Bayou Sara Kayak Rental

Bayou Sara Kayak Rental revives access to St. Francisville creek

By Anne Butler
Photos from Ava Barrett

            Flatboaters in the late 1700s used to pull into the still waters of Bayou Sara creek where it emptied into the Mississippi River to get out of the river’s strong current and spend a peaceful night on the way to New Orleans. Often these same boatmen also stopped there on their walk back up the river to wherever they started their journey; their boats, with no engine power, could hardly travel upriver against the current, so the flatboats were broken up and sold for lumber, setting the crew afoot as they headed for home.
            And so a little shantytown sprang up and took its name from the creek, and it soon grew into one of the most significant ports along the Lower Mississippi, with extensive commercial and residential districts, its wharves crowded with steamboats and packets. The creek Bayou Sara was navigable for several miles to the north of St. Francisville, allowing plantation owners along the waterway the luxury of shipping their produce to the river from their own docks, at least through most of the 19^th century.
            Alas, the port of Bayou Sara was situated right on the river’s banks below St. Francisville, which had the sense to develop on a high ridge. Washed by floodwaters most springs, devastated by fires that destroyed dozens of woodframe structures in the business district, shelled during the Civil War, by 1909 the port city had seen better days. A newspaper report of that year gives an amusing account of a scheduled visit by the battleship Mississippi. The chairman of the local Bayou Sara reception committee, chagrined at accounts of elaborate banquets and balls given the ship’s officers and crew at New Orleans and Baton Rouge, wired its captain, “This is a hell of a place to receive anybody, but we will do the best we can.” And when a newspaper correspondent, tongue in cheek, wired back inquiring whether civilians should dress in high silk hats and frock coats during Bayou Sara’s welcome ceremony, the response was a hospitable “Not necessary to wear anything at all. Come ahead!”
            But by the late 1920s, particularly after the devastating flood of 1927 that displaced millions of people along the Mississippi River corridor, most of Bayou Sara port city’s occupants had moved their residences and businesses up the hill to St. Francisville, and what was left was abandoned to the river’s current. Even the creek called Bayou Sara declined, silt filling its deep swimming holes, no longer navigable by most boats except during flood times when river waters backed up into it.
            Now, nearly a century later, the beautiful creek called Bayou Sara is once again coming into its own, thanks to a new business called Bayou Sara Kayak Rental, brainchild of avid fisherman Andy Green and his fiancée Ava Barrett (who admitted to preferring to pass the time on the water with a good book until she too caught the fishing bug). Since they started last fall, they have had enthusiastic support from not only tourists, who revel in the unspoiled bayou scenery and unusual wildlife, but also from locals who gain a whole different perspective from water level, not to mention a good physical workout.
            Clear swift-running waters at its upper end near its mouth pass sandy beaches and clay bluffs, while the creek widens as it approaches the river and its turbid waters fill with alligators, otters, beavers and plenty of waterbirds—egrets and herons, roseate spoonbills, woodpeckers and the occasional eagle. The fishing is fine and Andy always manages a good catch for customers, whether fishing the fall run of white and striped bass, reeling in enormous catfish, or simply enjoying birdwatching and exploring flooded forested wetlands. Cat Island is accessible through the ditch when water levels are right and Andy also offers guided fishing trips to the Gulf Coast.
            Reasonable rates are $35 for two-hour guided kayak trips, $50 for four hours. All day non-guided rate is $35 per single kayak, $50 per tandem (two-person) kayak. The Pelican kayaks (sit on, not in) are built for stability; no experience is required, and the two-person tandem kayaks are perfect for trips with children. Guided Gulf fishing trips are $75, with full service provision—rods, lures, life vests, dry storage for valuables. Andy and Ava plan on expanding by adding more kayaks, sponsoring a Bayou Sara Cleanup community project and maybe a catfish rodeo, coordinating youth kayak lessons with the parish sports park and possibly even a summer camp.
            “Bayou Sara is such a pretty waterway and it’s not fully appreciated locally. It’s one of only two tributaries that enter the Mississippi River in Louisiana from the east, and kayaking Bayou Sara provides a glimpse of the state’s natural beauty that you will never forget,” says Andy Green. Give him a ring at 225-202-8822 to schedule a trip.
            One location along Bayou Sara is featured on the popular annual Hummingbird Celebration on Saturday, September 12, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Hummingbird biologists Nancy Newfield and Linda Beale capture, study and band these amazing little birds, giving onlookers a chance to get up-close-and-personal. Admission is free to the two banding locations: artist Murrell Butler’s property along Bayou Sara at 9485 Oak Hill Road just north of St. Francisville, and Carlisle Rogillio’s Wild Bird Sanctuary at 15736 Tunica Trace (LA 66) near Angola.
            Sunday, September 13, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Hemingbough, A Celebration of Literature and Art presents an afternoon of words and song called Watermelon Wine and the Poetry of Southern Music. Frye Gaillard, journalist and author, will read from his classic book on country music, Watermelon Wine, and rising country music star Anne DeChant performs her favorite tunes, including some composed in collaboration with Gaillard. The performers will converse with the audience prior to the event, from 1 to 2:30. Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com; CLA members $10, non-members $20 for both events.
            Another September event attracting visitors to St. Francisville is the LAVetsFest at the West Feliciana Sports Park on September 27, promising all sorts of sporting events, live music (big names like the Lost Bayou Ramblers), runs and bike races, fishing tournament and rodeo, car show, auction and jambalaya cook-off, all in tribute to veterans of all military branches.  Proceeds from concessions benefit the Veterans Foundation.
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and
Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination.  A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19^th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.
For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).

Visit St. Francisville—new guidebook for tourists

By Anne Butler

Tunica Hills - photo by Darrell Chitty

Throughout much of the 20^th century, tourists flocked to the St. Francisville area’s unspoiled pastoral landscapes and splendid plantation homes for guided tours through the romanticized glories of the antebellum period, with some historic homes open to the public on a daily basis and other private homes open only during the spring Audubon Pilgrimage. But times have changed, and so have the demographics of tourism. Some visitors are younger, the older ones are more active, and they all want to be more engaged, more involved, more informed.
While many visitors continue to enjoy the plantation homes, where history is now presented in a more realistic version and hands-on demonstrations make it come alive, others are looking for more active pursuits. The St. Francisville area is uniquely suited to satisfy their wildest desires, from bicycle races through the steep hilly terrain to warrior dashes across firepits and mudholes, from waterfall hikes to birding in the same woodlands that inspired the artist Audubon in the 1820s.

