Biking River Road: New Orleans to White Castle
"West Bank" - January 5th, 2008
by Taylor Lasseigne |
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| Germans saved New Orleans!?
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St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Historical marker reads:
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CATHOLIC CHURCH - 1770 - From which civil parish was named. First church on second German Coast when Louisiana was colony of Spain. Served west and east banks of river until 1864. Old cemetery contains grave of wife of Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard and John Slidell family tomb.
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click image for detail of main house
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Evergreen Plantation. Constructed in approximately 1832, this sugar plantation near Wallace, LA operated until about 1930 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. The outstanding things about this plantation are (1) 29 of the 37 buildings are Antebellum making it one of the most intact plantations in the south (2) 22 intact slave quarters exist on the north side of the grounds.
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| Slave quarters alongside this magnificent row of oaks.
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| As far as I could tell, this water tower is the sole inhabitant of Wallace. No, I know that's not true, but all I saw of town was this water source. Side-note, I pulled off the road on the left there to adjust my brakes or something, and when I attempted to re-enter the highway, my tires caught the lip of the tar and threw me off the bike. It was ridiculous - no one around, no apparent danger, fine one minute, then in an instant my shin suddenly looks like roast beef. I mopped up with an extra shirt and trudged on.
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This, sadly, is the best shot I could manage of the Laura Plantation. I made the mistake of skipping breakfast before this ride, which is a testament to how poorly the excursion was strategized. By the time I reached Laura, I was ready to trade my bike in for a meat pie, so taking a picture of Laura was the least of my worries. I pulled up to the tour office, and luckily ran into a gentleman that I had met once before, tanking up his tour bus near my school in New Orleans. I say luckily because, once again "planning", I had forgotten my bike lock key, therefore I couldn't go into any buildings or leave my bike anywhere out of view. My tour bus driving acquaintance listened to my sad story, went into the Laura office, called a local restaurant, and made arrangements for me to store my bike in a secure back room while I ate. How amazing is that?! I gladly backtracked a half mile to the B & C Seafood Market & Cajun Restaurant where they were waiting for me.
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B & C Seafood Market & Cajun Restaurant in Vacherie, LA was very receptive to my ridiculous situation. I pushed my bike in through the seafood market and stored it in a secure back room. B&C offers quite a menu: home-smoked andouille sausage, shrimp, soft-shell crab, crawfish, jambalaya, gumbo, seafood platters, oysters, Lac Des Allemands catfish, hush puppies, alligator or turtle sauce piquant, red beans & rice, homemade bread pudding with whiskey sauce, and tarte a la' bouille (cajun custard pie).
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| I had the crawfish stew, "Crawfish richly seasoned in brown roux sauce served over rice." Sure, I was starving, but this dish would get five out of five stars any day of the week.
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More images from B&C
click thumbnails to enlarge |
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| gator heads |
turtle shells |
cajun ingenuity |
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| dressed gator |
bathroom |
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| Vacherie Water Tower
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| Put your imagination cap on...
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St. Joseph Plantation is about a quarter mile north of and completely overshadowed by Oak Alley Plantation. There were no placards or markers out front, but the official website states:
This 1000 acre plantation is the birthplace of H. H. Richardson, one of America's most important architects of the 19th century. The maison principale was acquired by a French doctor, who was hired to care for the plantation masters, their families, and slaves. The "Louis XIV of Louisiana", Valcour Aime, gave this plantation to his daughter Josephine as a wedding gift, fully furnished and with a full staff of slaves.
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Oak Alley Plantation. The historical marker reads:
Built (1837-1839) by Jacques T. Roman, this fine example of Greek Revival architecture is famous for its alley of 28 evenly spaced live oak trees, believed to be at least 100 years older than "Big House". A National Historic Landmark.
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| This photo was taken with my back to Oak Alley, facing the river levee. I was on the fence about whether or not to take a tour of Oak Alley, but then I realized again that I was unable to lock up my bike. This was probably for the best considering that I was running out of daylight with still many river bends ahead of me.
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| Bon fire pillars such as these are typically burned on new Year's Eve, but somehow, this stack was overlooked.
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