A South Louisiana Journey, Thibodaux to Lake Charles
Written: Oct 14 '01 (Updated Oct 19 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great food, superb music, friendly people, an authentic “Cajun” cultural experience
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: A wonderful opportunity to see some of the last vestiges of real Cajun culture
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| Howard_Creech's Full Review: Thibodaux |
South Louisiana is a lush sub-tropical paradise of primeval cypress swamps; table flat prairies, verdant coastal marshes, lazy sun dappled black water bayous, and Spanish moss draped live oaks. Graceful antebellum homes, exciting vibrant cities, historic small towns, and tiny “lost in time” crossroads villages introduce travelers to living links with a colorful and fascinating past. Classic southern hospitality and old-world charm combine to make Louisiana one of the friendliest and most unusual destinations on the face of our planet, the travel/cultural experience of a lifetime.
More than two hundred years ago Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Germans struggled to tame the wild delta country and establish the colony of Louisianne. Native Americans and African slaves contributed greatly to the new colony’s diversity, and later waves of American, Acadian (Cajun), Italian, and Irish immigrants added even more spice to the mix. The roots of Louisiana’s incredible heritage grow deep in the dark alluvial soil that spreads north from the mouth of the Mississippi River. This cultural gumbo was the birthplace of Jazz, Cajun, and Zydeco music, and exerted a very strong influence on the development of the blues and rock’n’roll. The humid tropical climate and exotic human landscape inspired famous writers like Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and Jack Kerouac. Louisiana is home to an exotic culinary heritage as well; rich spicy foods that combined Native American fare, local produce, and seafood, with traditional European, and African ingredients and seasonings to create a truly unique and elegant cuisine duplicated nowhere else.
With the uncertainty and potential danger present in much of the world today, there has never been a better time to explore the most authentic and remarkable travel destination in our own country. Visitors to Louisiana generally eschew Cajun Country in favor of the Creole charms of old New Orleans, but for those bold enough to venture away from the attractions of the Crescent City, truly exotic travel experiences await. The Cajun lifestyle is fast disappearing and the vestiges that remain are located in the small towns of the Acadian wetlands south and west of New Orleans and in the Cajun Prairies of Southwest Louisiana. To understand and experience the history, food, music, and culture of these fascinating people begin your visit in rural Thibodaux, a charming old wetlands village, less than an hour (by car) from the “Big Easy”.
The Wetlands
Thibodaux grew from a small shipping and trading post situated at the place where Bayou La Fourche (pronounced BUY-oh LUH-foosh) and Bayou Teche meet. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when everything moved by water in south Louisiana, Thibodaux was the most important town between New Orleans and New Iberia. The trading post supplied local farmers, and the Native American and Cajun trappers who harvested the bounty of the surrounding swamps. Agricultural products, furs, wild game, cypress timber, and livestock were traded for tools, flour, salt, trade goods, and items that couldn’t be manufactured by the local populace. Wealthy local planters bought illegally smuggled slaves and stolen luxury goods from pirate Jean Lafitte. Lafitte’s buccaneers operated openly in the lawless area between New Orleans and the pirate’s headquarters in Barataria. By 1820 the trading post had become a thriving town called Thibodauxville, named in honor of plantation owner Henry Schuyler Thibodaux. The oldest part of the village has been preserved and walking around the downtown area is like traveling back to gentler and simpler time.
Thibodaux is the center of the Acadian wetlands area, a maze of swamps, marshes, lakes, bays, and bayous where many of the early Cajun immigrants settled. The Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center (314 St. Mary Street, (985) 448-1375) tells the story of the Acadians who immigrated to North America from western France early in the seventeenth century. They settled in present day Nova Scotia, where they prospered farming the fertile land and fishing the rich off shore waters. In the eighteenth century France ceded the province of Acadie to England. The Acadians refused to become British subjects or to swear loyalty to the English King, and England forcibly removed the Acadians from their beloved homeland. Le Grand Derangement (the great removal) resulted in the dispersal of the Acadians to Europe, and the Caribbean. Several thousand Acadians eventually found their way to Louisiana and settled in the areas south and west of New Orleans. The expulsion of the Acadians from their Canadian homeland and their eventual re-settlement in Louisiana is chronicled in Longfellow’s classic poem Evangelline.
Napoleonville, just down HWY One from Thibodaux, was named (by a veteran of the Napoleonic wars) in honor of the little Corporal, and is best known for Madewood Plantation. It required eight years to cut, shape, and trim the native cypress timbers (the slaves who did the work called this “making wood”) fire the bricks, and construct the magnificent house. Louisiana photographer Clarence John Laughlin devoted several pages of his classic 1948 book “Ghosts Along the Mississippi” to the Madewood Plantation House. Madewood was one of the largest sugar plantations in the south, with more than two hundred slaves. The “Sugar House” ran twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Tours, (and for those who would like try to the “Plantation” experience) overnight lodging and meals are available. (504) 369-7151.
