October 3, 2025 • 39 mins
We head upriver from New Orleans to explore Louisiana’s River Parishes—where grand oaks, Creole stories, and a rare tobacco aged in whiskey barrels share a landscape with gators, smokehouses, and a 1950s drive-in. History isn’t erased here; it’s told plainly, tasted slowly, and easy to reach.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bob (00:00):
Hi, and welcome to The Traveling Fool, the show where
we talk about traveldestinations and the history and
culture around thosedestinations.
I'm your host, Bob Bales, andtoday we are talking about River
Parishes, Louisiana.
That's right.
I'm going to take you toLouisiana.
So stay tuned, and we'll beright back.
(00:37):
Now, before we get started, dome a quick favor and just please
hit that like or subscribebutton.
I'd really appreciate it.
But let's get into this.
Now, this week we are talkingabout Louisiana's river
parishes.
Now, I know a lot of peopleknow this, but some may not.
Louisiana is the only statethat has parishes instead of
(00:58):
counties.
And why is that?
Well, the French settledLouisiana back in the 1700s.
And the French are Catholicthat were coming over here, and
they organized their territoryinto parishes.
And when Louisiana became astate, they just kept parishes
versus counties.
So that's a short version.
(01:20):
You can look it up and get thewhole history about it, but
that's basically what it is.
And where are Louisiana's riverparishes?
Well, I know when everybodythinks about Louisiana, they go
to New Orleans.
And New Orleans is a greattown, don't get me wrong.
Great food, a lot of stuff tosee and do.
Of course, you got BourbonStreet, which I don't know how
(01:40):
well, I don't know.
I don't go to Bourbon Streetmuch anymore.
I did many, many years ago, butnow it's a tourist trap and
you're lucky to get out withoutgetting mugged.
But a lot of people go downthere.
It's big during Mardi Gras, ofcourse.
But the rest of Louisiana has alot to offer as well.
(02:01):
And River Parishes is just 27miles outside of New Orleans.
Now, why do they call it theRiver Parishes?
Well, they border theMississippi River, which flows
down through Louisiana down toNew Orleans, and they're just
right up the river from NewOrleans.
We're talking about theparishes of St.
John the Baptist, St.
(02:23):
James, and St.
Charles.
Those three make up Louisiana'sriver parishes.
Now there's other parishes thatare on the river, but those
three have combined and theypromote themselves as the river
parishes.
And I had an opportunityrecently to go visit this place.
(02:44):
And I think I had been I mighthave driven through there one
time many, many, many years ago.
But I generally, if I'm headedeast on Interstate 10, I live in
Houston, so if I'm headed easton Interstate 10, I typically
don't even go through NewOrleans.
I just take the bypass and headnorth of New Orleans and just
(03:04):
keep going and catch up I-10 onthe other side.
Because, you know, New Orleans,like any other big city, too
much traffic, too muchcongestion, there's no reason to
drive through it.
But I specifically went tovisit the river parishes.
And let me tell you some of thethings that they're famous for
and what they have down there.
And one of the things they arefamous for are the plantations.
(03:28):
And everybody's got an opinionon the plantations.
You got people that want todestroy the plantations because
of the history of slavery.
You got people that want tokeep them and do things with
them like give tours and otherthings.
Let me tell you my take onthis.
I've been to history locationsall over the world, and I don't
(03:51):
think it serves anybody any goodto go around destroying
history.
I've been to Dachau in Germany,which was a concentration camp.
They preserve it, theymemorialize it, and they tell
you about how life was atDachau.
I've been to notorious prisonsin London.
I've been to all kinds ofdifferent places, and I find
(04:14):
history fascinating.
I've been to Civil War forts,both the North and the South.
I'm a huge history buff.
I've been to all kinds ofmilitary forts and battlefields
all over the world.
Some that the U.S., I've beento some U.S.
battlefields where the U.S.
fought, and I've seen the otherside of those battlefields.
(04:38):
In fact, when I was in themilitary, I served 20 years in
the Army.
When I was in the Armystationed in Germany, our
barracks, and this was in 1979through 84, I was in Germany.
The barracks where my companywas located were former German
Luftwaffe barracks.
(04:58):
They had built them, and theU.S.
Army had taken them over, andwe lived there.
And I've seen all kinds ofstuff all over the world.
And I think that destroyinghistory is a crime because we
need to understand history, weneed to know history.
And the river parishes have anabundance of plantations.
(05:19):
And some of them are beautifulplantations.
And they all do things a littlebit different.
I went to visit uh four ofthem, actually.
I was only there for a coupledays, but I visited four
plantations.
And I'm gonna tell you aboutthem.
First one I went to is OakAlley Plantation.
Oak Alley is the granddaddy ofthem all.
I mean, it's got a lined OakAlley walkway from the
(05:44):
Mississippi River.
Actually, it's from the roadwayright across from the river.
It used to extend from theriver, but now it's from the
highway that runs in front of itall the way down to the big
plantation house.
And it is gorgeous.
It's filmed by everybody.
It's one of the most filmedplantations in Louisiana.
And there's been movies thereand the and uh television shows
(06:08):
there.
And it is a huge plantation.
And they give tours of theplantation home.
They also give tours of theoutlying buildings.
You can spend the night there.
They've got five or six, well,let me see, eight or nine
actually.
Cabins, some dating back to the1920s and some that are newer.
(06:31):
Where you can actually spendthe night there.
There's a restaurant there forpeople to eat.
There's an event center there.
They give tours of theplantation and tell you the
history of the plantation frompeople that work there.
It's it's a fascinatingplantation.
It's it tells you all about thehistory.
(06:53):
It tells you about the enslavedpeople that came through there.
It tells you about the historyof the family that owned the
plantation and what happened toit before, during, and after the
Civil War.
And it's a fascinatingplantation to visit.
Another one is LauraPlantation.
Now, Laura Plantation is aCreole plantation.
(07:17):
And there were enslaved people,there were free blacks, and
there were French that passedthrough there.
It's a mixture of a lot ofdifferent things.
And they do a fantastic,fantastic job of telling the
story of the Creole and theenslaved people that went
through there.
Their primary purpose, theywill take you through the
plantation home.
But their emphasis is emphasis,I should say, is on the
(07:42):
enslaved peoples that camethrough there.
In fact, in recent years, theyhad a big reunion for
descendants of some of thoseenslaved people.
And they, I think they saidthey were going to do it again
in the next couple of years.
But it was built by DuParc wasthe last name of the French
(08:02):
family.
And it was built like in uh,oh, I think somewhere in the
early 1800s.
It was later named LauraPlantation for one of the
females that was born there in,I don't know, 1820, 1830,
something like that.
And she became the owner of theplantation in later life.
(08:22):
She actually wrote a book abouther life on the plantation.
