Louisiana History Lesson

I did not write the following and don't know who did or I'd give credit where credit is due. I grow tired of people knocking my state so read, enjoy, learn.



For those of you who think Louisiana is just about Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, bayous, swamps, crawfish, hotly seasoned food and Cajuns here are a few factoids for your edification and enlightenment. (Don't have time to check out all of these so will just log them down as facts.)

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In case you didn't know...


A Little Louisiana history lesson


If Hurricane Katrina causing the levees to break in New Orleans is the only thing you know about Louisiana, here are a few more interesting facts about the Bayou State :

*Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the nation at 450 feet.

* The Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans is the largest enclosed stadium in the world.

* The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest over-water bridge in the world at 23.87 miles.

* Louisiana's 6.5 million acres of wetlands are the greatest wetland area in America.

* The oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase Territory is Natchitoches, Louisiana founded in 1714.

* The first bottler of Coca-Cola, Joseph Biedenharn, lived in Monroe, Louisiana and was one of the founders of Delta Air Lines, initially called Delta Air Service.

* Delta Airlines got its start in Monroe, Louisiana when Parish Agent, C.E. Woolman, decided to try dusting the Boll Weevil that was destroying the cotton crops in the Mississippi River Delta from an airplane. It was the first crop dusting service in the world.

* Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the largest predominantly black university in America.

* Baton Rouge was the site of the only American Revolution battle outside the original 13 colonies.

* The formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase was made at the Cabildo building in New Orleans on December 20, 1803.

* The staircase at Cretain Point, in Sunset, Louisiana was copied for Tara in "Gone with the Wind."

* Louisiana is the No. 1 producer of crawfish, alligators and shallots in America.

* Louisiana produces 24 percent of the nation's salt, the most in America.

* Much of the world's food, coffee and oil pass through the Port of New Orleans.

* Tabasco, a Louisiana product, holds the second oldest food trademark in the U.S. Patent Office.

* Steen's Syrup Mill in Abbeville, Louisiana is the world's largest syrup plant producing sugar cane syrup.

* America's oldest rice mill is in New Iberia, Louisiana at KONRIKO Co.

* The International Joke Telling Contest is held annually in Opelousas, Louisiana.

* LSU (The Ole War Skule) in Baton Rouge has the distinction of contributing the most officers to WW II after the U.S. Military academies.

* The Louisiana Hayride radio show helped Hank Williams, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash achieve stardom. It was broadcast from KWKH Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana from 1948 to 1960.

* Opelousas, Louisiana is the birth place of Jim Bowie, the inventor of the Bowie knife and one of the heroic defenders at the Alamo.

* The term Uncle Sam was coined on the wharfs of New Orleans before Louisiana was a U.S. Territory as goods labeled U.S. Were from "Uncle Sam."

* The game of craps was invented in New Orleans in 1813 as betting was a common activity on the wharves.

* When states had their own currency, the Louisiana Dix (French for ten) was a favored currency for trade. English speakers called them Dixies and coined the term Dixieland.

* New Orleans is the home of the oldest pharmacy in America at 514 Chartres Street in the French Quarter. These early medical mixtures became known as cocktails (guess they were good for what ails ya), coining yet another term.

* New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz, the only true American art form.

Jazz gave birth to the Blues and Rock and Roll music.

Viva La Louisiane!!!

Now you know!

Louisiana Daytrip

Mr retiredUPSman and I headed out the door this morning with no real idea of what we were going to do or where we'd end up. As it turns out we had a nice ride down HWY 27 to Holly Beach and then through Cameron and back north again. We ended our day out by riding along the river. The weather was great, bright sun, no rain for us, hot but not unbearable and the humidity while high wasn't too much. There was a great breeze along the coast. We saw people fishing and many were out there crabbing.









We only spotted one gator and he was a small one. You can barely see him in this photo.










This is a picture of the waves rolling in at Holly Beach. The beach was almost empty except for a few ladies picking up bottles and cans.

















These were taken along a river on our way home. Go further down the river the other way and you'll find houseboats too. There were lots of kids fishing along the river this afternoon. Everyone who lives along this part of the river seems to have HUGE dogs. Almost all of the houses are raised pretty high. When the river rises you can't get in or out as the road floods. It sure was a pretty view.

Cher Bebe

Last night some of the grandbabies were over for a visit (their mama's and daddy's came along too). While the older ones played a DVD game of Clue, I sat on the back porch watching the fireworks with the little ones. It was a real pleasant night out there was a light breeze and the humidity wasn't too bad (of course our back porch is screened in and so no mosquitoes had us for dinner.)

When it was time to go home this little bebe's mama had to search around to find him. First place she looked was in my mama's room. Mama is almost 96 and she puts out little candies for any grandchild that comes in and says hi to her. Little SJ visits her the most, in fact he's been known to lock himself in the room with her so she can continue to hand out the sweets!

His mama found him gone 'do-do' in the guest bedroom. He had climbed up in the bed and put himself to sleep. He looked so content and sweet we let him sleepover.

la bella