When you tire of Thibodaux take Hwy 20 south to Schriever (named for one of the early German immigrants) and the Bourgeois Meat Market. This is one of the very few remaining traditional Louisiana crossroads general stores. Bourgeoise has been in business since 1891, and like the Cajun general stores of the past, Bougeoise still butchers and processes their own meat. This is a rare opportunity to buy (and try) authentic Cajun delicacies like Boudin Blanc, Boudin Rouge, Andouille Sausage, and home-made beef jerky. Buy a loaf of french bread and a six pack of Barqs root beer (or a six pack of Abita Turbo Dog or Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager) and load up on fresh home-made Boudin at the Bougeoise General Store for a swamp picnic. After the feast, follow LA HWY 20 west from Schriever to Morgan City. Once you reach Morgan City turn North on U. S. Hwy 90 (or the much more scenic LA Hwy 182, the Lafourche-Terrebonne Scenic Byway, which runs roughly parallel to U. S. 90) toward Franklin.
A Pennsylvania Quaker named Guinea Lewis, who arrived in the area about 1800, founded Franklin. Lewis deeply admired Benjamin Franklin and named the new village after his hero. Franklin grew rapidly and after a few years was running out of room for further expansion. The town’s political and business leaders moved the grave markers from village cemetery to a new location and built a marketplace over the old graveyard. Since that time, Franklin has been the ghost story capital of south Louisiana. Ghosts, banshees, shades, and apparitions make regular appearances in the old market area downtown.
More than 400 buildings in the village of Franklin are listed in the National Register of historic places, including Oaklawn Manor Plantation and the Grevemberg House. Franklin is also home to Le Bayou Teche Festival De Barbue (Bayou Teche Catfish Festival) in June and the International Alligator Festival every October. Oaklawn Manor Plantation 3296 East Oaklawn Drive, is a lovely (circa 1837) Greek Revival mansion with landscaped gardens and the largest live oak grove in Louisiana. Original Audubon prints and a collection of antique carved waterfowl decoys are on display (318) 828-0434
Just up the road in Charenton you can visit the Chitimacha Cultural Center. The Chitimacha’s are the only Native American tribal group in Louisiana still living on their ancestral lands. The cultural center features Chitimacha artifacts, and a short film on the history of the tribe. The Chitimacha are best known for the beautiful baskets they produce. The woven baskets feature intricate designs and superb workmanship, they make wonderful souvenirs. (318) 923-4830
Next on our tour is the town of Jeanerette, originally known as "Chicot Noir." the town was renamed for John Jeanerette, who operated a local tavern and general store. Jeanerette is the capital of the Louisiana sugar cane industry. If you visit the area in the late fall or early winter the air will be hazy with the sweet sharp smell of burning cane field stubble. Be sure to see the "Sugar City’s” Le Beau Petit Musée (the Pretty Little Museum) which depicts life along Bayou Teche, and the Jeanerette Museum (500 E. Main St.) which chronicles more than 200 years of sugar cane agricultural/industrial history. (318) 276-4408
New Iberia, at the junction of U. S. Highway 90 and LA HWY 14 is a lovely old town filled with ancient moss draped live oaks and one of the best preserved and most complete historic districts anywhere in the state. New Iberia was founded by the Spanish in 1779 and one of its best known attractions is the Shadows on the Teche, a beautiful antebellum home located in New Iberia's historic district (317 East Main St. (318) 369-6446). Also worth a visit is the Konriko rice mill and store (307 Ann St. (318) 364-7242 or (800) 551-3245) America’s oldest operating rice mill.
New Iberia is the home of fictional “Cajun” detective Dave Robicheaux, and his creator, author James Lee Burke owns a house in town. If you get hungry walking around New Iberia, you can take a trip back in time and visit Duffy's Diner 1106 Center St. (337) 365-2326, the diner is redolent of small town Louisiana circa 1955 and features seafood dinners, PO-boys, burgers, and barbecue. If you want something a bit more authentic you can try the Boiling Point 7413 Hwy 90 West (337) 365-7596 an old fashioned Cajun restaurant, featuring boiled and fried seafood.
