervous and so not able to enjoy the tour as well.  Locals that have recommended plantations for us to visit have also warned us on the cold welcome one may receive from Oak Alley's personnel.


We would still recommend a tour of Oak Alley along with all the other plantations we toured in this area.  To be able to see how people lived over two hundred year ago and step where they did is always a treat and worth the trip.


Until our next post, God bless!


Don, Misty, & Kids.

Home is where the slides are out!

Avery's Haircut

Well we finally decided that it was time to cut Avery's hair.  

Actually Misty was giving Ethan, Ian, and myself a haircut and Avery said that he wanted one too, so she gave him one.

I wanted to put some before and after pictures on the blog so that we would have it documented for memory's sake.

Avery getting ready for his hair cut.

We had some mixed feelings about cutting off Avery's long hair, but it has become a pain to brush and he has also been asking that it be cut off for over a month now.

Back view of Avery's hair.

Misty put it in a ponytail so that we could save and have it for sentimental purposes.

Avery's hair in a ponytail.

Here we are at the point of no return.  No turning back now.

First cut of Avery's hair.

Hopefully now, he will not be mistaken for a little girl.

Even though the picture below looks like Avery is having second thoughts, he is not.   That was just the best picture, out of all I took, of him after his hair was cut.

What have I done!  No, just kidding.

Well, it is finally done and we all survived it.  Avery is very happy with his new hairdo and we are happy that we now have another little boy. 

Back view of Avery's new hairdo.

Thanks for reading our blog and God bless.

Don, Misty, and Kids.

Home is where the slides are out!

Houmas House And Laura Plantation

Houmas House

So far the Houmas House had the grandest grounds for a plantation with its massive oak trees, fountains, ponds, and gardens.  

There are a lot of photos I did not post on our Houmas House visit, so will post a few more here to give you an idea of how grand the grounds were.

Houmas House gift shop and entrance.

One of the beautiful ponds at the Houmas House.

Houmas House gift shop's back from across the pond.

One of the majestic Living Oaks at the Houmas House.

One of the paths to the Houmas House.

Houmas House through the trees.

Right side of the Houmas House.

I hope the above pictures show some of the beauty that the Houmas House grounds had to offer.  We were quite impressed and so far think it has the best looking grounds.


Our tour guide, Susan, did an amazing job at taking us back in time as she portrayed Caroline Hampton Preston, the daughter of General Wade Hampton, a Revolution War hero,  who purchased the plantation in 1810.


Out of all of the plantation tours that we have done so far, she was by far the best tour guide that we have had.

Susan portraying Caroline Hampton Preston.

Laura Plantation

The Laura Plantation gardens may not be as well groomed, but the main house is bright with color and charm.  


This plantation is unique because it is a Creole plantation which was ran differently from American plantations of the time.  This plantation was also mostly owned and ran by women, which was not allowed by the American plantations of the time.


It seems even though the plantation made the owners very rich, none of them really seemed too happy and lived lives that were empty due to the demands of running the plantation.


It just goes to prove that money is not everything and if you are not happy with your job, no amount of money will make it better.  We hope that our children realize material things don't make you happy, but it's the experience of life itself and relationships that you make along the way.


The Laura Plantation had more of a tropical feel to it than its neighboring French and American plantations.

Entry way to the Laura Plantation.

The big metal pots that you see all over the Louisiana plantation trail were used in the making of sugar by boiling the sugarcane juice down to make molasses and sugar.  Now they are used mostly for planters and fish tanks.

Sugarcane pot used as a planter.

Sugarcane pot used as a fish tank for gold fish.

 It was explained to us by the tour guide that if the house was painted yellow then French was the main language spoken.  If the house was painted white, then the language spoken in it was English.

Laura Plantation main house.

All throughout the house were olive jars which we were told made good refrigerators when buried with just the glazed part of the neck sticking out of the ground.  The inside of the jars were glazed while the outside weren't and when buried the outside would wick in the moister of the ground and keep the inside at around forty seven degrees, which is close to the temperature of today's refrigerators.

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Olive jar.

The house was built on columns that went eight feet into the ground which rested on a pyramid style of support so that it did not sink into the silt and sand that makes up most of the land in Louisiana, especially near the Mississippi river.