She left there and wound upliving in Chicago for uh the
last years of her life, but shewrote a book about it.
And she wrote a book about lifeon the plantation and how it
was and the enslaved people andthe creoles and everything.
And there was, and I did notknow this, there's a huge
difference between the Creoleplantations and the plantations
(08:46):
you see in let's say Georgia orVirginia or something like that.
They were they actually haddifferent rules and stuff.
And maybe I'll get into that inin a minute or two, but Laura
Plantation is just right up theroad from Oak Alley, and that's
a fantastic glimpse into what aCreole plantation was.
(09:10):
If you ever get a chance, youneed to visit both of these
places.
The other plantation in thearea that I visited is
Destrehan.
And Destrehan is actually theclosest plantation to Louis R to
New Orleans.
And New Orleans was where theslave markets were held at.
That's where the auctions wereand everything.
(09:31):
And the plantations werenormally up the river where they
had the agricultural aspect,the cotton and sugarcane and all
the other stuff.
Destrehan is a huge plantation,and it was oh, I'm trying to
think of when it was built.
I mean, it goes way back.
I believe it was like 1787 or88 is when they began the
(09:57):
construction and it finishedaround 1790.
And it was under a a planner bythe he was another French
fellow.
I can't even pronounce thename.
But they had started it back inthe late 1700s, so it goes way
back in time.
And Destrehan has played animportant part in the history of
(10:19):
that entire area.
It played a huge role in theeighteen eleven German coast
uprising.
Okay, it's gonna get a littleconfusing here.
That area is also known nowwe're talking about French and
Creole settlers, but the areawas also known as the German
Coast because there was a lot ofpeople from Germany came and
(10:41):
settled in that area.
And so it just kind of got thenickname the German Coast.
But in 1811 there was a slaverevolt that happened at one of
the plantations at St.
John's, the Baptist Parish.
Uh, and they wound up trying toget into New Orleans.
It didn't last for very long,it lasted for two or three days,
but Destrahen played a hugerole in it.
(11:02):
A lot of the slaves fromDestrehan uh were involved in
it.
And when you visit thatplantation, you can hear all
about the history of thatuprising.
Um but they were also what wascalled a Freeman colony.
At the end of the Civil War,you had all these slaves.
All of a sudden they're nowfree.
They had no idea what to do.
(11:24):
I mean, they were like, youknow, I I live and work on the
plantation.
What am I supposed to do now?
So they had what they callfreeman colonies where they
would bring them in, give themmedical care, food, place to
live for a month, two months,something like that, while they
took down their names, took downtheir identification, assessed
what their skills were, andhelped them get acclimated.
(11:47):
And so there were severalthousand, two or three thousand
that went through Destrahen whenit was classified as a Freeman
colony.
And they have a list of everysingle person that went through
there.
And they have an exhibit thattells all about it.
Destrehan does a really, reallygood job of telling you all
about the plantation, the familythat built the plantation, the
(12:10):
slave revolt, and the Freemancolony.
I mean, they do a really goodjob, and they have uh they call
it a living history plantation.
It's a lot of outlyingbuildings that you can tour.
You learn all about theconstruction of the plantation
and who built it and everything,and who was involved in
building it.
But it's it's a fascinatingplace to visit.
(12:31):
They also have what's calledthe Jefferson Room inside the
plantation home, which is theJefferson Room actually they
have documents that are signedby Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison.
So I mean it they've got a lotof things here and it's well
worth the visit.
Now I'm gonna tell you aboutone more plantation you ought to
visit.
This one is not in the riverparishes, but it's like a parish
(12:55):
up the river.
It's it's still right on theMississippi, but it's in
Ascension Parish, and that isHouma House, H-O-U-M-A.
And Houma House is acombination of museum, a
plantation home, gardenrestaurants, venues, you name
(13:16):
it.
It's got all kinds of stuff.
I think he told me, I met theowner while I was there and uh a
fellow that lived in NewOrleans and he bought it,
restored it, and startedbuilding things on it.
Um I think he told me that hehad twenty five or twenty six
acres there now.
At one time it was huge.
(13:37):
I mean, it was a massiveplantation, but it sits right on
the river, and you'll see a lotof the riverboats uh that are
coming down the river cruisesthat people take to New Orleans.
They stop there.
There's a dock right on theriver, right in front of it.
And they visited a lot, buthe's got a huge, massive museum
(13:57):
that you can visit that tellsthe story of Louisiana.
From the settlers to all theplantations in the area to the
Civil War, to pre and post-CivilWar, to the ascension into
becoming a state, to everything.
It's a fabulous museum.
Then you can tour theplantation home itself.
(14:20):
Then there's also, I thinkthere's three restaurants that
are inside various buildingsthat he's built and some of the
older buildings.
And it's got a fantastichistory, but he does a really
good job of telling you aboutplantation life, plus also the
museums that are there that youcan learn all about Louisiana
(14:42):
and that area of Louisiana.
And it's just a fabulous placeto visit.
It's more of a it's a museummore than anything else, but
it's massive.
And he's also got cottagesthere.
I toured a couple of them, Ididn't stay there, but he's on
one part of the property not toofar from the museum.
I think he's built somethinglike 15 or 16 um cottages where
(15:05):
you can rent out and spend thenight there if you want.
And there are several otherplantations in the river
parishes, but those three Ihighly recommend visiting
because they're all threedifferent.
You will learn stories that aredifferent in all three
plantations, and you will comeaway with a very good
understanding of what plantationlife was like, not only for the
(15:28):
people that started them andbuilt the homes and the farms
and the plantations themselves,but from the enslaved people
that worked there.
And it'll give you a greaterappreciation of the history of
Louisiana, the South, and theUnited States as a whole, I
think.
But do yourself a favor, hitthose plantations up if you're
ever in Rover Parishes, whichyou really, really need to go
(15:50):
to.
And I'm gonna tell you somemore cool stuff about this area.
But before we do, I'm gonna uhwhen I do up the show notes for
this podcast and and I do thetranscript, I actually wrote a
blog post about the plantations,and I will um put a link to
that in the show notes if you'reinterested in learning more
aboutthem. https://thetravellingfool.com/8-stunning-louisiana-plantations-to-tour-in-the-historic-river-parishes/
(16:11):
But there's other things to doin River Parishes besides
visiting plantations.
And one of them, and this onewas a blast, take you a swamp
tour.
That's right.
I went on Cajun Pride SwampTours, which is in La Place,
Louisiana.
Not too far from New Orleans.
I mean, you're only a couplehours, not a couple hours, like
(16:34):
thirty minutes away from NewOrleans itself.
I think you're like 20 minutesfrom the airport.
But Cajun Pride Swamp Tours hasseveral boats.