Greenwood Plantation - by Anne Butler

The area is especially popular with bicyclists. Quiet country lanes overhung with moss-draped live oaks beckon recreational bikers, but for the competitive bike racer there are several more challenging options. The nationally famous Rouge Roubaix, a classic 100-mile road race considered one of the top 12 hardest races in the world,  draws experienced bikers to the treacherous Old Tunica Road’s sunken roadbeds and rugged hills on a demanding course that crosses some of the roughest terrain in West Feliciana Parish and Wilkinson County, MS. Even in the middle of town there are bike races that go round and round and up and down the hills of St. Francisville proper past historic homes with galleries dripping with gingerbread trim, galleries and shops in vintage structures, the still-used parish courthouse and the banks of the Mississippi River.
And then there’s the infamous 8-mile wooded mountain bike trail called The Beast that crisscrosses the creeks and hollows of the 200-acre West Feliciana Parish Sports Park, where the challenging Warrior Dash is also set; the world’s largest obstacle course, the annual dash takes place in numerous locations across the country and world with thousands of participants slipping and sliding through grueling 5-K Mud Runs, the individual participants often raising funds for St. Jude’s Hospital and other worthy causes.
Hiking in the Tunica Hills, Cat Island and just across the Mississippi state line in the Clark Creek Natural Area with its scenic waterfalls is especially popular in the fall and winter, while the Nature Conservancy’s Mary Ann Brown Preserve and the shorter trails at the Audubon State Historic Site are child-friendly and not as demanding. Birders find the wilderness areas full of both resident and migratory birdlife, and Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, with its rare cyclical flooding from Mississippi River overflow and its old-growth cypress trees, provides a prime observation area for migratory waterfowl. The Tunica Hills and Cat Island woodlands and swamps are filled with whitetail deer and smaller game animals, so the areas attract hunters during season.

Rosedown Plantation - by D. Chitty

With the shift in tourism interest from sedentary study of historic sites to more active and more involved activities, the St. Francisville tourist guide has been redesigned to reflect the new emphasis on recreational areas. Just released, it features fine color images of not just the historic plantations but also the unique landscapes that draw visitors to the area. The guide book is available at the West Feliciana Historical Society’s museum and visitor information center on Ferdinand St. in St. Francisville as well as other local outlets, and it will be introduced at the Yellow Leaf Arts Festival the last weekend in October.
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and
Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination.  A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours daily: the Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, the Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer fascinating living-history demonstrations most weekends to allow visitors to experience 19^th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Sunday and Monday).
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.
For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities, including the Farmers Market on Thursday mornings).

Celebrate the Yellow Leaves of Autumn in St. Francisville

Artist Joe Lackie

By Anne Butler

In one of few spots in South Louisiana where the arrival of autumn actually does bring brilliant fall color---the yellows and oranges and reds of turning leaves in the hardwood forests of the Tunica Hills---the appropriately named Yellow Leaf Festival October 26 and 27 is an outdoor celebration of all things creative---art and crafts and music and writing. And this year’s eleventh annual festival is heralded by a colorful poster that is the wonderful work of Joe Lackie, whose many years of astute observation of his surroundings have given him the rare gift of being able to share that sense of wonder and appreciation through his very fine watercolors.

Fall in the Felicianas brings many activities---the Southern Garden Symposium October 18 and 19 featuring prestigious gardening experts lecturing and demonstrating amidst the glorious garden settings of the St. Francisville area, the Baton Rouge Symphony’s Baroque Concert October 25 on historic Grace Episcopal Church’s splendid 1850s Pilcher organ, the Angola Prison Rodeo (“Wildest Show in the South”) every Sunday, and the chilling thrilling Halloween extravangas at The Myrtles (“Most Haunted House in the South”) every Friday and Saturday in October (plus October 31). November features two music festivals (LA Vets Fest Nov. 8-10 and Modern South Music Fest Nov. 10), and December’s special celebration of the season is called Christmas in the Country Dec. 6-8^th in St. Francisville.

Fugutive Poets

But the last weekend in October the Yellow Leaf Arts Festival draws crowds of art-lovers to oak-shaded Parker Park with its bandstand right in the middle of St. Francisville’s downtown National Register-listed Historic District. A festival called “authentic, genuine and full of small-town charm,” Yellow Leaf from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday showcases the works and talents of more than 50 artists and crafters who offer paintings, pottery including a potters reunion and a chance to try throwing pots, metalwork, fabric art, books, woodwork, sculpture, glass art, jewelry, carvings and lots more. There are art activities for children and local farmers with home-grown sweet potatoes both cooked and raw in bulk, plus local honey.
This festival, they say, really is all about the art---no mass productions, no noisy generators, no train rides, although there are usually a few local kiddies hawking refreshments from little red wagons. There’s also great live music from 10 to 3 both Saturday and Sunday, with a Louisiana songwriter showcase plus The Fugitive Poets, Clay Parker, Emily Branton, The Wilder Janes, Karuna Spoon and Hot Club de Lune. Also on the music stage the Bains Elementary Children’s Choir performs at 10 Saturday. Sponsors include the local umbrella arts agency called Arts For All, plus Birdman Coffee, West Feliciana Parish Hospital and the Bank of St. Francisville. For information, access www.artsforall.uniquelyfeliciana.com or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

Pottery for Sale

The park pavilion will showcase the varied works of Arts For All members. The 2013 Yellow Leaf poster was executed by Joe Lackie, who was supposed to be the featured artist in the park pavilion until health constraints intervened. Mr. Lackie, whose creative talents have inspired and encouraged members of the arts organization, is a gifted artist with that rare ability to reveal volumes from the slightest glimpse, finding beauty in everyday subjects from dogs and street artists to an old farmer washing the mud from his rubber boots. A tiny porch corner of a weathered cypress cabin on LA Highway 1 down the bayou whispers of life there just as compellingly as the grand white-columned gallery at Manresa Retreat Center, and the small section of a cast-iron fence is just enough to impart that quintessential New Orleans spirit. The painter, who works primarily in watercolors but is equally proficient in acrylics, oils, pastels and pen and ink, is adept at letting a narrow but carefully selected view speak for a wider world and broader message.

