WOODLAND WELCOMES VISITORS
FOR ANNUAL AUDUBON SPRING PILGRIMAGE


in St. Francisville, Louisiana

by Anne Butler

Woodland on this year's Audubon Pilgrimage tour.

If houses could fly like crows, it would have taken a trip of only 37 miles. But houses cannot fly, and so the historic house called Woodland had to slowly and laboriously cross 300 miles of back roads as well as several centuries to fulfill its role of reestablishing family ties and making dreams come true. As visitors to St. Francisville’s popular Audubon Pilgrimage March 16, 17 and 18 will learn, the improbable odyssey of wonderful Woodland was simply meant to be.

It all began in the opening years of the 19th century, when widowed Olivia Ruffin Barrow led a large group of descendants from their Carolina home to establish a family plantation dynasty along the banks of Little Bayou Sara in Louisiana’s hilly Felicianas. First Highland, and then Greenwood and Ellerslie, Rosebank and Afton Villa, Live Oak and Rosedown, all these magnificent plantations housed Olivia’s sons and daughters and their progeny off and on over the years.





As the Barrows were building palatial plantation houses and planting sugar cane and cotton in the rolling countryside, a Virginia gentleman by the name of Major Amos Webb was establishing himself in nearby St. Francisville, where he operated a theater, had a fine saltbox home on Royal St. and, as postmaster, tried without success to have the town go down in history as Webbsville. Before leaving the parish, Webb would also abide at his bride’s family place, Live Oak, which would later be owned by Barrows, and by 1892 his townhouse would belong to another of Olivia Barrow’s descendants, Dr. Feltus Barrow, colorful turn-of-the-century horse-and-buggy doctor who also served as town mayor.

Columns of Woodland

In early antebellum days, there were only so many families in the remote reaches of Louisiana’s plantation country, so the interconnections weren’t wholly surprising. But wait! There’s more. Fast Forward several centuries, when Cammie Norwood took a shortcut to I-49 on her way to visit a daughter in Shreveport. Near the picturesque early steamboat town of Washington along Bayou Courtableau something caught her eye and tugged at her heartstrings—an old abandoned Greek Revival house, deteriorating, decaying, but obviously at one time a magnificent structure. On a subsequent trip she showed it to her husband David, longtime newspaper artist and avid preservationist as well as great-nephew of Dr. Feltus Barrow, and he loved it just as much.


A year later, their nextdoor neighbor in Baton Rouge’s Garden District showed Cammie a picture of a house where her mother had been born, a house now considered such a liability that the family was planning to tear it down. It was the same house! It turned out to have quite a history of its own, a history intertwined with the Barrow family and the Felicianas, for this house had been built around 1850 by that very same Major Amos Webb for his son, Dr. Louis Archibald Webb.

Dr. Webb studied at the University of Virginia, then returned to Louisiana to practice medicine and manage his father’s 4000-acre sugar plantation. After his death, his house eventually passed into the possession of Jacob U. Payne, prominent New Orleans cotton broker and close friend of Jefferson Davis, a frequent houseguest. During the Civil War the house was utilized as a hospital for Confederate soldiers and was damaged by artillery fire when Union troops under Gen. Nathaniel Banks battled Confederates under Gen. Richard Taylor nearby. When hot and thirsty Yankee soldiers tried to drink from her well, the Widow Webb removed the pump and taunted them that the water was polluted by dead cats; when the same troops passed by later, they sang out “Cats in the Well, Cats in the Well.” It was from the Thistlethwaite family that the Norwoods acquired the house they would rename Woodland.

Author Anne Butler at previous Audubon Pilgrimage

To move the house from St. Landry Parish to property adjoining Highland Plantation in West Feliciana near St. Francisville, the Norwoods turned to David Beason, the recognized authority on restoration moves. Preparing for the move took a year; putting the house back together after the move took another year. The first and third floor as well as second-floor center hall were disassembled, but the double parlors and 12-foot-deep front and back porches were moved in one piece. The four chimneys were torn down and then reconstructed. Much of the millwork was intact, so that it could be numbered and put right back into place, as were the second-floor hallway flooring, the center hall arch and second-floor back porch columns. The doors are original, as are mantles, baseboards, second-story Federal windows. What is now the first-floor hallway was originally a carriage passage, and this is considered to be among the last of the fine plantation houses to have had such a feature in Louisiana.