They have a privately ownedswamp.
There's four or fiveexperienced boat captains, and
they take you out on thesepontoon boats with seats all
around.
They have protected wildlifeout there, and you get to see up
(16:57):
close and personal with wildboars and raccoons and just all
kinds of wildlife.
And of course, a lot ofalligators.
And usually the boat captainwill stop and start feeding some
of the alligators, and they getright up to the boat.
And a couple of them will giveyou the pole and let you feed
(17:19):
them.
It is a fantastic tour.
You get to see Louisiana Bayouand Louisiana Swamp up close and
personal.
I mean, get right up next toall kinds of wildlife.
Uh the captains are wellexperienced, and it's just a
fabulous way to spend a couplehours.
Take a swamp tour, contactCajun Pride Swamp Tours.
(17:41):
That's where I went.
They're fantastic.
You might need to book them aday or two in advance because
they stay busy.
I mean, they always fill upthose boats.
People come from New Orleansall the time to go out there and
all around the surroundingarea.
So make sure you might want tobook them a day or two in
advance.
But Cades of Pride Swamp Tourswill, it is a blast to just get
(18:04):
out there and experience aLouisiana swamp.
Trust me, you gotta do it.
Now, one of the reasons I havebeen wanting to desperately go
to this part of the country.
Had nothing to do withplantations or swamps or
anything else.
I mean, those are cool.
I wanted to do them, I wantedto see them.
I always loved doing stuff likethat.
But if you know me, you know Ilove cigars.
(18:24):
Big cigar smoker.
Smoke way too many cigars,according to my wife and doctor
both, which I still smoke them.
Anyway, I've always just likedthe taste of tobacco.
I've smoked cigarettes manyyears ago.
I chewed tobacco many, manyyears ago.
I dipped snuff, I tried a pipe.
(18:45):
You name it, I've done it.
And I've always heard aboutthis tobacco that is grown in
Louisiana.
Now, if you know much abouttobacco, you know that the
United States doesn't grow muchtobacco anymore.
It used to be a time they did alot, they don't anymore.
But there is a portion ofLouisiana that grows a very
(19:09):
specific type of tobacco calledPerique.
Now, depending on who you talkto, they will say the only true
Perique tobacco is grown in oneparish, and that is Saint James
Parish.
Now Perique is grown in otherparishes in Louisiana.
But having talked to somepeople who know about this
(19:29):
stuff, the tobacco in St.
James Parish has beenscientifically tested and all
this other stuff.
It is the closest to theoriginal strain that the Native
Americans used way back when.
And it's about the only tobaccothat is used commercially.
(19:53):
None of the other places theirtobacco isn't used commercially.
Perique tobacco istraditionally grown, the
plantations grew some becausepeople wanted to smoke tobacco.
And after the plantations,farmers grew it, and everybody
had a little patch of Periquetobacco so they could make their
own cigars and cigarettes andpipe tobacco and stuff like
(20:16):
that.
Now, when I was in the Armymany, many years ago, I was
stationed at Fort Polk,Louisiana, which is, well, I
don't know, an hour or two northof there.
And if you left the gate, wentout, there was a little gas
station out there, and they soldPicky Yoon cigarettes.
That was a brand name, PickyYoon.
And it used Parique Tobacco.
They're no longer in business.
(20:37):
And I think there was umsomebody told me that American
Spirit brand of cigarettes atone time Perique, but I don't
think they do anymore.
But the Parique Tobacco isgrown at St.
James, and I've always wantedto visit this place.
So I went and found a farm thatgrows it.
It's called 31 Farms.
(20:59):
It's owned by Derek and RickyRoussel, a Rousseau father and
son.
And they actually have anotherbusiness.
This doesn't afford them enoughmoney to make it a full-time
income.
They're trying to grow it intosomething bigger, and it's
continually grown into somethingbigger.
But farms have come and gone,and right now, as of a couple of
(21:22):
months ago, they were the onlyfarm in St.
James Parish growing Pariktobacco.
A couple of others had justfolded up.
Now there's a few people thathave a little bit that they grow
for themselves.
But they were the onlycommercial tobacco farm.
All of their tobacco is sold toa company that blends it for
(21:45):
pipe tobacco.
That's what it's used forprimarily these days.
There is one company that makesa cigar out Perique tobacco.
And it's a very interestingstory.
Another farmer, not too faraway, a couple of years ago, was
trying to break into the cigarmarket with Perique tobacco, and
(22:06):
he was unsuccessful doing that.
But he was still sellingPerique tobacco.
Now, when you sell the tobaccoleaves to a manufacturer of
cigars or pipe tobacco or otherthings, they want you normally
to take the stem out of themiddle of the tobacco leaf.
De-stem them.
Well, he was having a hard timehiring people that would sit
(22:27):
there and just de-stem tobaccoleaves at the price that he
could afford to pay them at.
And he was real frustrated, buthe found a company in the
Philippines.
The Philippines actually hassome tobacco companies that make
cigars and stuff.
And he found a company in thePhilippines that they said,
yeah, we'll do it for you.
Just ship it over here.
We'll de-stim it and then shipthe leaves back to you.
(22:48):
So he would ship all thistobacco over there, they would
de-stim it and ship it back.
And after the first or secondtime he did that, the owner
said, Well, what are you doingwith this tobacco?
He said, Well, I'll sell it toa company that makes pipe
tobacco out of it.
They said, Well, we'd we'd liketo try and make some cigars out
of it.
So we said, sure.
And they he bought it a barrelor two.
(23:09):
And I say barrel, and I'll tellyou about that in a second.
And they blend it with othertobaccos from other areas.
They use a small portion of it.
It's not all that's not all thetobacco in the cigar.
It's a blend.
And they sell it uh as a cigar.
I think it's called an 1831brand.
It's made by one company in thePhilippines.
The problem is you can't buythat in the United States.
(23:31):
Uh I was lucky enough to get myhand on three of those cigars.
Derek had a couple and he gavethem to me.
Uh they sell most of it inEurope.
If you can buy it in the UnitedStates, I have not found
anywhere.
I have searched high and lowonline.
There's no place that sells it.
You'll find very littlereference to it anywhere.
(23:52):
But they're the only ones thatmake cigar tobacco out of it, or
make cigars out of thattobacco.
But I said earlier it was in abarrel.
Now, what makes this tobaccounique is how it's processed.
Tobacco is normally cut, dried,hung, and then it sits in a
carrying barn for a while and itferments a little bit, and then
(24:13):
tobacco buyers buy it andthey'll chop it up, make
cigarettes out of it.
Or cigar manufacturers will buybatches in bundles and roll it
into cigars and things.
Pipe tobacco will they'll buyit, they'll blend various leaves
together, chop it up, and useit as a blend of pipe tobacco.
