Last Stop in Louisiana

We spent a few days in Lafayette area learning about the Acadian people. We visited The Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park. It was created to preserve and represent the Acadian, Creole and Native American culture. You see a lifestyle as it may have occurred during the time period of 1765-1890. There are many restored buildings and craftsmen. We learned how you can turn Spanish Moss hanging in the trees into a very strong rope. We watched a man create small ducks from many types of wood. After learning about the making, we bought one of these beautiful ducks. There is also a restaurant that serves a typical Acadian (Cajun) lunch. The day we were there it was a buffet and it was delicious. The bread pudding was the best we have ever had!



In nearby Iberia there was an antebellum plantation home named Shadow on the Bayou Tech. Four generations of the same family lived here and then the home and all contents were donated to be a museum. All of the furnishings and most importantly all the paperwork for the plantation and home are preserved. Paintings were done of the home and plantation just after it was built and they are on display also. To go from room to room, you had to go outside on covered porches - none of the rooms were connected inside. They could then open all the doors and use the breeze to stay cooler. When the Union soldiers took over the first floor during the Civil War, the wife stayed on the second floor. The soldiers liked her, so when they left they did not burn the home, as they did so many others. There are beautiful gardens around the home and a cemetery where many of the family members are buried. Especially beautiful on our visit were the camellia trees in bloom.




Also in Iberia, built in the early 1900's and75 feet above sea level, which was very unusual, was the home of Joseph Jefferson. It is steamboat gothic style and was near a very large lake. They also mined salt from this property. He was an actor that portrayed Rip Van Winkle, thus the gardens that were created in the 1950's around the home have that name. It has quite a history. He apparently donated the home and furnishings for a museum and built another home closer to the lake to live in. One of the salt mine holes opened up, created a vortex that sucked all the water from this very large lake and with it his new home and some other buildings in just 2 hours. The lake was refilled and is much higher now, but the chimney and a pile of rubble along the lake shore is still visible. The original home was not damaged. A few years ago the home and gardens were purchased out of bankruptcy by the nursery owner next door. The gardens wind along the lake with sculptures and a Japanese Tea Garden. The magnolia trees were beautiful. Lots of peacocks, but they were camera shy!





We are now in Texas for March. It has been very warm since we arrived on Tuesday. That changed this morning when a storm with high winds, buckets of rain and thunder came through and dropped the temperature from 70 to 54 in a matter of minutes. The sun is out again, but still very windy. It should warm up again and then hopefully we can go to the beach!