Saving Woodland’s original woodwork was well worth all the effort. When David McNicoll, born in 1876, wrote his memoirs of early Washington, he vividly recalled the Dr. Louis Archibald Webb Plantation as a very large southern-style house on the north bank of Bayou Boeuf, flanked by pigeonniers and a garconnier and occupied over the years by a succession of interesting characters like “Six-Shooter Bill” Prudhomme. McNicholl was given a tour of the home by J.U. Payne, who proudly pointed out the handmade stair rails and window trim, moldings and newel posts, all the work of skilled slaves, the spindles turned on a fixed-center lathe utilizing a foot-treadle and springy tree limb. Ironically this same Mr. Payne, so proud of his property, very nearly burned the whole place down trying to dry out an underground cistern beneath the kitchen with a roaring fire.

Woodland with its 14-foot ceilings shows transitional architectural features, combining early Creole influences with the later Anglo-American elements such as the colossal Doric columns across the front. Filled with antiques from early Barrow family homes, it seems right at home now and is a welcome and fitting addition to the historic plantations of West Feliciana.

Children at play during Pilgrimage

Other features of the 36th annual Audubon Pilgrimage, sponsored by the long-established West Feliciana Historical Society, include Nydrie which was also used as a hospital during the Civil War, The Oaks which was built in 1888 by Thomas Butler, Rosedown and Oakley Plantations which are now state historic sites, the glorious antebellum gardens of Afton Villa right at the peak of azalea bloom, and three historic churches in the National Register-listed Historic District of St. Francisville.

Audubon Pilgrimage also features costumed children dancing the Maypole, award-winning authentic 1820’s costumes, an Antique Show & Sale in three vintage in-town buildings, a lively re-created rural homestead showcasing the simple farm chores of yesteryear, and entertainment both Friday and Saturday evenings. Friday night features a storytelling tour through the oak-shaded graveyard of Grace Episcopal Church, hymn singing at United Methodist Church, and a wine and cheese reception at the Historical Society Museum, while Saturday evening entertainment is called Revel on Royal Street with music, dancing and refreshments.

Pilgrimage tickets can be purchased at the Historical Society Museum or by mail from West Feliciana Historical Society, Box 338, St. Francisville, LA 70775; online information is available at www.audubonpilgrimage.info. This celebration of a southern spring in the quaint little rivertown of St. Francisville, LA, commemorates the contributions of that famed artist-naturalist John James Audubon, who arrived at St. Francisville by steamboat in 1821, penniless and with a string of failed business ventures behind him, but rich in talent and dreams of painting all the birds of this fledgling country of America. Hired to tutor the beautiful young daughter of Oakley Plantation, he was allowed his afternoons free to roam the woods, sketching and collecting specimens, and would paint a large number of his famous bird folios in this area.

Azeala's of Grace Episcopal Church

Born in 1785 in Santa Domingo to a French ship captain and his Creole mistress, young Audubon was reared in France. He was sent to America in 1803 to learn English and a trade on his father’s Pennsylvania estate, but the fiery young artist chafed under the bonds of practical employment, longing instead to be at his nature studies in the woods, where he cut a dashing figure with his long flowing locks, frilly shirts and satin breeches. In 1820 he set out for New Orleans with only his gun, flute, violin, bird books, portfolios of his own drawings, chalks, watercolors, drawing papers in a tin box, and a dog-eared journal. He earned a meager living painting portraits and giving lessons in drawing, dancing and more scholastic subjects, but by the following year Audubon was established at Oakley Plantation near St. Francisville and well on his way to accomplishing his amazing task.