(24:34):
This tobacco, once it'sharvested from the field, is put
in bundles and they place themin used whiskey barrels that
they've washed all the charredinside out of the whiskey barrel
and they put it in there, andthey put the top of the barrel
on there and they put weights onthere and they hydraulically
(24:56):
press it down.
And it stays in that area whereit's all pressed down and
ferments in that barrel for upto twelve months.
They then take that barrel andship the entire barrel to the
pipe manufacturer thatmanufacturers the pipe tobacco.
He busts the barrel apart.
All these barrels are handmade,they're old whiskey barrels.
(25:17):
So he rips it all apart, takesthe tobacco out, puts it all
barreled back together and shipsit back to them.
Now you can only use thatbarrel once or twice because
each one of them are handmade,they and they have to seal all
the little slats and everythingin there.
You can only do that once ortwice for the barrel's no good.
So they only use a barrel acouple of times.
But it's a fascinating processthat they go through.
(25:39):
And he walked me through thefields, he showed me all the
tobacco firming, and he told meall about the history of it and
what they do with it.
If you ever get a chance, it'sjust an interesting business.
And to visit the tobacco farm,I had a blast.
I enjoyed it.
Derek and Ricy, or Derek andRicky were fantastic hosts.
(26:00):
They showed me all over theplace.
And um I hope to visit themagain here soon.
In fact, I'm going back toRiver Parishes here in February.
I've got a conference to go to.
The Southern Travelers ExplorerConference is going to be held
in River Parishes.
In February or March of thisnext year, I've already got
plans to go to it.
(26:21):
So they're going to beinundated with a whole bunch of
travel riders.
And I'll tell you about itbeforehand so you can start
following some of these people.
A lot of great content outthere about places all over the
world.
But River Parishes has morethan just tobacco and
plantations and swamp tours andalligators.
You can't go to Louisianawithout going and visiting for
the food.
(26:41):
And let me tell you about aplace that I got this Spargle
bait the night before I left.
And uh I had to get up early inthe morning, like three o'clock
in the morning, and drive fromHouston to River Parishes so I
could be there in the morning todo uh for I had scheduled to do
things.
(27:01):
And the day before I went, I'mtold, oh, by the way, you're
gonna be on the live cookingshow while you get down there.
I was like, excuse me.
What?
They said, Well, you're gonnabe on the live cooking show.
So, okay, we'll see how thisgoes.
There is a fellow down there,and his name is Maitland
Fachauex.
He goes by the name of Spuddy.
(27:22):
S P-U-D-D-Y.
A nickname he's had since hewas a kid.
And Spuddy runs Spuddy's CajunCooking Experience.
And he's got a couple of littleincome streams going on.
One of them is he will teach agroup of people, anywhere from
(27:42):
three or four people up totwenty people, how to cook Cajun
food.
Shows you how to do it, you'reactually doing it with him, and
then everybody sits down and hasa big dinner afterwards.
And he books these experiences.
It's Spuddy's Cajun CookingExperience.
Well, Spuddy also has a livetelevision show once a week.
(28:03):
And me and Spuddy made us someuh fish soup, I guess it was.
And he I sat there and helped alittle bit, stirred some stuff
and threw some stuff in the pot,but had a blast.
Spuddy's a great guy.
But he he had been doing thisfor several years.
He actually started out as acomputer programmer and project
(28:24):
manager.
Then he went into sales andthen he finally bought this old
restaurant, which he ran forseveral years because that was
his passion was Cajun food andCajun cooking.
Well, the restaurant's not openanymore, but he uses that
restaurant to host Spuddy'sCajun Cooking Experience.
And he also films histelevision shows here.
(28:46):
Go to YouTube and check outSpuddy's Cajun Cooking, and
you'll see some of the things hedoes up there and learn to cook
you some Cajun food.
Another thing you gotta dowhile you're in this area is try
some andouille.
Some people call it andouillesausage, but andouille is
sausage.
And you'll get a couple ofdifferent uh it's different than
(29:07):
any other sausage you willhave, but it's it's fabulous.
And if you look into thehistory of Andouille, some will
tell you it came from theFrench.
Others will tell you it has alot of German influence because
being the German coast.
Uh and some of the places thatthere's a lot of places that'll
make their own andouille sausageor make their own andouille.
(29:28):
I went to a couple of them.
I went to Wayne JacobsSmokehouse and Restaurant.
Wayne Jacobs has a German typehistory.
Even though Andouille mighthave been originally from
France, there's a German twistto it.
And he does all kinds of smokedbeats at Wayne Jacobs'
smokehouse and restaurant.
He showed me how he smokesthem.
(29:48):
They use these Cypress uh smokehouses made out of Cypress and
everything.
Been there for years.
Took me out there to thosethings, but he has all kinds of
smoke.
Smoked meat, chicken, and justvarious kinds of sausages, and
all just he's got a huge meatmarket in there.
But he's also got a restaurant,and the food is fabulous.
(30:10):
You get a chance, gotta gothere for lunch.
I mean, he's got lunch specialsevery day, and it is good.
And he had some pecancornbread.
My God, that stuff wasdelicious.
These people know how to cook,I'm gonna tell you.
And I met the owner of WayneJacobs, and he's a great guy,
hell of a chef, and he's got acouple of books out, and you can
(30:33):
find his books there at therestaurant.
And he's also come out withsome spices that are signature
spices that you can buy there atthe restaurant.
You gotta check this place out.
The other place that is worldfamous, because and they they
say we're we are Jacobs, worldfamous andouille.
And so I asked the owner, Isaid, What makes it world
famous?
(30:54):
They said, because we keepwinning all the awards.
They have andouille contestsand festivals and stuff all the
time.
And Jacobs, world famous, whois not related to Wayne Jacobs
Smokehouse and Restaurant,they've been winning awards for
years.
And they've been in the sameplace for many, many, many
years.
(31:14):
And you go in there and it's asmall, I mean, it'll fit like
four people or five people inthere.
You go in there, there's acounter, and there's just all
kinds of smoked meats.
Just everything in the world.
And in the back is where theydo all the processing and
smoking.
And she took me all through outin the back there.
And um showed me all about theplace and how they smoke all
(31:38):
their andouille and other stuff.
In fact, there was a guy therethat that works there who was
smoking up some ribs.
But it's they've got a fabulousfacility in the in the I'm
telling you, the andouille isdelicious.
And they sell little packs ofit, so you don't have to buy
like six pounds of it.
Stop by there and ask them fora sample.
(32:00):
They'll give you a sample of itand to show you what it tastes
like.
But they have the little uhsticks that you can buy that
like about half the size of aslim gym or something like that,
that are packaged up five orsix to a pack, and just all
kinds of stuff.