Nearby is Avery Island, home of the Mclhenny Co. Tabasco Factory, the only source of Louisiana's original "hot sauce” Avery Island is not really an island, but rather the tip of the largest salt dome in the U.S. The eccentric founder of the "hot sauce" dynasty built a lovely home and imported plants from all over the world to decorate the grounds. (800) 634-9599. The Oliver Plantation Store, built in 1908 by Jules Oliver, offers a fascinating and nostalgic shopping experience in this historic sugar plantation general store. (318) 369-7696. Rip Van Winkle Gardens is the former home of famous nineteenth century actor Joseph Jefferson (he was a contemporary of Edwin Booth) In 1870 Jefferson built a 22 room four story Victorian mansion and 25 acres of gardens (which bloom year-round). Joseph Jefferson is best known for playing the role of Rip Van Winkle (more than 3000 times) in theaters around the would. (318) 365-3332
From New Iberia we’ll spend the rest of our trip on Louisiana Highway 14 (the Rice Belt Road) During the mid nineteenth century the Cajun population grew and prospered. They spread out from the wetlands area and began settling on the prairies to the west of Abbeville. The Cajun prairie is a unique area both culturally and geologically. Just below the surface is an impermeable layer of clay and the soil is so shallow that trees won’t grow except along creeks and rivers that have managed to erode their way through the clay. The area is perfect for growing rice (and farm-raised catfish and crawfish) since the clay strata holds water. Cajuns living on the Prairies were very isolated until the early in the twentieth century. Roads were scarce and most Cajun prairie families made only one long trip each year to the nearest large town to sell produce and livestock in order to pay their taxes. Highway 14 follows the same east-west axis as the first railroads across the Cajun Prairie.
Delcambre is a gritty little town, best known as the homeport of Louisiana's Shrimp Boat fleet. There are no tourist facilities, but the bars along Highway 14 are the real deal, with Clifton Chenier, D. L. Mennard, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Bouzou Chavis on the juke boxes, ice cold Louisiana beer on tap, and the freshest shrimp (never frozen) you’ll ever eat. This is one of the best places in Louisiana to photograph shrimp boats against a sunset sky. Don’t miss the Delcambre Shrimp Festival the 3rd full weekend in August, featuring a Fais-do-do, Live Music, lots of shrimp, and the Blessing of the Fleet (318) 364-0780.
Erath is just a bit west of Delcambre on LA Hwy 14. Don’t miss Big John’s Seafood, a genuine Louisiana Cajun experience. From January through June, Big John’s is the best place in Louisiana to eat fresh crawfish (or mudbugs as they are called in Cajun south Louisiana). Virtually nothing on earth compares to eating your way through a huge tray of spicy boiled crawfish. Add some steaming corn on the cob, a cold drink, and some upbeat Cajun or Zydeco music and you have a pretty good approximation of Cajun heaven.
Also in Erath is Smiley’s Traditional Cajun Dance Hall with live Cajun Music every Friday and Saturday night (there is a quieter, less boisterous dance session on Sunday Afternoons). The Acadian Museum (Musee Acadien) in the old Bank of Erath (center of town) is probably the most eclectic museum in Louisiana. Viewing the charming collection of old photographs, letters, mementos, and historical artifacts (all donated by local Cajun families) will provide a very thorough overview of the history of the Acadien people, their expulsion from Novia Scotia and their re-settlement in south Louisiana. The museum is a very relaxed almost homey little place, and there is a small Café next door if you want to hear all the local gossip, and have a little refreshment before you hit the road again.
Abbeville is a wonderful little town located on Vermillion Bayou. The village contains two town squares, a vibrant and colorful historic district, and Dupuy's Oyster Shop (founded in 1867) home to the freshest oysters in Louisiana (A friend actually found a "pearl" in his bowl of oyster soup on one visit). Don't miss the old Catholic Cemetery, which contains some beautiful hand-made wrought iron crosses and grave markers. I took one of my favorite “Acadiana” pictures in this cemetery, a close up shot of a small white-washed mausoleum with an ancient black wrought iron cross, a backlit emerald green ivy vine growing up and inter-twining around the bars of the cross.
Abbeville sponsors the French Acadian Music Festival in April and the French Market Festival in November. Steen’s Syrup Mill (founded 1910) with gigantic colorful cane syrup cans (European visitors love to stand in front of these for typical South Louisiana tourist photos) out front is a popular local attraction.
The Prairies
Kaplan is a tiny village and the gateway to the Cajun prairie, the start of the rice belt. Kaplan is the hometown of Cajun Musician Sammy Kershaw and legendary Zydeco musician Cedric Benoit. Time, in Kaplan, seems to have stopped sometime in the mid nineteen fifties. I took one of my favorite south Louisiana photos here an abandoned gas station right along the side of Hwy 14, in the center of town, with two old round shouldered gas pumps out front. It looks like the owner just walked away one day (about forty years ago) and never returned. Kaplan is home to the Rooster Pit, the largest cockfighting arena in Louisiana.* Cockfighting is very popular among the Cajuns and the Rooster Pit is also the only local venue for birthday parties, anniversaries, and other family events.