The St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination but is especially lovely in the spring, as flowering bulbs and fruit trees compete with ancient azaleas to brighten lawns and gardens. Six historic St. Francisville area plantations--Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, Butler Greenwood, the Myrtles, the Cottage and Greenwood--are open for daily tours, Catalpa Plantation is open by reservation and Afton Villa Gardens seasonally. Eclectic shops fill restored 19th-century structures throughout the downtown area, reasonably priced meals are available in a nice array of restaurants in St. Francisville, and some of the state's best Bed and Breakfasts offer overnight accommodations ranging from golf clubs and lakeside resorts to historic townhouses and country plantations; a modern motel has facilities to accommodate busloads. The scenic unspoiled Tunica Hills region surrounding St. Francisville offers excellent biking, hiking, fishing, birding, horseback riding
and other recreational activities.

For online coverage of tourist facilities, attractions and events in the St. Francisville area, see www.stfrancisville.us or www.stfrancisvilleovernight.com, or telephone (225) 635-3873 or 635-6330.

High resolution photos for media use, email pat@bluegoosemedia.com
If article is republished, please sent us location or copy.

HIKING THE HILLS

HIKING THE HILLS
near St. Francisville, Louisiana
by Anne Butler

After the stress and overstimulation of the holiday season, however enjoyable, there’s something soothing, even healing, in seeking the solitude and stillness of unspoiled wilderness, especially when combined with strenuous physical activity. The Tunica Hills surrounding the St. Francisville area provide the perfect antidote for the post-Christmas crash.


Clark Creek photo by H.Cancienne

The wintry winds whirl dead leaves from the hardwood trees, opening scenic forest vistas not visible in the lush crowded overgrowth of summer, while falling temperatures remove that triumvirate of aggravations suffered by the summer outdoorsman--snakes, poison ivy and mosquitoes, making late winter and early spring the perfect time for all sorts of outdoor activities in these hills, from biking to hiking, hunting to horseback riding, nature photography to unsurpassed birding.


Clark Creek photo by H.Cancienne

Ranging from St. Francisville, Louisiana, northwest into neighboring Mississippi along the Mississippi River, the steep Tunica Hills provide the ideal backdrop for any outdoor activity, including some of the most challenging hiking in the gulf south. Rare rugged land formations found only in a narrow strip from West Feliciana on north into Tennessee, the Tunica Hills are loessial ridges created tens of thousands of years ago by dust storms of the Glacier period which swept in from the western plains carrying powdery fertile soil to form vertical cliffs up to 90 feet high resting on the sand-clay bottom of an ancient sea bed.

Botanists and zoologists find that the deep cool ravines harbor rarities like wild ginseng, Eastern chipmunks and other flora and fauna found nowhere else in Louisiana besides this unique microclimate. Bicyclists and Sunday drivers appreciate the area's quiet country roads, some so ancient they began life as prehistoric game trails stamped indelibly into the soil of lands claimed by Native Americans, first the Houmas and then the Tunica Indians, long before the first Europeans arrived. Birdwatchers find the area still provides 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 here. And for experienced hikers, this is paradise, especially in the winter without the heat and humidity that can wilt the will of even the most determined summer outdoorsman.


Pond General Store photo by H.Cancienne

The popular Clark Creek Natural Area just across the Louisiana state line near Pond, Mississippi, has challenging trails leading to a series of spectacular spring-fed waterfalls, some cascading 30 feet or more into pools lined with huge clay boulders. The hills here are heavily forested with mixed hardwood and pine; besides large beech, hickory, sweet gum, elm and magnolia trees, Clark Creek has several world-record-setting trees, a Mexican Plum and Bigleaf Snowbell. The damp cool creekbeds provide habitat for rare trilliums, jack-in-the-pulpit, violets and a huge variety of ferns, mosses, lichens and mushrooms, while the surrounding woodlands harbor a multitude of small mammals, whitetail deer, wild turkey and both resident and migratory birdlife, as well as endangered species like the black bear.


Clark Creek photo by H.Cancienne

This 700+-acre preserve was established in 1978 as a cooperative endeavor between the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, the MS Wildlife Heritage Committee, the Nature Conservancy, Wilkinson County, David Bramlette and International Paper Co. which donated the core tract of 430 acres as the first industrial gift of land set aside specifically as a natural area in the state. In the Pond community 13 miles west of Woodville, MS, and 20 miles northwest of the intersection of US 61 and LA 66 just above St. Francisville, LA, the area is open for daytime public use only.