And then they have the regularsausage, which is like a link of
sausage.
But you gotta check out theandouille.
There's an andouille trail inriver parishes.
(32:23):
And if you go to the riverparishes website, which is the
tourism website, they listseveral places where you can try
and the river parishes and getyour little andouille passport
stamped.
It's a great way to sample alot of excellent food in the
area.
But they have some other greatrestaurants too.
I went to Pier 51 SeafoodRestaurant and Oyster Bar.
(32:46):
It was fantastic.
Um had a great dinner there.
For breakfast one morning,there's a place.
I go to a lot of local places.
There was a place called theDonut Hole.
And it's on the airline in LaPlace, Louisiana.
Just a little bitty donutjoint.
Well, little did I know thatit's like famous in the area.
It's always busy.
(33:08):
There's some tables and chairsin there, but people were coming
in, getting their donuts andleaving.
I went in there just to grabsome breakfast.
They have donuts and kolachesand breakfast items, and they
sell Mardi Gras king cakesduring certain times of the
year, and they have really,really good coffee.
I went in there, got a cup ofcoffee, and got I think I got a
(33:29):
kolache or something forbreakfast.
But they open up at 4 a.m.
in the morning and they closeat 11 o'clock in the morning.
I mean, they're open forbreakfast and that's about it.
And they're open every dayexcept Monday.
They're closed on Mondays.
And while I went to this place,right next door, I mean right
next door, I'm looking, I said,this is straight out of the
(33:51):
1950s.
It's called Fro Stop Drive InRestaurant.
The place was closed.
I was there about eight, eighto'clock in the morning, and it
was closed.
But what caught my attention isthis huge neon root beer mug
that's on a pole sticking way upin the air that rotates around.
(34:13):
I'm like, man, this is youdon't see this stuff anymore.
Nobody built stuff like that.
This is a drive-in right out ofthe 1950s.
And I'm sitting there and Itook a few photos of this place
and everything in this.
I'm looking in the windows, youknow, just being a pest and
looking at the decor in there.
And this older fella drives up,gets out of the car, gives me
(34:37):
the side eye, and so I kind ofwalk back over to my car and I
see him take his keys out,unlock the door, and go in.
So, like I did.
I walked up to the takeoutwindow and tapped on the takeout
window, and he came up andopened the window.
I said, I told him who I was.
I said, Look, I'm a travelrider.
I'm here vesting the area.
You have a really coolrestaurant here.
I said, Could I come in andtake a look around?
(34:59):
He's like, Yeah, sure, come onin.
Well, he was the owner of theplace.
And I found out that this placewas opened in 1958 by a fellow
named Morris Terry.
And he leased out thisrestaurant until 1973 when his
daughter Evelyn and her husbandJimmy took it over.
And Jimmy was the fellow I wastalking to.
(35:22):
Well, nowadays, Jimmy stillcomes in there, but their
daughter Terry st joined, andnow she is the owner and
manager.
She graduated LSU back in 1993and just came back and started
running the place.
And I met her too.
She pulled up a little bitlater.
(35:42):
And they make their ownhomemade root beer there, and
they serve primarily burgers andfrench fries and it's a couple
other things, but it's just anold-fashioned diner.
It's cool as all get out.
I did not have a chance to goback there and have lunch or
dinner, but I desperately wantedto.
And when I go back in February,I am gonna go to the fro-stop
(36:02):
drive-in restaurant and have mea burger and fries.
I mean, it is right out of the1950s.
And they're open, um, I lookedup after I left there.
It says they're open Tuesdaysthrough Saturdays from 11 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
And I appreciate uh Jimmyletting me in and stoop around
and look at the place.
And they were justaccommodating us all get out and
(36:24):
friendly as as you could be,and just told me all about the
place and let me take photos andall kinds of good stuff.
But there is just a ton ofthings to do in this area.
And if you ever get a chance, Iknow you want to go to New
Orleans and see all the coolstuff there, and and there is.
This is like twenty milesoutside of New Orleans.
And you can go up there andspend a couple of days.
(36:46):
You can even there's hotelsthere all over the area.
And like I said, some of theplantations have cabins you can
rent.
But there's also if you don't,you could leave your hotel in
the morning, New Orleans, anddrive up there for 20 minutes,
spend the day and then driveback to New Orleans.
It is a fantastic area.
It's slow paced compared to NewOrleans.
(37:09):
Everybody on that was asfriendly as could be.
Tons of history.
All kinds of historic locationsand places all along the side
of the road.
They have historic markers thattell you all about these
places, historic cemeteries,historic uh old churches.
These are buildings that goback a hundred, two hundred
(37:30):
years.
They're still there.
Lots of history, fantasticfood, and like I said, the
people were all just friendlies,get out.
And it's just a beautiful,beautiful place to visit.
If you ever get a chance, yougotta go there.
So that was my trip to theriver parishes of Louisiana.
I enjoyed it.
I highly encourage you to everto go see it if you ever get a
(37:52):
chance.
I think you'll enjoy it too.
And next time, I'm gonna takeyou someplace else.
So I appreciate you listening.
If you hadn't had a chance, hitthat like or subscribe button.
Like I said, there'll be acouple of links in the show
notes about uh because Iactually wrote a blog post about
some of this stuff.
https://thetravellingfool.com/8-stunning-louisiana-plantations-to-tour-in-the-historic-river-parishes/And until next time, safe
(38:12):
travels.
Hi, and welcome to The Traveling Fool, the show where
we talk about traveldestinations and the history and
culture around thosedestinations.
I'm your host, Bob Bales, andtoday we are talking about River
Parishes, Louisiana.
That's right.
I'm going to take you toLouisiana.
So stay tuned, and we'll beright back.
(00:37):
Now, before we get started, dome a quick favor and just please
hit that like or subscribebutton.
I'd really appreciate it.
But let's get into this.
Now, this week we are talkingabout Louisiana's river
parishes.
Now, I know a lot of peopleknow this, but some may not.
Louisiana is the only statethat has parishes instead of
(00:58):
counties.
And why is that?
Well, the French settledLouisiana back in the 1700s.
And the French are Catholicthat were coming over here, and
they organized their territoryinto parishes.
And when Louisiana became astate, they just kept parishes
versus counties.
So that's a short version.
(01:20):
You can look it up and get thewhole history about it, but
that's basically what it is.
And where are Louisiana's riverparishes?
Well, I know when everybodythinks about Louisiana, they go
to New Orleans.
And New Orleans is a greattown, don't get me wrong.
Great food, a lot of stuff tosee and do.
Of course, you got BourbonStreet, which I don't know how
(01:40):
well, I don't know.
I don't go to Bourbon Streetmuch anymore.
I did many, many years ago, butnow it's a tourist trap and
you're lucky to get out withoutgetting mugged.