From St. Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square to tiny bait shops and shrimp boats along the bayou, from a row of quirky flamingo-decorated rural mail boxes entitled “Expecting” to the priceless expressions on the wrinkled faces of three old Bolivian matrons wrapped in woven shawls, Mr. Lackie celebrates the soul and spirit in the most mundane of subjects; as he says, he tries to capture an instant in time or bit of history that preserves on canvas the essence of that moment for future generations. His website (www.joesart.com) sprinkles religious encouragements among his galleries of paintings: “A cheerful heart is good medicine,” Prov. 17:22, a sentiment that permeates his works, which are gentle, generous and cheerful, simple and sincere. And very, very good.

Musician Heather

Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination.  A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours daily: the Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, the Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer fascinating living-history demonstrations most weekends to allow visitors to experience 19^th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Sunday and Monday).

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities, including the Farmers Market on Thursday mornings).

SOUND OF MUSIC IN THE HILLS AROUND ST. FRANCISVILLE
By Anne Butler

n the 19th century, according to Louisiana author Stanley C. Arthur, “with the coming of summer, planters with their wives and children flocked into the city from the countryside, all looking for culture.” Everyone knows the story of how plantation mistress Lucy Pirrie of Oakley found gifted artist/naturalist John James Audubon down on his luck in New Orleans, engaged him to instruct her artistic fifteen-year-old daughter Eliza in drawing at $2 a lesson in the city, then persuaded him to continue the art lessons for the summer and fall in residence in West Feliciana Parish, where he would find the inspiration to paint dozens of his famous bird studies and also found the courage to continue his quest to paint all of the birds of this fledgling country.             That’s all true, but there’s more to the story than that, for what Mme. Pirrie was seeking for young Eliza was just as Arthur noted: culture, and Audubon was ideally suited to introduce his pupil to more than just drawing. Indeed, as Audubon wrote in a letter to his wife about Eliza, “Yesterday I begged to hear her Sing and play on the Piano. I played with her on a flute and made the mother stare. She was much surprised to hear me sing the notes.” And so, in June 1821, the destitute artist accompanied the Pirries upriver to the Bayou Sara landing aboard the steamboat Columbus, taking along his portfolios, art supplies and guns, violins, flutes and flageolets. He would spend some four months at Oakley, with half the day devoted to studying and recording the birds of the surrounding woodlands, and the other half instructing the beauteous Eliza in drawing, dancing, mathematics, French, complicated multi-strand hair plaiting (the artist called it “some trifling acquirement”), and music. Audubon’s sojourn in the St. Francisville area would last a scant four months, cut short by a bitter disagreement over money. After he left, his beloved Feliciana birdsong would be accompanied throughout the 19th century by mostly indigenous music---soulful gospel songs wafting from little country churches, sturdy field chants of slaves or prisoners, sprightly piano or harp playing in plantation parlors. Lately, there has been mostly just the live music every Friday night drawing folks to the little local casual cafe familiarly called The Mag. Though there are a handful of wonderful resident musicians, some homegrown and some transplants, this is, after all,  English Louisiana, lacking the French joie de vivre that elsewhere erupts so joyfully in song and dance, and so recently the Feliciana hills have not exactly been alive with the sound of music. That’s all about to change, thanks to two festivals coming to St. Francisville the second weekend in November. The LA Vets Fest, an annual event held on Veterans Day weekend at the spacious West Feliciana Parish Sports Park, is sponsored by the Louisiana Veterans Foundation, a non-profit organization whose goals include providing support for veterans or active military personnel and their families whose needs are not being met by community or private resources. Along with fun activities for the whole family, employment assistance is provided for veterans, along with recognition and appreciation for their service. The Louisiana National Guard provides military equipment---tank, helicopter, personnel carrier---plus soldiers to explain the performances of these vital big machines. There will be fund-raising auctions, children’s activities, hotly contested cook-offs (Friday gumbo, Saturday BBQ and jambalaya), classic cars and motorcycles. The LA Vets Fest takes place at the Sports Park on Friday afternoon, Nov. 8, and all day Saturday, Nov. 9; on Sunday a guided bus tour to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans will depart from St. Francisville (tour tickets of $74, aged 65 or older $70, include museum admission and supper at Boutin’s in Baton Rouge on the return trip). Headliner performance is by Tennessee singer-songwriter Craig Morgan on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m.; tickets, $20 plus handling, can be purchased in advance (www.lavetsfest.org).  Morgan is a country music star, competitive dirt-bike racer and award-winning host of an outdoor adventures television show. Inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, Morgan has had a number of hits, including “Almost Home,” “Redneck Yacht Club,” “This Ole Boy,” “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” and “Wake Up Lovin’ You” from his new CD “The Journey.” He also spent ten years on active duty in the Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and nine years in the Reserves, and remains an avid supporter of America’s military. In 2006 he received the USO Merit Award. Other musical performers at the LA Vets Fest include talented young Julia DeJean singing the National Anthem to open the festival both days, the Alaina Richard Band Friday, and on Saturday the Richard Family, West Feliciana High School Band, Angola Prison Band, A. Scott Clement, and blues singer-guitarist Josh Garrett, plus the US Marine Corps Band. Another exciting musical extravaganza scheduled for this same weekend in St. Francisville is the Modern South Music Fest, set for Sunday, November 10, at Hemingbough, just off US 61 south of St. Francisville. Sponsor Anchorline Events, Nashville-based professional festival promoter,  promises a mix of music, food, fashion and culture in a series of tents and stages, with hopes the event will attract some 7,000 attendees from early afternoon to 9:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online (www.modernsouthmusicfest.com ); general admission is $39.50, reserved seating $49.50,  and varying levels of sponsorship are available. Featured musicians are the Avett Brothers, Texas country-Red Dirt singer Wade Bowen and Mississippi native Charlie Worsham, a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and Nashville session player whose debut album, “Rubberband,” was released this year by Warner Bros. Records. Formed in 2001 by North Carolina brothers Scott (banjo) and Seth (guitar), the Avett Brothers have released a number of albums, so popular they landed high on the Billboard Top 200 and received outstanding reviews from music critics across the country. Touring tirelessly, they have also performed on TV shows including “Austin City Limits,” “Late Show with David Letterman” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” San Francisco Chronicle critic Dirk Richardson describes the band’s combination of bluegrass, country, punk, pop, folk, rock and roll, honkytonk and ragtime as producing a sound having “the heavy sadness of Townes Van Zandt, the light pop concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles, and the raw energy of the Ramones.” That’s a lot to live up to! Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination.  A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours daily: the Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, the Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer fascinating living-history demonstrations most weekends to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs. The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups. For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities, including the Farmers Markets on Thursday mornings).