This is a steep, rugged area and a demanding hike; undulating ridges rise several hundred feet above the sandy creek bed in places. It is accessible only by foot; no hunting or motorized vehicles are allowed. There are primitive restroom facilities in the parking area just past the Pond Store, but the bulk of the area is pristine wilderness, undeveloped except for several established trails and some helpful stairs. Hikers should be sure to wear good sturdy footwear with traction and carry plenty of water. Daily Use Permit envelopes are available at the parking area kiosk for paying the $3 entry fee, and hikers should be sure to pick up park maps from the parking area (call 601-888-6040 for the Clark Creek Natural Area office) or from nearby Pond Store before entering the trail system.


Clark Creek photo by H.Cancienne

In the 19th century, a stockpond was built by the county as a watering place for the teams of oxen and mules hauling cotton down the steep hill to the riverport at Fort Adams, and from it the little store built beside it took its name. The present Pond Store & Post Office dates from 1881, when its predecesor, opened by early Jewish merchants Barthold and Karl Lehman, burned. This is the quintessential old-time country store, complete with creaking wood-plank floors, wood stove and old-fashioned display cases providing a veritable museum of the emporium’s wares in days gone by, including the 1916 inventory list featuring a one-bedroom suite (dresser, armoire and washstand) for $17.50 and an iron bed for the princely sum of $1.50. Visitors should take time to chat with congenial longtime proprietor Liz Chaffin, who dispenses Clark Creek maps, historic lore and plenty of southern charm along with bottled water and snacks all day Friday and Saturday, and Sunday afternoons. There are a couple of rustic cabins here that provide an ideal overnight spot for hikers just a few hundred yards from the Clark Creek Natural Area entry point (call 601-888-4426), and the St. Francisville area also abounds in B&Bs.

Other popular hiking spots are the Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area, with several thousand acres of rugged hills, high bluffs and deep shaded ravines maintained by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (225-765-2360 for regulations governing its use) in two separate tracts for public hunting, trapping, hiking, riding, birding and sightseeing; and Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge along the Mississippi River west of St. Francisville. One of the largest tracts of virgin wetland forest along the Mississippi not protected by levees from cyclical flooding, Cat Island is sometimes inundated by 15 to 20 feet of water in the spring and supports huge populations of wintering waterfowl as well as the world's largest Bald Cypress tree, believed to be 800 to 1500 years old and an astounding 83 feet tall. Visitors to these areas should be cognizant of hunting seasons and take necessary precautions.

Less strenuous hiking is offered by the Nature Conservancy’s Mary Ann Brown Preserve southeast of St. Francisville near the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course at The Bluffs on Thompson Creek, with over 100 acres of deep ravines and loblolly pine forests traversed by interpretive trails (call the Nature Conservancy at 225-338-1040). Yet another enjoyable way to take in the scenery of the Tunica Hills is on horseback, and Cross Creek Stables (225-655-4233) offers gaited horses for three-hour morning or afternoon rides; advance reservations are a must for rides along the sunken roadbed of the historic Old Tunica Road or on trails in the wildlife management area.

Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area makes the perfect base for hiking trips through the Tunica Hills and is a year-round tourist destination, with six historic plantations--Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, Butler Greenwood, the Myrtles, the Cottage and Greenwood--open for daily tours, Catalpa Plantation open by reservation and Afton Villa Gardens seasonally. Reasonably priced meals are available in a nice array of restaurants in St. Francisville, and eclectic shops fill restored 19th-century structures throughout the National Register-listed historic downtown area Some of the state's best Bed and Breakfasts offer overnight accommodations ranging from golf clubs and lakeside resorts to historic townhouses and country plantations; a modern motel has facilities to accommodate busloads. For online coverage of tourist facilities, attractions and events in the St. Francisville area, see www.stfrancisville.us,
www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisvilleovernight.com, or telephone (225) 635-3873 or 635-6330.