But a lot of people go downthere.
It's big during Mardi Gras, ofcourse.
But the rest of Louisiana has alot to offer as well.
(02:01):
And River Parishes is just 27miles outside of New Orleans.
Now, why do they call it theRiver Parishes?
Well, they border theMississippi River, which flows
down through Louisiana down toNew Orleans, and they're just
right up the river from NewOrleans.
We're talking about theparishes of St.
John the Baptist, St.
(02:23):
James, and St.
Charles.
Those three make up Louisiana'sriver parishes.
Now there's other parishes thatare on the river, but those
three have combined and theypromote themselves as the river
parishes.
And I had an opportunityrecently to go visit this place.
(02:44):
And I think I had been I mighthave driven through there one
time many, many, many years ago.
But I generally, if I'm headedeast on Interstate 10, I live in
Houston, so if I'm headed easton Interstate 10, I typically
don't even go through NewOrleans.
I just take the bypass and headnorth of New Orleans and just
(03:04):
keep going and catch up I-10 onthe other side.
Because, you know, New Orleans,like any other big city, too
much traffic, too muchcongestion, there's no reason to
drive through it.
But I specifically went tovisit the river parishes.
And let me tell you some of thethings that they're famous for
and what they have down there.
And one of the things they arefamous for are the plantations.
(03:28):
And everybody's got an opinionon the plantations.
You got people that want todestroy the plantations because
of the history of slavery.
You got people that want tokeep them and do things with
them like give tours and otherthings.
Let me tell you my take onthis.
I've been to history locationsall over the world, and I don't
(03:51):
think it serves anybody any goodto go around destroying
history.
I've been to Dachau in Germany,which was a concentration camp.
They preserve it, theymemorialize it, and they tell
you about how life was atDachau.
I've been to notorious prisonsin London.
I've been to all kinds ofdifferent places, and I find
(04:14):
history fascinating.
I've been to Civil War forts,both the North and the South.
I'm a huge history buff.
I've been to all kinds ofmilitary forts and battlefields
all over the world.
Some that the U.S., I've beento some U.S.
battlefields where the U.S.
fought, and I've seen the otherside of those battlefields.
(04:38):
In fact, when I was in themilitary, I served 20 years in
the Army.
When I was in the Armystationed in Germany, our
barracks, and this was in 1979through 84, I was in Germany.
The barracks where my companywas located were former German
Luftwaffe barracks.
(04:58):
They had built them, and theU.S.
Army had taken them over, andwe lived there.
And I've seen all kinds ofstuff all over the world.
And I think that destroyinghistory is a crime because we
need to understand history, weneed to know history.
And the river parishes have anabundance of plantations.
(05:19):
And some of them are beautifulplantations.
And they all do things a littlebit different.
I went to visit uh four ofthem, actually.
I was only there for a coupledays, but I visited four
plantations.
And I'm gonna tell you aboutthem.
First one I went to is OakAlley Plantation.
Oak Alley is the granddaddy ofthem all.
I mean, it's got a lined OakAlley walkway from the
(05:44):
Mississippi River.
Actually, it's from the roadwayright across from the river.
It used to extend from theriver, but now it's from the
highway that runs in front of itall the way down to the big
plantation house.
And it is gorgeous.
It's filmed by everybody.
It's one of the most filmedplantations in Louisiana.
And there's been movies thereand the and uh television shows
(06:08):
there.
And it is a huge plantation.
And they give tours of theplantation home.
They also give tours of theoutlying buildings.
You can spend the night there.
They've got five or six, well,let me see, eight or nine
actually.
Cabins, some dating back to the1920s and some that are newer.
(06:31):
Where you can actually spendthe night there.
There's a restaurant there forpeople to eat.
There's an event center there.
They give tours of theplantation and tell you the
history of the plantation frompeople that work there.
It's it's a fascinatingplantation.
It's it tells you all about thehistory.
(06:53):
It tells you about the enslavedpeople that came through there.
It tells you about the historyof the family that owned the
plantation and what happened toit before, during, and after the
Civil War.
And it's a fascinatingplantation to visit.
Another one is LauraPlantation.
Now, Laura Plantation is aCreole plantation.
(07:17):
And there were enslaved people,there were free blacks, and
there were French that passedthrough there.
It's a mixture of a lot ofdifferent things.
And they do a fantastic,fantastic job of telling the
story of the Creole and theenslaved people that went
through there.
Their primary purpose, theywill take you through the
plantation home.
But their emphasis is emphasis,I should say, is on the
(07:42):
enslaved peoples that camethrough there.
In fact, in recent years, theyhad a big reunion for
descendants of some of thoseenslaved people.
And they, I think they saidthey were going to do it again
in the next couple of years.
But it was built by DuParc wasthe last name of the French
(08:02):
family.
And it was built like in uh,oh, I think somewhere in the
early 1800s.
It was later named LauraPlantation for one of the
females that was born there in,I don't know, 1820, 1830,
something like that.
And she became the owner of theplantation in later life.
(08:22):
She actually wrote a book abouther life on the plantation.
She left there and wound upliving in Chicago for uh the
last years of her life, but shewrote a book about it.
And she wrote a book about lifeon the plantation and how it
was and the enslaved people andthe creoles and everything.
And there was, and I did notknow this, there's a huge
difference between the Creoleplantations and the plantations
(08:46):
you see in let's say Georgia orVirginia or something like that.
They were they actually haddifferent rules and stuff.
And maybe I'll get into that inin a minute or two, but Laura
Plantation is just right up theroad from Oak Alley, and that's
a fantastic glimpse into what aCreole plantation was.
(09:10):
If you ever get a chance, youneed to visit both of these
places.
The other plantation in thearea that I visited is
Destrehan.
And Destrehan is actually theclosest plantation to Louis R to
New Orleans.
And New Orleans was where theslave markets were held at.
That's where the auctions wereand everything.
(09:31):
And the plantations werenormally up the river where they
had the agricultural aspect,the cotton and sugarcane and all
the other stuff.
Destrehan is a huge plantation,and it was oh, I'm trying to
think of when it was built.
I mean, it goes way back.
I believe it was like 1787 or88 is when they began the
(09:57):
construction and it finishedaround 1790.
And it was under a a planner bythe he was another French
fellow.
I can't even pronounce thename.
But they had started it back inthe late 1700s, so it goes way
back in time.
And Destrehan has played animportant part in the history of
(10:19):
that entire area.
It played a huge role in theeighteen eleven German coast
uprising.
Okay, it's gonna get a littleconfusing here.
That area is also known nowwe're talking about French and
Creole settlers, but the areawas also known as the German
Coast because there was a lot ofpeople from Germany came and
(10:41):
settled in that area.