Column in basement of main house.

The view from the front porch of the Laura Plantation was not quite as spectacular since it does not have the columns of oak trees leading up to the house. We were told that prior to the levee being built one would have had a beautiful view of the Mississippi.

Look towards the Mississippi from the front of the main house.

Behind the house was the kitchen and barns to keep the chickens and other livestock in.  At this period in Louisiana time it was illegal to have your kitchen in the house due to the threat of fire.  It also was not put in the house to help keep it cooler in the warmer months of the year. 

If I remember correctly, the kitchen burnt down at the Laura Plantation, which is also the common story at other plantations we visited.  I see the need for the law now.

Back view from the main house to where the kitchen used to be.  What remains are the chicken coops.

The Laura Plantation did have a working garden that also included all different type of peppers.  I can not remember the name of the peppers below, but they start out purple changing colors to yellow, orange, and finally red when ripe.

When Courtney saw them she said, "Oh, they look like pretty Christmas lights"!

Peppers Courtney thought looked like Christmas lights.

There were also bananas growing all over the Laura Plantation.  I wish we could have picked some, but the tour guide was not offering and so I did not ask.

Bananas growing on the plantation.

Ian next to a bunch of bananas.

The Laura Plantation still has some of its 1840 slave cabins which were still being used to house workers on the plantation up to 1977.

The real history with these slave cabins is that the famous west-African folktales of Br'er Rabbit or Compair Lapin were first recorded here.

One of the original slave cabins on the property.

In the next post I will show you our visit to Oak Alley and why it is named such.


I hope you enjoy our posts and that they give you a glimpse of what we are up to and experiencing on our adventure.


Until next time, God bless.


Don, Misty, and Kids.

Home is where the slides are out!

Kountry Air

Kountry Air RV Park Entrance.

While working in Montgomery, AL we stayed at the Kountry Air RV Park located in Pratville, AL which is owned by Gigi and Don who are some of the friendliest people you could ever want to meet.

Their park is very laid back and easy to relax in while Don and Gigi will do just about anything, within reason, to make your stay there as pleasant as possible.

We enjoyed their company so much, we invited them over twice for dinner and enjoyed good food, along with some of Gigi's homemade ice cream, and conversation.  

Gigi also helped entertain the kids by driving them around the park in her work cart and buying them a water sprinkler to play in and to help with the heat.

Kids enjoying their buggy ride.

We could not have had better hosts and so far they have been the best campground hosts that we have encountered on our adventure.

Courtney, Chloe, Tia, Avery, Gigi, Don, Ethan, & Ian.

After the work was finished in Alabama, we wanted to get back to Poche' Plantation in Convent Louisiana to take in some more plantation tours and visit Baton Rouge and New Orleans, so loaded up the RV and headed back west.

Discovery 40G ready to hit the road.

During our stay at Kountry Air I also ordered an electric Weber Q grill which I'm starting to like better and better the more I use it.  I can use wood chips with it to produce a good smoke flavor and it is much easier to use than a charcoal grill.  I would have went with gas, but to take advantage of the LP gas on the RV I would need one that could be used with both bottled and natural gas and they are harder to find.

Weber Q electric grill.

Even though there are more plantations in Louisiana than you can shake a stick at, the four below are ones we have or will have visited during our stay at Poche' Plantation.

Plantation Parade On The Great River Road.

So far we have been to the Houmas House, Laura, and Oak Alley.  We plan on visiting San Francisco either this Sunday or the following weekend.

There are still many other attractions in Louisiana to visit such as the Saint Joseph Plantation along with sights in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

In order to save time and get a post out to everyone I'm going to stop here tonight, but promise to post our plantation visits on-line in the near future.

We are also praying that the power is restored everywhere and thank God no family or friends where injured during the storms that went through West Virginia and neighboring states last week. 

I did see on Facebook where one of our friends was bitten by a copperhead while cleaning up after the storm and so will be praying that they have a full recovery.  I think they will be OK though, since they are good country folk and know how to take care of themselves.

It should not be too awful long until I post some plantation visits, so please keep an eye out for them.

Thanks and God bless!

Don & Misty Lively with Kids.

Home is where the slides are out!