We docked at the edge of Bayou Sara in West Feliciana Parish early this morning; today’s excursions would take us in and around St. Francisville. Our first excursion took us to Rosedown and Catalpa Plantation Houses. Both were originally owned by the same extended family and were cotton plantations.

Rosedown is the older of the two plantations, originally built in 1834 by the Turnbull family. It originally occupied a plot of land seven miles long (3455 acres total), but most of the land has been sold off over the years. Like all Louisiana plantations, it ran on the labor of enslaved people, both inside the house and out in the fields. The owners were fabulously wealthy and furnished the house accordingly.

This tapestry was sewn by Martha Washington.

The children were home-schooled, of course.

Today, the house is part of the Rosedown State Historic Site.

In contrast, Catalpa is still owned and lived in by descendents of its first owner, William Fort, whose wife was the daughter of Sarah Turnbull of Rosedown. The house was severely damaged during the Civil War, but it survived…until 1885, when it burned down. The house we visited was built a few months after the fire on the footprint of the original house.

We were greeted by Mary, the owner, and given a tour (and a glass of sherry!).

The house was filled with wonderful antiques, like this Sevres lamp.

This fireplace is actually cast iron – even the bricks.

The family was well-connected, and was even invited to attend Mardi Gras parties thrown by the Krewe of Rex in New Orleans.

The family were also fashionistas; this is a 3-D illustration of the latest fashion from Paris.

Mary had the Spanish Land Grant for Catalpa on display.

I really enjoyed visiting Catalpa and hearing Mary tell about her life and family history; Rosedown was grander, but Catalpa made me want to come back.

This afternoon, I went to Port Hudson State Historic Park to learn about the Battle of Port Hudson. We walked out to Fort Desperation to see the earthworks that the Confederates had erected, like this dry moat (well, it was dry in 1862; the recent rains have turned it into a mosquito hotspot, and I have the bites to prove it).

The Confederates repelled two Union assaults but were eventually starved out after the longest full siege in American history and surrendered a few days after Vicksburg, giving the Union full control over the Mississippi and cutting the Confederacy in two.

We also visited the museum on site, where we saw many artifacts recovered from the battlefield and saw (and heard) them fire a cannon.

While I was at Port Hudson, Diane was exploring St. Francisville. People who live close to the Mississippi have to worry about flooding, so they build their houses on cinderblock stilts.

The houses in town are prettier.

St. Francisville was our last stop in Louisiana; it’s been a good visit.

This afternoon, we took a Baton Rouge walking tour. The weather was very threatening, so only fifteen of us started the tour.

Our guide told us that the Mississippi was very low; it would normally cover the brown areas on the banks, but it hadn’t been that high for months.

Baton Rouge isn’t as famous for music as New Orleans, but they’re still proud of their tradition, especially the blues.

We walked along the Levee Bike Path, passing the “Sing the River” sculpture. When it was first installed, the sculpture played music which varied with the river level; our guide said that it got burnt out during the first good thunderstorm and they’re still trying to figure out a way to repair it and keep it working. It’s still pretty, though!

We left the Levee Bike Path at its northern terminus and walked over to the main shopping district on 3rd Avenue, where we saw the city’s historic Coke sign – the building it was on had been a pharmacy for years, and when it closed, the sign went dark. Various groups worked together to get it relit – now that’s powerful advertising!

It had started raining by this time, but it was fairly gentle if you ignored the lightning and thunder in the distance. We made a brief stop at Matherne’s Market…and half of our group vanished.

The survivors continued onward to the New (1934) State Capitol. Huey Long had it built when he was Governor; he was assassinated there; and he’s now buried on the Capitol grounds under the big white pillar you can see on the right of the photo (yes, that’s Huey Long atop the pillar).

We left the Capitol grounds for Spanish Town; they take Mardi Gras very seriously there, and there are still LOTS of decorations weeks later.

The rain was coming down harder and we picked up the pace; our next stop was the Old Governor’s Mansion, built by – you guessed it – Huey Long. He had the electrical and plumbing set up to mirror the White House so that he’d be comfortable when he became President!

We made a brief stop by the Old State Capitol before climbing up on the levee to walk the last few blocks back to the ship.

When we got back, our shoes, socks, and pants were thoroughly soaked; I’m glad I didn’t bring my big, non-water-resistant camera on the walk!

After we dried out, we went to a great lecture on “Early Blues on Record” by Andy Flory from Carleton College. After dinner, we enjoyed an hour of Cajun and Zydeco music from Waylon Thibodeaux.

We sail away from Baton Rouge about 1am; I don’t plan to be awake to say goodbye.

Our excursion this morning took us to the sites of the three Battles of Baton Rouge. The first took place near the current State Capitol (very near the river), where the Spanish drove the British out of Louisiana in 1779. The photo below shows the Louisiana Department of Public Safety getting ready to tell our bus driver to move the bus Or Else, but we can say that we stood at the site of the battle. Briefly. :-)

Once we were safely on the bus and away from the cops, our guide finished the story of the first battle and told us about the second Battle of Baton Rouge, a key part of the brief but glorious history of the Republic of West Florida. The Louisiana Purchase didn’t include Baton Rouge or the land due east which was still owned by the Spanish along with Florida itself; however, there were many Americans who’d moved into the Baton Rouge area, and they did not want to be under Spanish rule, so they stormed Fort San Carlos at Baton Rouge and took it over in a short fight. They created the Republic of West Florida; the United States did not recognize it and President Madison ordered its annexation – by force if necessary. A show of force sufficed, and the Republic eventually acceded to the annexation.

