Louisiana: Natchitoches

19 April 2022

We awoke to a beautiful day after a chilly night (mid 50s). The high today was in the low 70s with a bit of a breeze. Perfection. In the meantime, stories on Instagram and Facebook showed annoyed friends and neighbors at home in NE Ohio seeing the grip of winter continuing to hang on—snow covered the ground. I guess we left at an opportune time!

Not 10 yards from our RoadHouse, longhorn cattle were grazing. They disappear in the afternoons so we had no idea they would be there when we opened the shades! Honestly, they were good neighbors.

 

We spent the morning at the Oakland Plantation at the Cane River Creole National Historical Park in Natchez, LA on the Cane River. Just off the parking area, this Southern Catalpa was in full bloom. 

The mule barn interior

The corn crib and jug cistern to its left

The live oaks were magnificent on this property. I love how their branches dip back to earth. Most of the old trees had ferns (I think they’re called resurrection ferns because they enliven from brown to perky green after it rains) growing along their branches, making them look fuzzy.

The overseer’s house

The pigeonnier stands in front of the mule barn here. The wealthy landowners would build these structures that were used to breed pigeons that they’d eat as squab, a delicacy. Having a pigeonnier would set one apart as one of the most wealthy in the area. Oakland Plantation had two of these structures.

Iris were underplanted around the huge live oaks on the front lawn of the Oakland main house.

These huge old trees were just leafing out;
you can imagine the canopy of shade they would provide in the heat of the summer.

Looking straight up into the overhead branches of the live oak canopy

The back of the house had the quarters for the cook/nanny/laundress (below) and a well with pump right on the back porch for the kitchen that we assume was just inside the back door (the house was not open to the inside except on weekend days). Opposite a small grassy area were the fattening building, the hen house, the laying house and the laundry house.

A huge cane syrup caldron rests at the base of one of the live oaks at the side of the main house.

As nosy as I am, I wondered what the chicken house looks like on the inside. (Like not much now all these years later!) The only laying that was going to happen here was in the nest that a bird in the neighborhood has built in the iron “bowl” just inside the door!

The local Piggly Wiggly had this on an end cap. File it under “Things you won’t find in the grocery stores in NE Ohio”.

Natchitoches is the oldest town in Louisiana. The 1989 film STEEL MAGNOLIAS, based on a true story, was filmed in and around this house. It’s now a B&B on rue Jefferson.

The kids came to visit us this afternoon, but as soon as I got close to the fence, they decided that they couldn’t trust me. But you can see how cute they are, even as they flee!

This has been a nice part of the state of Louisiana. It would’ve been fun to explore some more. Maybe another time?? Tomorrow we head to Texas! Yee Haw! Stay tuned!