Craig Morgan Avett Brothers Wade Bowen Charlie Worsham Josh Garrett

Tunica Hills Preservation Area provides wilderness experience near St. Francisville, LA

By Anne Butler

Louisiana’s state preservation areas have been carefully selected to preserve and interpret significant natural areas showcasing a wide variety of landscapes and environments. The nearly 700-acre Tunica Hills State Preservation Area is a splendid example, a spectacular site along the Mississippi River including a towering bluff and the steep wooded ravines for which this unique area is noted.

Ranging from St. Francisville northwest along the Mississippi River, the Tunica Hills are rare land formations found only in a narrow strip from West Feliciana Parish north into Tennessee. They are actually loessial ridges created by dust storms of the Glacier period which swept in from the western plains carrying powdery fertile soil to form high vertical cliffs resting on the sand-clay bottom of an ancient sea bed. In cool, deep shady glades and steep forested hills, the area harbors rarities like wild ginseng, Eastern chipmunks and other flora and fauna found nowhere else in Louisiana.

These rugged hills provide the perfect backdrop for a huge variety of outdoor activities, including some of the most challenging hiking in the state. In wintertime, scenic forest vistas open up which are not visible to hikers in the lush crowded overgrowth of summer, and even Sunday drivers can appreciate the hilly roads, some so ancient they began life as prehistoric game trails stamped indelibly into the soil of lands claimed by native Indians long before the first Europeans arrived. Birdwatchers find the area still provides unspoiled habitat for the same rich abundance of birdlife that so inspired artist-naturalist John James Audubon in the 1820's that he painted many of his famous bird studies right there.


The development plans for the Tunica Hills State Preservation Area encompass hundreds of acres of these loessial bluffs and bayous, with interpretive centers telling the story of the early Tunica Indians and the later Civil War battle at nearby Como Landing, while introducing Louisiana's "flatlanders" to the wonders of this hilly wilderness. The interpretive center will consist of several units elevated high above the ravines to showcase the uniqueness of this diverse ecosystem, and there will be hiking trails, a tram system, amphitheater and river overlook, plus primitive camping sites.

Planning for this unique preservation area began in earnest in 2002 with the approval of $700,000 in funding for planning and design. In 2012, the Governor’s Office won approval from the State Bond Commission for a non-cash line of credit of nearly $3 million for Phase I construction, which will include site access and entrance road, tram trail including several timber bridges and fueling station, purchase of two trams, bridges and water well, utilities and site preparation, five miles of hiking trails, fencing and 3100 feet of boardwalks. Subsequent phases, estimated to cost more than $10 million, will include construction of the Interpretive Center and observation deck overlooking the Mississippi River, plus an entrance station and manager’s residence.

The Office of State Parks considers this site to have the potential to become one of Louisiana’s most unique tourist destinations, and the master plan has been carefully designed to provide environmental education about the site’s unique natural systems. Designed for low impact on the surroundings, the planned construction requires little removal of natural vegetation, accommodating existing trees and land formations, while the sustainable design of structures and bridges fosters an appreciation for the natural environment, utilizing galvanized or natural materials requiring little or no maintenance.

Plans call for using abandoned logging roads and natural ridges as entrance roads and trails as much as possible. Vehicular traffic will be limited, and alternative fuel vehicles will transport visitors to the highest part of the site for orientation. The five-mile trail system will provide an on-the-ground experience with varied levels of difficulty. Utilizing old logging roads, stream beds and natural cleared areas, the trails will be marked, with vertical transitions for safety. Only minor clearing will be required, and there will be trash receptacles, interpretive exhibits and rest areas along the trail system. Besides enhancing the experience, these amenities and the designated trail system will serve to control access and lessen the overall impact on the natural area.

The state has the authority to enter into a contract by July 2013 and to spend the initial funding after that date. At this time, the Office of State Parks continues to work with the legislature and governor’s office to actually obtain the appropriated funding and to gain approval for additional monies required to continue development of this site. Once completed, the Tunica Hills State Preservation Area promises to become a popular destination for ecotourists, outdoor recreation buffs, nature lovers and all manner of visitors.

The Tunica Hills area abounds in other prime recreation possibilities as well. Clark Creek Natural Area just across the state line near Pond, Mississippi, has challenging trails leading to a series of spectacular waterfalls. The Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area has thousands of acres of rugged hills, high bluffs and deep shaded ravines sheltering a significant wealth of rare plant and animal species, including the Louisiana black bear. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (225-765-2360) maintains this property in two separate tracts for public hunting, trapping, hiking, riding, birding and sightseeing, and has pamphlets delineating regulations governing its use.

Besides the outstanding recreational opportunities offered in the surrounding Tunica Hills, St. Francisville is a year-round tourist destination featuring a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation. Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Gardens are open seasonally. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.


