Thursday, September 20th - Plantations & Venice

After a very quick McDonald's breakfast, MA & I returned to Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation, just south of Thibodaux, Louisiana to take pix. In 1875, a Spanish land grant to Eteinne Boudreaux was the beginnings of the largest surviving 19th century plantation manufacturing complex in the USA. Over 70 structures (all made of cypress wood, except the sugar mill) are still standing. These include cottages for workers' families, a church, schoolhouse and general store. The plantation was raided by the Union soldiers during the Civil War and that halted production until the early 1900's. At its peak, the plantation was supported by 250 mules, a 15 mile railway system and 60 worker families.

We then had a nice visit with our friend, Murray Dennis, over a cup of coffee and then packed up and drove 20+ miles to Laura Plantation, on the banks of the Mississippi River in Vacherie, Louisiana. We took a guided tour of this, mostly rebuilt, example of a Creole plantation. Creoles of Louisiana loosely defined themselves as being of European (mostly French & Spanish) descent, born in Louisiana and frequently inter-married with West African and Native American cultures. We learned that the "Anglo" plantations were painted white while Creole plantations were painted bright colors. This was also a sugar plantation, passed down thru generations and managed, almost TOTALLY, by strong women.

After a delightful lunch of personal pizzas at DJ's Grille in Vacherie, we drove 40+ miles to our camp for the night at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, Louisiana, on the outskirts of New Orleans. We have always wanted to see the area of Louisiana, south of New Orleans, following the Mississippi River down to the Gulf of Mexico. We drove as far south on highway 23 as we could, to Venice, Louisiana. We saw MUCH devastation remaining from hurricane Katrina, 25 months ago. There was nothing particularly scenic about the drive, just industrial complexes, refineries, etc. along the river. We stopped at Fort Jackson, an key to defending New Orleans during the Civil War (didn't successfully defend - David Farragut broke thru and captured N.O.). Katrina mostly destroyed the fort which sat virtually submerged for weeks).

We returned to our camp a different way, crossing the Mississippi River from the West Bank to the East Bank, and back again, by two ferries.