High resolution photos for media use, email pat@bluegoosemedia.com

Farewell to the St. Francisville Ferry

FAREWELL TO THE ST. FRANCISVILLE FERRY
by Anne Butler

Ferry at Sunset by H.Cancienne

Construction of land approaches began in October 2006, and when the entire project is completed in the summer of 2011, St. Francisville and New Roads will be linked by the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America. The gorgeous four-lane John James Audubon Bridge across the Mississippi River will be 1,583 feet long and supported by 136 steel cables stretching from towers built over drilled concrete-filled steel shafts sunk deep into the riverbottom. Estimated cost: $348 million.
The bridge will be an important east-west connector for the Zachary Taylor Parkway and a great boon for economic development. It is welcomed especially by those living on one side of the river and working on the other, whose commute time and expense greatly increase whenever the current ferry link is disabled.

But progress always comes with a price. The bridge will be big. The bridge will be fast. The bridge will be reliable. But match the charm of the car ferry across the mighty Mississippi, with windswept tourists standing at the rail marveling at the swift current and romantics admiring spectacular sunsets setting the muddy waters afire? Never.

Back in the 1930s, the ferry system between New Roads and St. Francisville consisted of two old tugs, The Melville and The Red Cross, pushing a wooden barge that could hold only 9 cars, which was plenty back in the days when a mere 20 vehicles crossed the river a day.

Crossing the River by ptWalsh

Retired ferry captain Morris Bennett of St. Francisville knows a thing or two about the river. He’s spent a lifetime on it, and there are those who say he has river water running in his veins. Son of longtime ferry captain P.M. Bennett, Morris Bennett as a child operated the pumps on the leaky old vessels his father was running, and by the time he reached 11 or 12 years of age he was running the ferry himself; he became a licenced pilot while still in high school and when he retired he was one of the Mississippi’s most respected boat masters. There were a lot of changes in all those years. “We used to drink the river water,” Bennett says today, “but now I wouldn’t even wash my hands in it.”

In those years Capt. Morris Bennett saw it all, ferrying not just vehicles but elephants and monkeys, runaway boar hogs and midstream motorcycle weddings, moonshiners and revenuers, through hurricanes, ice floes, fires and earthquakes. He came close to delivering babies more than once, and came close to losing his own life on the river as well. In the 1946 hurricane the Bennetts rode out the storm on the ferry and were swamped, with water in the wheelhouse and waves washing them out onto the bank where they held onto willow trees for dear life; their barge was washed up 12 feet on the bank.

He remembers in 1939 when the ice floes in the river were 8 feet deep, and another cold winter when a propeller was lost midstream and his father had to get overboard to fix it, requiring plenty of liquid refreshment to keep him from freezing to death. Said Morris Bennett, “That river is the hottest place in the world in the summer and the coldest place in winter.” He tried to get away from it once, briefly taking a job on land. “I didn’t like it,” he says simply, and he went right back to the river for half a century.

The ferry usually ran from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., but local folks knew all they had to do was ask and they’d be taken across whenever there was an emergency, whatever the time. The ferry was also called upon to transport the local firetrucks out into the river to fight fires on passing tugs or barges, or transfer wounded seamen from other vessels to medical facilities ashore.

Eagle over Mississippi River by ptWalsh

Morris Bennett is a natural-born storyteller, and he has a wealth of material from his years of running the boat. He remembers an old Model A truck loaded with chickens whose driver carelessly lit up a cigar too close to the fumes coming from the overheated gas tank. The ensuing explosion sent chickens flying and caught the boat railing on fire, and the crew just had water buckets for fighting fires back then. Folks living along the river ate plenty of chicken for some time afterward.
The ferry crew would also help evacuate cattle from flooded swamplands at nearby Cat Island when the river rose, and Morris Bennett recalls spending days trying to capture one big old bull. When somebody finally got a rope on the bull, it broke away and Morris and his father, in a pirogue, caught the flying end of the rope, which proved to be a big mistake, with the bull wheeling and getting into the pirogue with them and Morris setting a record for shinnying up a cypress tree. Other times, back gates would swing open on packed cattle trailers trying to board and there’d be more excitement on the ferry ramp than at a rodeo.