And so it just kind of got thenickname the German Coast.
But in 1811 there was a slaverevolt that happened at one of
the plantations at St.
John's, the Baptist Parish.
Uh, and they wound up trying toget into New Orleans.
It didn't last for very long,it lasted for two or three days,
but Destrahen played a hugerole in it.
(11:02):
A lot of the slaves fromDestrehan uh were involved in
it.
And when you visit thatplantation, you can hear all
about the history of thatuprising.
Um but they were also what wascalled a Freeman colony.
At the end of the Civil War,you had all these slaves.
All of a sudden they're nowfree.
They had no idea what to do.
(11:24):
I mean, they were like, youknow, I I live and work on the
plantation.
What am I supposed to do now?
So they had what they callfreeman colonies where they
would bring them in, give themmedical care, food, place to
live for a month, two months,something like that, while they
took down their names, took downtheir identification, assessed
what their skills were, andhelped them get acclimated.
(11:47):
And so there were severalthousand, two or three thousand
that went through Destrahen whenit was classified as a Freeman
colony.
And they have a list of everysingle person that went through
there.
And they have an exhibit thattells all about it.
Destrehan does a really, reallygood job of telling you all
about the plantation, the familythat built the plantation, the
(12:10):
slave revolt, and the Freemancolony.
I mean, they do a really goodjob, and they have uh they call
it a living history plantation.
It's a lot of outlyingbuildings that you can tour.
You learn all about theconstruction of the plantation
and who built it and everything,and who was involved in
building it.
But it's it's a fascinatingplace to visit.
(12:31):
They also have what's calledthe Jefferson Room inside the
plantation home, which is theJefferson Room actually they
have documents that are signedby Thomas Jefferson and James
Madison.
So I mean it they've got a lotof things here and it's well
worth the visit.
Now I'm gonna tell you aboutone more plantation you ought to
visit.
This one is not in the riverparishes, but it's like a parish
(12:55):
up the river.
It's it's still right on theMississippi, but it's in
Ascension Parish, and that isHouma House, H-O-U-M-A.
And Houma House is acombination of museum, a
plantation home, gardenrestaurants, venues, you name
(13:16):
it.
It's got all kinds of stuff.
I think he told me, I met theowner while I was there and uh a
fellow that lived in NewOrleans and he bought it,
restored it, and startedbuilding things on it.
Um I think he told me that hehad twenty five or twenty six
acres there now.
At one time it was huge.
(13:37):
I mean, it was a massiveplantation, but it sits right on
the river, and you'll see a lotof the riverboats uh that are
coming down the river cruisesthat people take to New Orleans.
They stop there.
There's a dock right on theriver, right in front of it.
And they visited a lot, buthe's got a huge, massive museum
(13:57):
that you can visit that tellsthe story of Louisiana.
From the settlers to all theplantations in the area to the
Civil War, to pre and post-CivilWar, to the ascension into
becoming a state, to everything.
It's a fabulous museum.
Then you can tour theplantation home itself.
(14:20):
Then there's also, I thinkthere's three restaurants that
are inside various buildingsthat he's built and some of the
older buildings.
And it's got a fantastichistory, but he does a really
good job of telling you aboutplantation life, plus also the
museums that are there that youcan learn all about Louisiana
(14:42):
and that area of Louisiana.
And it's just a fabulous placeto visit.
It's more of a it's a museummore than anything else, but
it's massive.
And he's also got cottagesthere.
I toured a couple of them, Ididn't stay there, but he's on
one part of the property not toofar from the museum.
I think he's built somethinglike 15 or 16 um cottages where
(15:05):
you can rent out and spend thenight there if you want.
And there are several otherplantations in the river
parishes, but those three Ihighly recommend visiting
because they're all threedifferent.
You will learn stories that aredifferent in all three
plantations, and you will comeaway with a very good
understanding of what plantationlife was like, not only for the
(15:28):
people that started them andbuilt the homes and the farms
and the plantations themselves,but from the enslaved people
that worked there.
And it'll give you a greaterappreciation of the history of
Louisiana, the South, and theUnited States as a whole, I
think.
But do yourself a favor, hitthose plantations up if you're
ever in Rover Parishes, whichyou really, really need to go
(15:50):
to.
And I'm gonna tell you somemore cool stuff about this area.
But before we do, I'm gonna uhwhen I do up the show notes for
this podcast and and I do thetranscript, I actually wrote a
blog post about the plantations,and I will um put a link to
that in the show notes if you'reinterested in learning more
aboutthem. https://thetravellingfool.com/8-stunning-louisiana-plantations-to-tour-in-the-historic-river-parishes/
(16:11):
But there's other things to doin River Parishes besides
visiting plantations.
And one of them, and this onewas a blast, take you a swamp
tour.
That's right.
I went on Cajun Pride SwampTours, which is in La Place,
Louisiana.
Not too far from New Orleans.
I mean, you're only a couplehours, not a couple hours, like
(16:34):
thirty minutes away from NewOrleans itself.
I think you're like 20 minutesfrom the airport.
But Cajun Pride Swamp Tours hasseveral boats.
They have a privately ownedswamp.
There's four or fiveexperienced boat captains, and
they take you out on thesepontoon boats with seats all
around.
They have protected wildlifeout there, and you get to see up
(16:57):
close and personal with wildboars and raccoons and just all
kinds of wildlife.
And of course, a lot ofalligators.
And usually the boat captainwill stop and start feeding some
of the alligators, and they getright up to the boat.
And a couple of them will giveyou the pole and let you feed
(17:19):
them.
It is a fantastic tour.
You get to see Louisiana Bayouand Louisiana Swamp up close and
personal.
I mean, get right up next toall kinds of wildlife.
Uh the captains are wellexperienced, and it's just a
fabulous way to spend a couplehours.
Take a swamp tour, contactCajun Pride Swamp Tours.
(17:41):
That's where I went.
They're fantastic.
You might need to book them aday or two in advance because
they stay busy.
I mean, they always fill upthose boats.
People come from New Orleansall the time to go out there and
all around the surroundingarea.
So make sure you might want tobook them a day or two in
advance.
But Cades of Pride Swamp Tourswill, it is a blast to just get
(18:04):
out there and experience aLouisiana swamp.
Trust me, you gotta do it.
Now, one of the reasons I havebeen wanting to desperately go
to this part of the country.
Had nothing to do withplantations or swamps or
anything else.
I mean, those are cool.
I wanted to do them, I wantedto see them.
I always loved doing stuff likethat.
But if you know me, you know Ilove cigars.
(18:24):
Big cigar smoker.
Smoke way too many cigars,according to my wife and doctor
both, which I still smoke them.
Anyway, I've always just likedthe taste of tobacco.
I've smoked cigarettes manyyears ago.