There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com

A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION IN ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA,

November 30, December 1 and 2

By Anne Butler

St. Francisville’s economy was predominantly agriculture-based into the mid-20th century; the farmers planted sweet potatoes, the farmers’ wives canned the potatoes at the local processing plant, and prosperity proved elusive. But even then, visitors were drawn to the area by its nostalgic charm.

Grand Greek Revival Greenwood offered house tours and the setting for swashbuckling movies like Drango (1957) starring dashing Jeff Chandler. At gothic Afton Villa, Aunt Shug made pralines for the tourists and her husband in top hat and tails swept deep bows to entice passing carss in from two-lane Highway 61. Bewhiskered Jimmy Bowman and his spinster sisters offered peeks of the rundown but still glorious Rosedown Plantation house and overgrown gardens, timidly proffering penny postcards for sale. The Cottage opened the first B&B where would-be Scarlett O’Haras were served morning coffee on silver trays while snuggled in fine four-poster beds.

Alas, Greenwood and Afton Villa burned; the sweet potato cannery closed. The little town of St. Francisville seemed destined to fade away as well, until 1972 when the passionate preservationists of the recently formed historical society hit upon a plan to bring in tourists---and money---with the Audubon Pilgrimage, opening the doors to private historic homes and gardens one weekend each spring. The pilgrimage had as much to say to residents as it did to visitors, giving locals an increased appreciation of the natural beauty and historic treasures they too often took for granted. Is this history relevant today, the cultural antecedents that made the community what it is? As one rather earthy early New Orleans legislator commented, “If ya ain’t got culcha, ya ain’t got sh**!”

For forty years the popular pilgrimage proved St. Francisville indeed had “culcha,” but all the “culcha” in the world isn’t worth much if it isn’t economically sustainable, and this springtime tour lasted a mere three days a year and featured only historic properties. With changing demographics of tourism and year-round interest in visiting the area, it was only natural to augment the spring festival with what has become the region’s most popular small-town Christmas celebration, “Christmas in the Country,” featuring fabulous shopping opportunities and fun-filled family-friendly downtown activities, plus a library fundraising tour of outstanding contemporary houses as well.


Christmas in St. Francisville has always been a magical time. In the 19th century, country folks from miles around would pile into wagons to do their weekly shopping in the little town’s dry-goods emporiums that offered everything from buggies to coffins. At Christmas, tiny tots would press their noses against frosted storefront windows to gaze with wistful longing at elegant china dolls and wooden rocking horses.

It’s still that way today. Millions of tiny white lights trace soaring Victorian trimwork and grace gallery posts to transform the extensive downtown National Register Historic District into a veritable winter wonderland for Christmas in the Country November 30, December 1 and 2, as the historic little rivertown showcases its continuing vitality as the center of culture and commerce for the entire surrounding region. The enthusiastic sponsors of Christmas in the Country are the downtown merchants, and the real focus of the weekend remains the St. Francisville area's marvelous little shops, which go all out, hosting Open Houses with refreshments and entertainment for shoppers while offering spectacular seasonal decorations, great gift items, and extended hours. A variety of fine shops occupy historic structures throughout the downtown area and spread into the outlying district, each unique in its own way, and visitors should not miss a single one.


Beginning at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, Santa Claus comes to town to kick off the Lighting Ceremony of the Town Christmas Tree, followed by a public reception at Town Hall hosted by longtime St. Francisville Mayor Billy D'Aquilla and featuring performances by the First Baptist Church Children’s Choir and West Feliciana Middle School Choir. The Baton Rouge Symphony presents its annual concert of seasonal selections and dessert reception beginning at 7 p.m. at Hemingbough; tickets are available at the Bank of St. Francisville. And designated residences along Royal and Ferdinand Streets allow visitors to “Peep into our Holiday Homes” Friday and Saturday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 1, begins with a 7:30 a.m. Community Prayer Breakfast at United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall just off Royal St., followed by Breakfast with St. Nick for children at Jackson Hall next to Grace Church at 8 and 9:30 a.m., sponsored by the Women’s Service League (reservations recommended; www.womensserviceleague.com or 225-721-3563). The Women’s Service League also sells fresh wreaths and pre-wrapped Plantation Country Cookbooks all weekend on Ferdinand St. next to the library, with proceeds benefiting local civic and charitable activities.



Throughout the day Saturday there will be children’s activities and photos with Santa, the Main Street Band (noon to 2), handmade crafts and food vendors in oak-shaded Parker Park. There will also be entertainment in various locations throughout the downtown historic district, featuring choirs, dancers, musicians, and other performers.

The angelic voices of the Bains Lower Elementary children's choir—Voices in Motion-- are raised at the West Feliciana Historical Society Museum on Ferdinand St. at 10 a.m. From 9:30 to 10:30 the West Feliciana High School Performance Choir sings at the United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, followed from 11 to 11:45 by the school’s Beginning and Advanced Choirs. At 11:30 on Ferdinand St. the Westside Cloggers group put on a lively show at Bella Vita Salon, followed by a Shin Sun Korean Martial Arts demonstration. From 10 to 2 the Sweet Adelines’ Lyrical Quartet strolls and sings along Ferdinand and Royal Sts., while the Angola Inmate Traveling Band from Louisiana State Penitentiary performs across from Garden Symposium Park from noon to 4. Kevin Johnson sings on the front porch of Town Hall 11 to 1, and the Swinging Willows Jazz Band performs at the library from noon to 1. Arts for All hosts a photography exhibit at its studio in the Quarters on Commerce St. 10 to 5.

Saturday’s highlight, of course, is the colorful 2 p.m. Christmas parade sponsored by the Women’s Service League, this year’s theme being “Joy to the World.” Dozens of gaily decorated parade floats vie for coveted prizes, accompanied by cheerleaders, bands, bagpipes, vintage cars, marching ROTC units and dancers. Santa rides resplendent in a magnificent sleigh pulled by Louisiana State Penitentiary's immense prized Percheron draft horses, groomed and gleaming in the sunlight with their sleigh bells jingling. Grand marshall is dedicated town employee Eric Schneider, who spreads his own joy on his daily rounds maintaining St. Francisville’s remarkably litter-free streets.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, the United Methodist Church on Royal St. hosts a Community Sing-a-long, while the First Baptist Church on US 61 at LA 10 sponsors its very popular Live Nativity from 6 to 8 p.m., reminding of the reason for the season. In addition, Saturday evening from 6 to 8, visitors are welcomed for candlelight tours, period music and wassail at Audubon State Historic Site on LA Hwy. 965, where artist-naturalist John James Audubon painted many of his famous bird studies in the early 1820's. This historic home never looks lovelier than in the soft romantic glow of the candles that were its only illumination for its early years. During the day from 10 to 4, the historic site observes its annual holiday festival.


