Photos from 3-24, Our Plantation Tour

On wednesday, our third day in, we set out bright and early in a van to tour the creol plantations along the Mississippi upriver from New Orleans. Our guide took us along the historic river road and filled us in with an excellent account of the history of the plantaion system in Louisiana as well as insights into the geography of plantation boundaries and the architectural history represented in the old plantation buildings.

Our first stop was Oak Alley, named after the splendid oak lined entry road. Here is Christopher examining the lock to the front entry.

Directly across from this gate and the Alley of Oaks is the levee of the Mississippi. All of the plantations we saw were arranged so that they faced the river, the most reliable source of transportation and also a source of fresh cool air, which the oaks in the picture above were designed to funnel into the great house to help cool it.

Here is our whole group, staff included, on the river bank just above Oak Alley.

And what follows are a few miscillaneous shots of the river itself.

And the historical marker with part of the Oak Alley story

The discrepancy between the age of the house and that of the alley of oaks is due to the fact that the present Greek Revival big house replaced the traditional Creol style big house long after the first owners had abandoned the plantation.

Here again is our entire crew, courtesy of our guide, this time posed in front of the famous alley of oaks.

What follows is a photo of the alley looking back towards the Mississippi from the second floor gallery of the plantation.

And a shot of some of our travellers lounging on the gallery.

Here is a shot of the formal gardens outside of Oak Alley.

Next we moved on to Evergreen Plantation. Its big house is a modified Creol design which still retains a lot of the features of the original Creol style with it's hipped roof and surrounding gallery, but with an overlay of greek revival applied by subsequent owners and with the original elevated pylon construction (a flood-defensive measure) obscured by the addition of a walled in storage area on the lower floor. The graceful starecase was also a later addition.

Here's a view looking towards the river of the huge spanish-moss covered oaks in the front yard of Evergreen Plantation.

Another view of the front of Evergreen with the pigionnier in the background, used to provide squab for the tables of the great house and eggs.

Entering the great house we took a few shots of the interior.

After visiting the great house we were then led out to the business end of the plantation for a look at the double row of slave quarters used to house slaves who worked the sugar-cain fields.

This inventive leaning chair caught my eye.

On our way back our students encountered some extremely friendly kittens which absorbed their attentions and affections. As you can tell, the cats were as pleased as our students were.

On the outskirts of Evergreen Plantation we also ran into some longhorn cattle.

After this we piled back into the car, crossed the river and were driven back along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain into the French Quarter where we revisited Johnny's Po'boys for a delicious lunch.

Photos from 3-27 Tennessee Williams Festval, Day One

These photos represent morning at the Tenessee Williams Festival, an afternoon and a night out to the theater in the Viex Carre.

Point made while waiting to register for the Festival.

In the lobby of the Royal Senesta.

Early morning in the Vieux Carre.

A street performer (this one's for Garret).

A band of buskers, great music was everywhere.

Our favorite lunches came from Johnny's.

A quick stop for dinner back at the hostle, where we dined on Jambalya and Gumbo made by our own students at the cooking school where we made enough for four meals for the group, and garlic bread made by myself and Jessie with able assistance from students.

Cleanup in progress!

On the way to the theater to attend a performance of Night of the Iguana as part of the Tennessee Williams Festival.

At the famous Cafe du Monde, we wait to dine on coffee and Beignes.

A victim of Beigne addiction covered in powdered sugar.

Mmmmmmm!

New Orleans at night from the left bank of the Mississippi.

After we enjoy the view from the levee we walk through the quarter and catch our street car home to our hostel, the Marquette House.

Photos from 3-26, From Zoo to Zydeco

Our crowd waits at the St. Charles Street Car stop just around the corner from our hostle on the way to Audibon Park Zoo.

Our first view of Audibon Park.

We were not particularly impressed by the Zoo. Many of the animals like the gorilla below seemed bored and the enclosures seemed cramped. This turned out to be more of a fact-finding venture since the Zoo is glowingly commented on in most guidebooks.

Chris however found this antique horse-drawn candy wagon delightful. It used to ply the streets of the French Quarter.

The best part of the Audibon was the Bayou exibit and its numerous examples of local foliage like this magnificent 200 year-old live-oak.

This large and lovely specimen of Louisiana gator sunned itself on a dockside at the Zoo.

Here are three of the same tribe, the shortest being about 12 feet if I estimate correctly, all enjoying the hot sun after a brief spring thundershower.

After the Zoo our group took a tour of the beautiful campus of Tulane University. Here is Michael Ritchie reconsidering his college plans.

More of our gang walking through the Tulane campus.

Our group inspect a naval gun in front of Tulane's naval studies building.

Later in the day we changed clothes and took off for cajun night at the local rock n bowl. Here is a series on the lovely time we had. (see previous post)

Here we are on the lovely St. Charles Streetcar.

Travellers rock out to zydeco while bowling.