The third Battle of Baton Rouge is probably the best known; it took place a few blocks away from the river, much of it on the grounds of Magnolia Cemetery.

After our guide explained the battle and how it fit into the broader conflict at that time, we got back on the bus and drove to Magnolia Mound Plantation, which was originally built in 1791, renovated and expanded in the early 19th Century, used as a shelter during the Battle of Baton Rouge in the Civil War, and remained a residence until the 1960s. The plantation was 900 acres at first, extending to the Mississippi.

We began our tour in the kitchen (not the original building but a recent reconstruction).

Then we moved to the house itself, with period furnishings. I thought the most interesting single item I saw was the “shoo-fly fan” above the dining room table; it was human-powered (probably an enslaved boy).

Louisiana civil law is based on the Napoleonic Code, which allowed women to own property. Jane Stanley owned the plantation; when she died without a will in 1789, they had to do a full appraisal of the property to transfer it to her husband. It was originally in French, but they posted a translation; note how enslaved people are listed as property, just like the house itself or silverware.

Baton Rouge maintains more modern historical traditions, too, like the Frostop Diner. It’s almost close enough to the ship to walk over for lunch.

Our first excursion today was to Oak Alley Plantation. The Big House (plantation house where the owners lived) was the main attraction, of course, along with the alley of oaks which gives the plantation its name.

The plantation was built by J. T. Roman in the 1830s; it was a sugarcane plantation, which meant they had lots of enslaved people – more than 200 at a single time. We took a tour of the Big House; our guide focused on the Roman family, of course, but spent a lot of time discussing the lot of the enslaved people and the economics of slavery. Roman had to take out a loan to build the plantation; it was partially secured by using his slaves as collateral. In fact, Roman mortgaged each of his slaves at least once; they may have been as valuable as capital as they were as laborers!

There was also an exhibit of six slave cottages which were used as housing well into the 20th Century.

I would have liked another half-hour at Oak Alley to be able to see everything, but it was not to be; we had to return to the ship for lunch.

Our second excursion took us to Cajun Pride Swamp Tours, about 45 minutes away.

Captain Danny took us out into the Manchac Swamp and showed us the wildlife and told us stories about life in the swamps many decades ago. We saw wild pigs, raccoons, birds, and, of course, lots of alligators.

We saw the graveyard that was hastily built after a hurricane destroyed the swamp town of Frenier in 1915 – one day after the local voodoo queen Julie Brown died after cursing the town. We saw her grave marker, too – she was buried a few hundred yards away, just in case!

Captain Danny passed around his turtles, Mike, Ike, and Stinky, as well as a baby alligatorso that we could see them upclose and personal. You were even allowed to hold the alligator; I passed.

We checked out of the hotel early this morning and boarded the bus for our first excursion, a visit to Preservation Hall. We’d walked by it several times on previous visits to New Orleans but were never able to go in and take in a show; today, there was a show just for us (and the other 40 or 50 people on the bus, of course). Buses aren’t allowed to drive through the French Quarter itself, so they dropped us at Jackson Square.

We walked the three blocks to Preservation Hall, where we were treated to a short lecture about the history of music in New Orleans (especially jazz and blues), followed by a too-brief concert from the Preservation Hall Legacy Band. Photos and recordings were not permitted during the concert, of course, but I bought one of their CDs when we left.

One of the points made during the lecture was about the pervasiveness of music in New Orleans; this wasn’t a surprise to me, but I was more aware of the bands we passed on our way back to the bus. They’re hoping for donations and learning their craft at the same time.

We had a few minutes to look around Jackson Square before we had to get on the bus; we popped into St. Louis Cathedral for a quick look.

We got back on the bus and headed to the Cruise Ship Terminal to meet the American Splendor. We had to take a slightly circuitous route because the Mayor was holding some sort of event which closed some roads, but that gave us a chance to see Pete Fountain’s giant clarinet on the Holiday Inn.

The ship was docked under the Crescent City Connection; we were the first bus back to the ship, so we had plenty of time for a leisurely lunch before everyone was on board. I was pleased to see some familiar faces from previous trips on American Cruise Lines – that was a first for me!

We got one last chance to see the New Orleans skyline and the Mercedes-Benz Caesar’s Superdome as we steamed upriver.

We passed under the Huey P. Long Bridge about an hour-and-a-half after leaving New Orleans; we should pass under another Huey P. Long Bridge in the next couple of days when we’re sailing through Baton Rouge.

John Meffert gave the before-dinner talk, “Shadows of the Dream: Architecture of the Lower Mississippi”; the audience was enthralled, even though he ran a couple of minutes into cocktail hour!

After dinner, we saw the first show by our Entertainer-in-Residence, Stephen Merritt; he told us how he’d wanted to be a piano player on the Mississippi ever since he was eight and finally achieved his dream after playing many years at Disneyland Japan and Walt Disney World. He was a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to his other shows on the cruise.

We’ve just docked in Vacherie, our first port of call. I guess we could get off the ship and roam around, but we have an early excursion tomorrow.