Christmas in the Country activities continue on Sunday, December 2, with in-town activities and, north of St. Francisville in the Lake Rosemound/Laurel Hill area, the Friends of the Library Tour of Homes, featuring six unique homes on four private properties, with refreshments provided by Heirloom Cuisine. Tickets are available from the West Feliciana Parish Library, at the featured homes and other businesses on the day of the tour (for information, 225-635-3364). Features include the Figges’ lakeside country retreat on Hazelwood Plantation, a cottage called Kwamalusi (Zulu for “place of the shepherd”) housing retired bishop Charles Jenkins and his wife, Paul and Mary Ann Stevens’ Micajah Lodge which began life as a log cabin, and several incredible cypress-and-glass structures surrounded by lakes and waterfalls and gardens owned by the Roland family.

St. Francisville is a year-round tourist destination featuring a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation. Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Gardens are open seasonally. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.


The nearby Tunica Hills offer unmatched recreational activities in unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography, all especially enjoyable in the cool weather. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

The Secret to ST. FRANCISVILLE’S Litter-free Roadways

By Anne Butler

If your idea of housecleaning is to sweep the room with a glance, you’re not alone. And travelers passing through Louisiana’s littered landscapes must assume this attitude extends to our roadways as well. But drive through the little rivertown of St. Francisville, LA, and it’s a whole different matter—clean and not a piece of trash in sight, at least not for long. Because, you see, St. Francisville has a secret weapon in the war against litter, and his name is Eric Schneider.



The chief statewide litter enforcement agency in this Sportsman’s Paradise is the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which last year issued 914 citations for littering, an act of negligence that costs state taxpayers some $40 million a year and can be hazardous to the health of wildlife and disastrous for the environment---an orange peel, for example, takes six months to biodegrade, a plastic bag ten to twenty years. Convictions for littering carry fines from $175 to $1,000, plus hours of public service in litter abatement programs. The St. Francisville municipal code has ordinances against littering (Section 11-23, Code 1979, #8-3005 states “No person, while a driver or passenger in a vehicle, shall throw or deposit litter upon any street or other public place, or upon private property,” and there are other sections prohibiting truck loads causing litter, littering in parks or bodies of water, on vacant or private properties). Additionally, local law enforcement agencies and the parish District Attorney have joint initiatives to control the litter problem.



The LDWF hotline at 1-888- LITRBUG provides witnesses with an opportunity to report violators, and so does Litter-Bug.org, where specifics are posted like “I-10 eastbound near Perkins Road exit, Baton Rouge, white Lexus, lady threw out Styrofoam box of food and coke can, 5:15 p.m., October 8, 2011,” and often even contain license plate numbers to aid in enforcement. Shame on the lady in the white Lexus, whose fast-food packaging and beverage container are among the four most common litter items, the other two being cigarettes and candy/snack packaging.



It is interesting to note, however, that this site has not one single posting for St. Francisville, where the streets are startingly clean and litter-free. And that, according to longtime mayor Billy D’Aquilla, is largely thanks to Eric Schneider. “We get compliments daily on the cleanliness of the town,” the mayor says, “and that is due to Eric’s dedication. Since he was hired in April 2000, he has been one of the best employees the town has ever had. Eric is ideal for this job because of his personality.”

That personality includes a sly sense of humor that stood him in good stead when he and his late mother, a gifted artist, moved from New Orleans to St. Francisville to join an older brother who is a local physician; as one of few Tulane supporters in a hotbed of LSU Tiger enthusiasts, Eric took a lot of good-natured ribbing, but he learned to respond in kind and refers to himself as the town clown, a mischievous twinkle brightening blue eyes above a big bushy moustache. He also has unending supply of patience and a sharp eye for detail that lets no speck of litter escape his bag as he trudges along his set route with such dedication to consistency that the mayor says you can set your watch by him. That eye for detail is matched by an incredible memory. “I was born on January 26, 1953,” says Eric, “at 12 o’clock noon. It was a Monday, and I was a month early. That was the only time I was ever in a rush!”



Eric’s day begins at 6 a.m. at Town Hall, when he raises the flags and makes coffee for employees before setting out on his appointed rounds. Other than a few pauses to catch his breath and spread a little cheer chatting with shopowners along the way, he walks and picks up litter along every single street and highway in St. Francisville’s town limits---along US 61, along LA 10, and along a number of hilly streets through the little town’s commercial and residential districts--- and neither sleet nor snow nor dark of night stays him from his appointed rounds. At 4:00 quitting time he goes home and walks some more with Dottie, his Jack Russell terrier.



On busy four-lane US 61 he contends with lack of shoulders and careless drivers whizzing along talking on cellphones; on other wooded roads he keep a sharp eye out for snakes. Unless it is really pouring, he doesn’t let a little drizzle stop him, and his trusty wide-brimmed straw hat protects him from the blazing sun. He probably walks more than a dozen miles a day, slow and steady, and wears out two or three pairs of steel-toed shoes every month. He fills three or four large garbage bags with litter daily; when he first started the job, in areas that had never been cleaned before, he was gathering a couple of truckloads a day.

It must remind him of The Myth of Sisyphus, doing the same thing over and over again, picking up more and more fast-food wrappers and beer cans, but Eric sometimes finds useful discards like tools and brooms, even preserved flowers he transferred to a family gravesite. His strangest pick-up was an entire lady’s outfit---dress, shoes, stockings, panties---all laid out flat as if the wearer had miraculously wafted away and left her earthly trappings behind.



