Destrehan Plantation

I picked out two plantations to see today, but due to time constraints we only got to see one, but it was great.  In it's heyday it was a huge operation sugar plantation with over 1000 slaves.  Attached are just a few samples of the many, many pictures I took today.

This gentleman in the Union Army uniform was our guide for our tour.  He's wearing that uniform because this plantation was a stronghold for the Union Army administration once the Civil War ended. 

This is what was called the pre-kitchen.  All of the cooking was actually done in the cook house which was another building far from the main house.  Then the food was brought in here to be assembled and prepared for the table.

This was called the China Kitchen where an indoor slave plated up the meals, from the pre-kitchen, onto the good china and took it to the dining room.  She was also responsible for feeding the masters children here and teaching them manners. 

This was the overseers office.

This bedroom belonged to the lady of the house across from her children's rooms.

This is the master's sitting room.

And this is the master's bedroom.

All of these sitting rooms and bedroom had doors that opened onto this upper veranda that surrounded the house and also onto the hall that faced the large entrance staircase, to take advantage of the breeze from the Mississippi River. 

One of the many bedrooms was later made into a billiard room.

The slave quarters that are close by on the grounds now, were actually moved from over a 1/4 of a mile away.  They never would have allowed the slaves to live that close to the main house. 

The back two corners of the main house had huge tanks to collect rainwater.  One still does, but the other has been outfitted with an elevator, to make the plantation totally accessible.

What looks like a giant wash basin is one of the pots that the sugar cane was boiled and rendered in. 

This is one of the slave quarters.  There are two doors because each of these buildings housed two families.  There was a chimney in the center with a fireplace that opened into each side.

This approximately 10 X 10 room had to house an entire family for living, cooking, sleeping etc.




You might find this article interesting   http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/01/23/untold_story_of_us_slave_rebellion_retold_centuries_later.html


We have decided to stay in New Orleans for another day so we hope to go to the French Quarter tomorrow.

More 9th Ward and a King Cake.

So, of all the new homes in the 9th ward, these are my three choices. 

They are modern, but not too extreme like some of the others.

They fit better into the neighbourhood.  It's to bad that some of those cute little ornate shotgun houses could not have been restored or duplicated.







Now for the "King Cake".  The traditional colours for Mardi Gras are Purple, Green and Gold.  They produce beads, masks, all sorts of decorations in these colours and the traditional desert at Mardi Gras is the King Cake.  This is like a big gooey twisted cinnamon bun with jam that is covered  with bright purple green and gold icing.  It is very sweet, but you have to have one when you come to New Orleans. 

So that's my report from New Orleans, for tonight.   I have just spent the evening researching which plantations I want to see tomorrow.

Big Changes in the 9th Ward.

We went back and toured the decimated 9th ward of St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans.  Things are looking up in some areas, but some are also very much neglected.  According to all reports they have built 73 brand new homes for dislocated New Orleans residents. 

They are all supposed to be built green.  (energy efficient, and environmentally friendly materials)  It's hard to tell by looking at them, but most of them are ultra modern.  They certainly don't look like the rest of the 9th ward that is still standing. 

They look totally out of place when you see all the rest of the little shotgun houses that used to be the only style here. 

 Some of them are Beautiful, some are Quite  Striking  some are just plain Ugly. 

As you can see by the street signs they certainly need some infrastructure fixed up as well. 

 

Then you still have some of the homes that are uninhabitable, but no one has the money to tear them down and rebuild.  There are thousands of homes that need to be refurbished, repaired and replaced, but it seems that everything is moving very very slowly for some and very quickly for others.  And everything seems very haphazard and unorganized. 

 

Lake Charles to New Orleans

"Okay the trailers all hooked up where are we going now?"

We set off this morning for a short trip to Fausse Point State Park, but it was such a good day for traveling, warm sunshine, and no wind, we got to the turn off and decided to continue right on through to New Orleans. 

 

Over many bridges over many canals, rivers and bayous.  

This city and surrounding area is all Canals, Rivers and Bayous. 

So as we went over that last bridge, I never imagined that "Gladys" (our GPS) was taking us straight for a very small ferry that would not accommodate our trailer.  It seems I forgot to change the settings back  to "Avoid Ferries" after our ferry ride off of Galveston Island.  So we veered off just before the ferry and I reset "Gladys"and she re-routed us to our campground, avoiding all the ferries, which of course added 28 miles to our journey and sent us right through down town New Orleans, with trailer in tow. 







It gave me a chance to snap some good shots of the New Orleans Skyline. 

But as usual good old "Gladys"got us there in the end despite our errors. 


I love this campground it's very roomy and lovely and clean. 

We are booked in here for this whole weekend and maybe beyond.  We'll see how it goes. 

Interesting Lake Charles State Park

 We arrived yesterday in the rain, so we didn't see much of the park.  Today we took  our time and took a tour around the park. 

This park is full of Bayou and swamp land and many types of wild life.   I even saw a bright Red Cardinal flitting past me, but much to quick to get a picture. 

As we stepped out of the trailer this morning with Sea-enna there were these deer, they just looked up at us, then went on with what they were doing, completely un-fazed and oblivious to us. 

At the boat launch we found these slightly un-nerving signs. 

This is wild life I don't want to run into. 

Also this sign on a tree in the Bayou. 

And on the river we found this boat and just had to have a look.  She's about the size of the Thunderbird, but very narrow and just a bare empty boat.  

There are lots of hiking trails, and when I saw this bridge over the Bayou I wondered how high gator could jump up out of the water. 

It's a really nice campground and well maintained. 








 



I certainly wouldn't want my children playing on this play structure after seeing the alligator warning for that river right behind it. 

They have cabins for rent as well and this nice nature center.  So that is what we saw today.  It's been a nice stop and we are having a good time. 

Tomorrow we are moving on to Fousse Pointe State Park, and will do a critique of that park as well.   

Our Ferry Ride

 We awoke in the morning to more howling wind and pounding surf.  I have always wanted to have a campsite right on the beach, but now that I have done it, I won't be doing it again.  The wind was incessant, and last night it reached a peak, buffeting the trailer all night.  On top of everything else it started raining.  At least it waited until we got the trailer all packed up and on the road.  There was no line up at the ferry and it was an interesting crossing.  


                                                                                   

With the surf pounding, like it was, when we left our campsite.  We wondered if we would notice it on the ferry crossing.  We did.  It was like the feeling of a van being buffeted by a cross wind on the highway.  You could only just barely feel it.  We have all been on boats in way worse conditions. 

 The crossing only took 13 minutes on top of the loading and unloading. 

                                                            The rain finally stopped as we drove off

of the ferry and we drove the rest of the way in overcast but dry weather. 

 That is until we got to our new campsite.  As soon as we were driving in, the skies opened up.  And it started to pour.  I got drenched walking Sea-enna and Dan got drenched setting up the trailer. 

But here we are settled in at Lake Charles State Park.  A very wild and pretty natural setting.  We had a couple of deer right next to our trailer this evening, no camera ready though.  Above all it is peaceful and quiet, all we hear is the pidder, padder of the rain on the roof.