All Stories: 114
Stories
Allons Chez Tee Maurice: Tee Maurice Race Track and Dance Hall, 1902-1983
The Richard family possesses a sort of dynastic quality in the world of Cajun bush tracks. Maurice Richard and his wife, Celestine, bought the property in 1902 in present-day Church Point, an area once known locally as Marais des Buller.The Richard…
Hurricanes Batter Cameron Parish Cemeteries
One of the lost and forgotten cemeteries is Little Chenier Cemetery in Creole, Cameron Parish. Located on Big Burn Road off the main Little Chenier Road, the cemetery is small but in an easily accessed clearing. The area is known for hunting camps…
Southdown Cemetery History Loss
About three and a half miles from the Southdown Plantation house in Houma, Terrebonne Parish, lies a cemetery of the same name. Southdown Cemetery is still used today however, the history is being forgotten and the grounds are used in a nefarious…
Mount Zion Riverlake Cemetery
One of the lost and forgotten cemeteries is maybe not so lost, but unfortunately becoming forgotten. The cemetery is famous but a search on Google maps reveals a simple word to describe this place: Graveyard. Upon further inspection, however, an…
Marceaux Cemetery
Marceaux Cemetery, located between Kaplan and Wright in Vermilion Parish, has sadly become very lost and very forgotten. The cemetery is located on private property, but after gaining permission from the Matthews Family, a quick climb over the…
Belleau Wood Monument
Major General John Archer Lejeune was born in 1867 on a sugar plantation in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana. After studying for three years at Louisiana State University, Lejeune was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy where he trained from 1884 to 1888.…
Chateau Thierry Monument
While over 5,300 German troops were lost during the Battle of Chateau Thierry, the Allied forces only lost 1,900 troops. Of these 1,900 who fell, sixteen were from Louisiana, six of whom were residents of Acadiana. Henry Binet, Joseph A. Logg,…
Cantigny American Monument
Despite the American army bearing the higher number of total casualties, only 318 American soldiers lost their lives, while the Germans had 1,400 killed and over 250 taken as prisoners of war. Of the 318 Americans killed, five called Louisiana their…
Montsec American Monument
The Men: Although over 4,000 American troops were lost in the Montsec salient over the course of the war, only two known soldiers hailed from Acadiana. Angel Duhon of Cameron and Eugene W. Rogillio of Rogillioville. Duhon was only 22 when he…
Aisne-Marne Cemetery and Memorial
The Second Battle of the Marne had incredibly high casualties with over 272,000 casualties within the space of three full days. Of these, only 12,000 were Americans who fell in battle. It is no surprise then that many of these men hailed from…
The Story of Father Charles M. Menard
One significant feature of the history of Acadiana was the struggle for practicing the Catholic faith. In 1713, the British captured Acadia and required the Acadians to swear allegiance to the British Crown and convert to Anglicanism from…
Major General Godfrey Weitzel
Dupuy's Seafood and Steak
In 1869, an Abbeville native by the name of Joseph Dupuy established Dupuy’s oyster house, the oldest one found in Vermilion Parish, where he “harvested his own oysters and sold them for 5 cents a dozen.” Dupuy did this by being “the first…
Yellow Bowl Restaurant
The Yellow Bowl was established in 1927 by a local woman, known as Mrs. Scanton, “as a bus stop for the Greyhound bus line” , formally known as Teche bus lines. However, this information is rivaled with the details found in Dennis Covington’s…
Frosto
The franchise Zesto Enterprises, Inc., opened in 1950 in Crowley, LA. It was originally owned by “Ralph Rosaland, a New Orleans resident who worked for Conoco.” The land and building that occupied Zesto was owned by “the late P. L. Lawrence.” In…
Poor Boy's Riverside Inn
Founded by Hulo “Poor Boy” Landry during the Great Depression, Poor Boy’s Riverside Inn became one of Lafayette’s first restaurants that is still in business in 2022. After learning of a flour allergy in 1932, Hulo decided that he would no longer be…
The Civil War campaign in Acadiana
KEUN: Eunice, the Prairie Cajun Capital
The founding of radio station KEUN in Eunice occurred as Cajun and zydeco music were gaining prominence in the mid to late twentieth century. However, both genres struggled to get airtime anywhere because Cajun music was long considered a “novelty”…
The History of Holy Ghost Catholic Church
Louisiana during the postbellum era instituted “black codes” that prevented black citizens from enjoying the same rights as white citizens. Eventually, “separate but equal” facilities came about to separate white citizens from black citizens, and…
The History of Assumption School in Carencro
During the era of segregation in the United States, many Christian communities created parishes exclusively for black Christians to separate them from the white Christians, whether in support of segregation or to prevent a riot. Saint Katherine…
The Battle of Buzzard's Prairie
The battle of Buzzards Prairie and the Battle of Bayou Bourbeux were fought close to the Chretien Plantation in the vicinity of Vermilionville for over six months. General Green and General Taylor have already fought in Bisbland, Franklin, and…
The Battle of Bourbeux Bayou
It is the third year of the "War between the States" or "The war of the Yankee aggression," as those from the South called it. All eyes were on Antietam, Bull Run, Vicksburg, and Chancellorsville. Battles fought in Pennsylvania,…
KANE: Of Sugarcane (and Sports)
On October 9, 1960, Franklin’s Hanson Memorial Tigers played against New Iberia’s Catholic Panthers in a high school football game. The Franklin area was convinced that the Tigers would win despite the expected difficulty Catholic High posed.…
KSIG: The Signal of Crowley
When we think of radio stations, we think of the sound rather than focusing on the people behind the sound. The radio station call sign, KSIG, will sound more familiar than the names B. Hillman Bailey, Jr. and Clovis Bailey, two brothers who worked…
The Legendary Carencro Raceways
The site where Carencro Raceways once stood is now a place of quiet reflection. The soft, green lawn with its neatly kept graves serves as a place of remembrance. It's hard to imagine that a famed bush track existed where Evangeline Memorial…
An American Actor's Dream Plantation
In 1869, American actor Joseph Jefferson purchased “Orange Island,” as it was known at the time of the purchase, which sat atop a salt dome on Lake Peigneur to use as his winter home and hunting lodge. The “island,” referred to now as Jefferson…
Grand Opera House of the South
How does a building from 1901 stay so pristine while having actors and major Louisiana figures visit it? You may know some of them: “Enrico Caruso, Huey P. Long, and Babe Ruth” (1) are a few of the notable people to visit the aptly named Grand…
The Steamboat Warehouse
The steamboat warehouse started construction in 1819 and opened its doors in 1823 along the banks of Bayou Courtableau in the small, port town of Washington, LA, established in 1720. The warehouse was originally a docking location for “steamboats…
St. Mary Parish Fields Overtaking Cemeteries
One of the forgotten cemeteries is Midway Cemetery located in Franklin, St. Mary Parish. Located right alongside State Route 317, most would miss this small treasure. Midway is little maintained, and the newest burial was conducted in 2011. Noted…