At age 59 (sixty in January), Eric contends with a club foot, two bad knees and a bad back, but he’s got a lot of love in his heart and says it’s God’s will to keep him going. “I LOVE my job,” he says, “and I give a little lagniappe to people, too; people love that. You want help, I’m there for you, moving boxes, talking to the tourists, anything; we’ve been seeing a lot of Russian tourists lately, and I don’t speak Russian, but still we manage to communicate. If you’ve got love in your heart, you must share it. If you’ve got hate in your heart, well….”



The love Eric has for his job and his town is returned. Several years in a row he was nominated for the town Public Service Award; he was also nominated for the prestigious Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award. One local admirer even composed a poem entitled Here’s to Eric, its opening lines “We’re proud of our Ville, We like when people say, ‘Your town is so clean. How do you keep it that way?’”



Lynn Wood owns Birdman Books and Coffee, one of Eric’s regular stops along with the library, Council on Aging, and tourist center. She says, “He comes in here every day exactly at 11 a.m. and always has a wisecrack; anyone in here is going to get spoken to and teased.” Lynn’s father adds that it is Eric’s persistence and consistency that is so admirable, especially since it is an effort for him just to walk. Retired horticulturist Walter Imahara and Assistant District Attorney Mike Hughes, Birdman regulars, express admiration for Eric’s work ethic and dependability, while realtor Becky Landry adds, “And he makes a good pie!” Besides entering the local pie-baking contest, Eric is a devoted patron of the library and a voracious reader; in the door pocket of his truck currently is Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.



As a year-round tourism destination with its National Register-listed downtown historic district and Main Street community, St. Francisville needs to look clean and attractive at all times, and Eric Schneider certainly makes a significant contribution toward that goal. Slow and steady, like the fabled tortoise that beats out the rushed hare every time, Eric contributes to his community through his stolid persistence and daily toil, spreading a little cheer and love along the way.

St. Francisville features a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation. Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Gardens are open seasonally. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.



The nearby Tunica Hills offer unmatched recreational activities in unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography, all especially enjoyable in the cool weather. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups. A third-Saturday community marketplace fills Parker Park with homegrown arts and crafts.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

Early Travels to St. Francisville

Early Travels to St. Francisville, LA, Led to Some Lurid Descriptions

by Anne Butler

The four-laning of US Highway 61 and the new Mississippi River Bridge make it easy to reach St. Francisville these days, but in the 19th century, travels to this picturesque little Mississippi River village were fraught with perils and gave rise to some spectacularly gruesome newspaper dispatches.

In February, as the West Feliciana Historical Society museum, on Ferdinand St. in St. Francisville, hosts the travelling Smithsonian Institute exhibit called Journey Stories, the focus is on who we are and how we got here. St. Francisville and its now-vanished sister city Bayou Sara beneath the bluffs have got some fascinating tales to tell in this regard.

There were rough early roadways through the wilderness along which the initial settlement patterns could be traced, the pioneers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries braving attacks by Indians and bandits and wild animals as they descended the Natchez Trace into what was then Spanish territory to carve the early indigo and cotton plantations from the Feliciana wilderness. Even the main street of St. Francisville in the 1800s was the scene of cattle drives and heavy-laden wagons en route to the riverport at Bayou Sara below the hill. Muddy quagmires during wet weather and deeply rutted the rest of the time, these roadways led to some unfortunate accidents, buggies bouncing and overturning, with runaway horses compounding the problems. One of the earliest burials at historic Grace Episcopal Church, on the road leading through St. Francisville to the river, was that of baby Edward Baldwin, just five months old, whose cause of death in 1840 was listed as ‘flung from buggy,’ a not-uncommon occurrence.

And then there were the steamboat explosions and sinkings and wrecks like the February 1859 catastrophe of the steamboat Princess which nearly decimated the Feliciana bar. Having boarded passengers at the Bayou Sara landing, the fast packet was headed to New Orleans for the opening of the state Supreme Court and was packed with over 200 prominent passengers. Delayed by fog upriver, the boat was running behind schedule and its crew stoked the blazing fires and tried to make up for lost time. When the Princess exploded at Conrad’s Point just below Baton Rouge, over 70 passengers were mortally wounded. One was Lorenzo D. Brewer, St. Francisville attorney and owner of the historic townhouse called Virginia; transferred to the Natchez for a desperate return trip home, he died before reaching the Bayou Sara landing.

Passengers boarded these riverboats with not a little fear and trepidation despite the fact that many of the steamboats were floating palaces offering luxurious cabins and sumptuous meals. The newspapers of the day were rarely governed by the dictates of good taste and proper political correctness, and journalists had a field day coming up with ever-more scintillating stories of trials and tragedies in order to sell papers. One of the more flamboyant accounts appeared in a September 1843 extra edition of the Louisiana Chronicle, headlined “Bayou Sara, LA Steamer Clipper No. 1 Explosion, September 1843.”
Although only 14 persons were killed, ten others missing and feared dead, and nine wounded, the article calls this “one of the most terrible catastrophies which has ever happened on the Mississippi.” As the Clipper No. 1 was backing from her moorings at the Bayou Sara landing, she blew up “with an explosion that shook earth, air and heaven, as though the walls of the world were crumbling to pieces about our ears. All the boilers bursting simultaneously---machinery, vast fragments of the boilers, huge beams of timber, furniture and human beings in every degree of mutilation, were alike shot up perpendicularly many hundred fathoms in the air.”

“On reaching the greatest height” (and as the writer reached equally great heights of lurid description), “the various bodies diverged like the jets of a fountain in all directions, falling to the earth and upon roofs of houses, in some instances as much as 250 yards from the scene of destruction. The hapless victims were scalded, crushed, torn, mangled and scattered in every possible direction, many into the river, some in the streets, some on the other side of the Bayou nearly 300 yards---some torn asunder by coming in contact with pickets and posts, and others shot like cannon balls through the solid walls of houses at a great distance from the boat.”