Just south of Kaplan on La Hwy 35 is Suite’s Grocery and Restaurant. One of the most authentic Cajun cultural experiences possible is to sit down for lunch at Suite’s with dozens of Cajun Rice farmers and listen to the good natured joking, loud prairie French, and constant laughter, while you eat a bowl of authentic Rice Belt gumbo. There are no tourist facilities in Kaplan.
From Kaplan continue across the Prairie to Gueydan, home of the Gueydan Duck Festival ((318) 824-6333 day, or (318) 536-9328 night) and then on to Lake Arthur. Lake Arthur has a small city park right downtown, and it’s a great place to shoot Spanish moss draped bald cypress trees growing in the lake silhouetted against the sunset sky. If you’re hungry try the Lake Arthur Sausage House, a family restaurant featuring burgers, sandwiches, gumbo, salads, and freshly made sausage, in a building that was formerly a sausage factory.
From Lake Arthur you can drive to Lake Charles and spend the night. The following morning you can check out the Creole Nature Trail and then a return to Abbeville by Louisiana Highway 82 through the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, or if you’re in a hurry you can return to NOLA by way of Interstate 10. If you want to prolong your Cajun experience you can leave Interstate 10 at Crowley and follow Louisiana Highway 13 to Eunice or Mamou for an authentic Cajun Music experience at Fred’s Lounge, Savoy’s Music Store, or the Liberty Theatre (Saturday’s only) or visit the Cajun Music Hall of Fame or the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center. Take U. S. Highway 190 from Eunice to Baton Rouge (and cross the Atchafalaya swamp on Huey Long’s famous bridge) and then follow Interstate 10 back to New Orleans.
National Geographic Traveler called Louisiana Highway 14 one of the most authentic and interesting roads trips in the United States. This narrow two-lane highway traverses real Cajun Country, not the pale watered down version usually seen by tourists. Begin your journey in the swamps and wetlands of the Bayou La Fourche country, follow the asphalt ribbon of highway 14 across the Cajun prairie, and finish up in the Prairie Ambulant (moving ground) coastal marshes south of Lake Charles. You’ll see small crossroads towns, meet friendly people, hear superb live music, and eat great food. What more could an adventurous traveler ask?
*Cockfighting is a legal sport in Louisiana.
DISCLAIMER: South Louisiana (west of Abbeville) provides very few tourist amenities, a real spirit of adventure and a good sense of humor are valuable assets for travelers. Motels are roadside “Mom & Pop” operations small, clean, and cheap. Restaurants are few and far between, but the ones you do find will almost always be good (poor restaurants in depressed areas don’t last long). The people are friendly, the food is great, the attractions are authentic “one of a kind” places, and the area is the home of Louisiana’s very best Cajun music.
If you enjoyed reading this Louisiana Travel Review, please read my other Louisiana Travel Reviews:
CAJUN COUNTRY
Rendevous Des Cajuns
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-42C-C0FA2A-38874480-bd1
Creole Nature Trail
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-69F8-47FAB2-388DE015-bd3
A Quick Tour of Cajun Country
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-3AF1-245F61E-38970F4B-prod2
Evangeline Parrish, Real Cajun Country
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-4AE2-BA4E605-39229E55-prod4
NEW ORLEANS
Off the Beaten Path in New Orleans
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1C6C-B84F727-39485E6B-prod2
New Orleans With an Attitude
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-27B-148CC64-3888A033-bd1
On the Trail of Jean LaFitte
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-7BA1-779DB91-389871D2-prod1
EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
St. Francisville, The Capitol of English Louisiana
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1B91-51748AE-391D72B3-prod6
LOUISIANA HIGHWAY ONE
Exploring Louisiana’s Enchanted Backroads (LA HWY 1 North)
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-23C0-71FABF8-395BAC56-prod2
Traveling Back in Time (LA HWY 1 Central)
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-55C9-1846C465-39691684-prod5
Into the Cajun Heartland (LA HWY 1 South)
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-206C-260B35E8-398C54E8-prod5
LOUISIANA ARTS
Surreal Images of Old New Orleans, “Haunter of Ruins” The Photography of Clarence John Laughlin
http://www.epinions.com/content_35055898244
LOUISIANA CUISINE
Old New Orleans Red Beans & Rice
http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-review-164B-C1C7220-38E79953-prod2
Just “cut’n’paste” the URL into your browser’s address window
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Howard_Creech
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Member: Howard Creech
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 333
Trusted by: 1274 members
About Me:
Photographer/Writer fascinated by Movies, Music, Books, American Diner Food, History, "Popular Culture", and Travel.
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