Old-time traveling circuses used to cross the river on the ferry, and when their old trucks couldn’t pull the grade on the ramp, they’d unload the elephants to push the circus wagons up the hill. And then there was the monkey that got loose onboard and made his way to the pilothouse, where, Morris says, “it was a standoff for awhile.”
Late at night, the bootleggers would cross, waiting until the last minute when the whistle blew to make sure the revenuers weren’t aboard, their old trucks loaded with chicken crates and a few moth-eaten chickens to make them look legitimate. And then there were the fully loaded gravel trucks, a couple of which slipped out of gear or lost their brakes, careened down the steep approach ramp and drove straight across the ferry deck and off the other side into the depths of the river.

Leaving the Dock by Pat Walsh

Today the ferries are operated by the state and are all one piece, not tugs and barges, with 40-car capacities. They cross over a thousand vehicles every day and have over 1000 horsepower, compared to the early boats whose 30 hp sometimes left them at the mercy of the strong current. The present ferries also have all kinds of modern equipment, radar and radios instead of just a compass, and real life preservers instead of just cypress boards. “We used to have a four-car barge and had to squeeze the fourth car on by bouncing the third car over; no way they could have opened their doors if the ferry went down,” recalls Bennett.

Visitors from other areas are amazed to find that the ferry is part of the state highway system, and they are thrilled to be able to see the mighty Mississippi River up close and personal as they cross from West Feliciana Parish to Pointe Coupee and back again. The wait is rarely long, providing an opportunity to slow down and watch the barge traffic on the river while enjoying one of Miss Emily’s homemade pralines from her little red wagon concession stand and contemplating the fate of Bayou Sara, that important antebellum cotton-era riverport that once occupied these empty fields along the riverfront until the floodwaters washed away all signs of life.

Like we said, the new bridge will be big. The new bridge will be fast. The new bridge will be reliable. But Miss Emily won’t be strolling along the approach road pulling her little red wagon full of homemade pralines, and there won’t be time to watch as the setting sun paints a string of barges dayglow pink. Captain Morris Bennett, or his replacement pilots, won’t be fending off monkeys in the pilothouse, and the out-of-state tourists won’t be clinging to the rail in the stiff river breeze. And all of us will have lost a little something in the year 2010 as we whiz across a bridge high above the waters of the Mississippi.

Camellia at Rosedown by ptWalsh

Now’s the perfect time to visit the little Mississippi River town of St. Francisville, while the ferry’s still running. Located on US Highway 61 between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination, but visitors find it especially enjoyable in the winter of the year when the antebellum gardens are filled with blooming camellias. On February 9th and 10th, the Feliciana Nature Society joins Rosedown State Historic Site to present Camellias In The Country, featuring receptions, guided tours through one of the country’s great 19th-century gardens filled with hundreds of fine heirloom specimen camellias, planting and pruning demonstrations, photography exhibits and more (online, see http://www.audubonbirdfest.com/).


Six historic St. Francisville area plantations--Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, Butler Greenwood, the Myrtles, the Cottage and Greenwood--are open for daily tours, Catalpa Plantation is open by reservation and Afton Villa Gardens seasonally. Eclectic shops fill restored 19th-century structures throughout the downtown area, reasonably priced meals are available in a nice array of restaurants in St. Francisville, and some of the state's best Bed and Breakfasts offer overnight accommodations ranging from golf clubs and lakeside resorts to historic townhouses and country plantations; a modern motel has facilities to accommodate busloads. The scenic unspoiled Tunica Hills region surrounding St. Francisville offers excellent biking, hiking, fishing, birding, horseback riding and other recreational activities.
And for goodness sake, don’t forget to experience the ferry ride across the Mississippi River, even if you don’t intend to stay on the other side; ride back and forth, and a nominal fee is charged only one way. The main street of St. Francisville, Ferdinand St., runs right through the National Register-listed Historic District directly to the ferry. For online coverage of tourist facilities, attractions and events in the St. Francisville area, see http://www.stfrancisville.us/ or http://www.stfrancisvilleovernight.com/, or telephone (225) 635-3873 or 635-6330.
High resolution photos for media use, email Patrick Walsh pat@bluegoosemedia.com or BlueGooseMedia.com