Local physicians and residents rushed to the scene to help. “Our citizens generally, every man and mother’s son, appeared only anxious as to how they might render most service to the poor sufferers—white and black, without distinction.” Said the newspaper reporter, “The scene was such as we hope never to look upon again,” but steamboat explosions occurred with such distressing regularity that it was a wonder journeys were ever undertaken in those days, and it is a real tribute to the courage and determination of the early residents of St. Francisville that they had ever arrived or moved about at all.
The Journey Stories exhibit examines migration patterns across the country, augmented by a number of local lectures and special programs. On Saturday, Feb. 11, a walking tour highlights significant contributions of St. Francisville’s early Jewish immigrants, and at 3:30 at Audubon State Historic Site, a one-woman play entitled “Rachel O’Connor’s World” presents the life of one determined Feliciana plantation owner.

On Sunday, February 12, a 2 p.m. reception at the museum officially kicks off the Journey Stories exhibit. The exhibit stays up until March 19, and every weekend is filled with special activities and programs, all free and open to the public. On Saturday, Feb. 18, the museum presents Student Oral History Projects. On Saturday, February 25, Friends of the Library hosts its Celebration of Writers and Readers at Hemingbough, while Margo Soule speaks on Louisiana’s Native Americans at 2 p.m. in Audubon Market Hall. On Sunday, February 26, the featured program is Dr. Irene S. DiMaio Gerstacker’s Louisiana: Fiction and Travel Sketches from Antebellum Times through Reconstruction, at 2 p.m. in Audubon Market Hall. Saturday, March 3, a Gospel Music Fest in Parker Park from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. highlights the soulful songs of the early black churches. Tribute will also be paid to the country’s earliest standard gauge rail line that connected cotton plantations of the St. Francisville/Woodville area with the riverport at Bayou Sara, in a 2 p.m. program in the West Feliciana Courthouse.

The following Sunday, March 11, Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne extols the virtues of the Bayou State in his entertaining presentation “Why Louisiana Ain’t Mississippi,” in the old courtroom at 2 p.m. The weekend of March 16 through 18th St. Francisville hosts the annual Audubon Pilgrimage, sponsored for four decades by the West Feliciana Historical Society to commemorate the 1821 stay of John James Audubon. Friday, March 16, will also mark the release of a new book, MAIN STREETS OF LOUISIANA published by UL Press, covering the wonderful historic Main Street downtowns across the state, especially timely as Louisiana celebrates its 200th birthday; St. Francisville is one of 33 Main Street communities featured, and a book release reception will be held in Town Hall, with author and photographer in attendance.

The river port of Bayou Sara is gone now, washed away by floodwaters, but St. Francisville atop the hill remains a year-round tourist destination featuring a number of splendidly restored plantation homes open for tours daily: The Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, The Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation and Afton Villa Gardens seasonally. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, offering periodic fascinating living-history demonstrations so visitors can experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from Chinese and Mexican cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.
For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.

UNIQUE WILDLIFE

UNIQUE WILDLIFE REFUGE IN ST. FRANCISVILLE AREA
by Anne Butler

Slipping through the silent waters in a kayak or canoe, shaded by immense old-growth cypress trees draped with Spanish moss and wild vines, it’s hard to realize that this is in West Feliciana Parish, better known for its steep wooded hills than for the alligator- infested swamps of more coastal Louisiana. But then Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge near St. Francisville is a unique habitat area, and it certainly provides some unique recreational opportunities.

Established in 2000, Cat Island WR lies along the southernmost unleveed stretch of the lower Mississippi River. At 10,473 acres, it preserves one of the largest tracts of virgin wetland forest not protected by levees from cyclical flooding and is sometimes inundated by 15 to 20 feet of water in the springtime. From late December through June, there are times when the refuge is inaccessible except by boat, and the river can rise and fall several times during those months (check river levels at www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc).

This makes for a unique habitat of lakes, bayous, creeks and undisturbed forests, supporting huge populations of wintering waterfowl and migratory birds, as well as resident wildlife including white-tailed deer, black bear and many varieties of smaller game. Fishing and crawfishing, hiking, fall hunting, birdwatching, canoeing and other recreational opportunities abound.

There are four miles of hiking trails, including the 2½-mile Black Fork Trail maintained by the Louisiana Hiking Club, and the 1/4 -mile Big Cypress Trail to the National Champion bald cypress, largest tree of any species east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. This tree is thought to be between 800 to 1500 years old and is an astounding 85 feet tall.

The 526th refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System, Cat Island is currently unstaffed and is overseen by the St. Catherine’s Creek NWR Complex in Natchez, MS, under the direction of project leader Bob Strader (catisland@fws.gov or 601-442-6696). Strader stresses that the importance of Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge is its uniqueness. “Only 10% of the historic Mississippi River floodplain actually floods on an annual basis,” he explains, “and so the dynamics of the wetting and drying cycles make this refuge area exceptionally unique and ecologically significant.”

 Acquisition of the refuge lands was made possible by an initial purchase of 9500 acres by The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana. A large part of the purpose in establishing the refuge---in addition to conserving and managing habitat areas, aquatic resources, endangered species of plants and animals, and the historic native bottomland community in this important alluvial plain---was to encourage participation of volunteers and facilitate partnerships between the US Fish and Wildlife Service, local communities and conservation organizations to promote public awareness of refuge resources.

Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge is open only during daylight hours, and vehicles are restricted to public roads and designated parking areas; ATV use is permitted on designated trails only. For hunting, fishing and ATV use, an annual Special Recreational Activity Permit is required.  Maps for accessing the refuge are available at the West Feliciana Historical Society tourist information center/museum on Ferdinand St. in the heart of St. Francisville.

Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination.  A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours daily: the Cottage Plantation, Butler Greenwood Plantation, the Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation and Afton Villa Gardens seasonally.

Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer fascinating living-history demonstrations most weekends to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.

The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some fine little restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from seafood to Chinese and Mexican cuisine, not to mention classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.

For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-635-4224; online visit www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities, including the lively monthly third Saturday morning Community Market Day in Parker Park and a Farmers’ Market every Thursday and Saturday morning) or www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com.