I chewed tobacco many, manyyears ago.
I dipped snuff, I tried a pipe.
(18:45):
You name it, I've done it.
And I've always heard aboutthis tobacco that is grown in
Louisiana.
Now, if you know much abouttobacco, you know that the
United States doesn't grow muchtobacco anymore.
It used to be a time they did alot, they don't anymore.
But there is a portion ofLouisiana that grows a very
(19:09):
specific type of tobacco calledPerique.
Now, depending on who you talkto, they will say the only true
Perique tobacco is grown in oneparish, and that is Saint James
Parish.
Now Perique is grown in otherparishes in Louisiana.
But having talked to somepeople who know about this
(19:29):
stuff, the tobacco in St.
James Parish has beenscientifically tested and all
this other stuff.
It is the closest to theoriginal strain that the Native
Americans used way back when.
And it's about the only tobaccothat is used commercially.
(19:53):
None of the other places theirtobacco isn't used commercially.
Perique tobacco istraditionally grown, the
plantations grew some becausepeople wanted to smoke tobacco.
And after the plantations,farmers grew it, and everybody
had a little patch of Periquetobacco so they could make their
own cigars and cigarettes andpipe tobacco and stuff like
(20:16):
that.
Now, when I was in the Armymany, many years ago, I was
stationed at Fort Polk,Louisiana, which is, well, I
don't know, an hour or two northof there.
And if you left the gate, wentout, there was a little gas
station out there, and they soldPicky Yoon cigarettes.
That was a brand name, PickyYoon.
And it used Parique Tobacco.
They're no longer in business.
(20:37):
And I think there was umsomebody told me that American
Spirit brand of cigarettes atone time Perique, but I don't
think they do anymore.
But the Parique Tobacco isgrown at St.
James, and I've always wantedto visit this place.
So I went and found a farm thatgrows it.
It's called 31 Farms.
(20:59):
It's owned by Derek and RickyRoussel, a Rousseau father and
son.
And they actually have anotherbusiness.
This doesn't afford them enoughmoney to make it a full-time
income.
They're trying to grow it intosomething bigger, and it's
continually grown into somethingbigger.
But farms have come and gone,and right now, as of a couple of
(21:22):
months ago, they were the onlyfarm in St.
James Parish growing Pariktobacco.
A couple of others had justfolded up.
Now there's a few people thathave a little bit that they grow
for themselves.
But they were the onlycommercial tobacco farm.
All of their tobacco is sold toa company that blends it for
(21:45):
pipe tobacco.
That's what it's used forprimarily these days.
There is one company that makesa cigar out Perique tobacco.
And it's a very interestingstory.
Another farmer, not too faraway, a couple of years ago, was
trying to break into the cigarmarket with Perique tobacco, and
(22:06):
he was unsuccessful doing that.
But he was still sellingPerique tobacco.
Now, when you sell the tobaccoleaves to a manufacturer of
cigars or pipe tobacco or otherthings, they want you normally
to take the stem out of themiddle of the tobacco leaf.
De-stem them.
Well, he was having a hard timehiring people that would sit
(22:27):
there and just de-stem tobaccoleaves at the price that he
could afford to pay them at.
And he was real frustrated, buthe found a company in the
Philippines.
The Philippines actually hassome tobacco companies that make
cigars and stuff.
And he found a company in thePhilippines that they said,
yeah, we'll do it for you.
Just ship it over here.
We'll de-stim it and then shipthe leaves back to you.
(22:48):
So he would ship all thistobacco over there, they would
de-stim it and ship it back.
And after the first or secondtime he did that, the owner
said, Well, what are you doingwith this tobacco?
He said, Well, I'll sell it toa company that makes pipe
tobacco out of it.
They said, Well, we'd we'd liketo try and make some cigars out
of it.
So we said, sure.
And they he bought it a barrelor two.
(23:09):
And I say barrel, and I'll tellyou about that in a second.
And they blend it with othertobaccos from other areas.
They use a small portion of it.
It's not all that's not all thetobacco in the cigar.
It's a blend.
And they sell it uh as a cigar.
I think it's called an 1831brand.
It's made by one company in thePhilippines.
The problem is you can't buythat in the United States.
(23:31):
Uh I was lucky enough to get myhand on three of those cigars.
Derek had a couple and he gavethem to me.
Uh they sell most of it inEurope.
If you can buy it in the UnitedStates, I have not found
anywhere.
I have searched high and lowonline.
There's no place that sells it.
You'll find very littlereference to it anywhere.
(23:52):
But they're the only ones thatmake cigar tobacco out of it, or
make cigars out of thattobacco.
But I said earlier it was in abarrel.
Now, what makes this tobaccounique is how it's processed.
Tobacco is normally cut, dried,hung, and then it sits in a
carrying barn for a while and itferments a little bit, and then
(24:13):
tobacco buyers buy it andthey'll chop it up, make
cigarettes out of it.
Or cigar manufacturers will buybatches in bundles and roll it
into cigars and things.
Pipe tobacco will they'll buyit, they'll blend various leaves
together, chop it up, and useit as a blend of pipe tobacco.
(24:34):
This tobacco, once it'sharvested from the field, is put
in bundles and they place themin used whiskey barrels that
they've washed all the charredinside out of the whiskey barrel
and they put it in there, andthey put the top of the barrel
on there and they put weights onthere and they hydraulically
(24:56):
press it down.
And it stays in that area whereit's all pressed down and
ferments in that barrel for upto twelve months.
They then take that barrel andship the entire barrel to the
pipe manufacturer thatmanufacturers the pipe tobacco.
He busts the barrel apart.
All these barrels are handmade,they're old whiskey barrels.
(25:17):
So he rips it all apart, takesthe tobacco out, puts it all
barreled back together and shipsit back to them.
Now you can only use thatbarrel once or twice because
each one of them are handmade,they and they have to seal all
the little slats and everythingin there.
You can only do that once ortwice for the barrel's no good.
So they only use a barrel acouple of times.
But it's a fascinating processthat they go through.
(25:39):
And he walked me through thefields, he showed me all the
tobacco firming, and he told meall about the history of it and
what they do with it.
If you ever get a chance, it'sjust an interesting business.
And to visit the tobacco farm,I had a blast.
I enjoyed it.
Derek and Ricy, or Derek andRicky were fantastic hosts.
(26:00):
They showed me all over theplace.
And um I hope to visit themagain here soon.
In fact, I'm going back toRiver Parishes here in February.
I've got a conference to go to.
The Southern Travelers ExplorerConference is going to be held
in River Parishes.
In February or March of thisnext year, I've already got
plans to go to it.
(26:21):
So they're going to beinundated with a whole bunch of
travel riders.
And I'll tell you about itbeforehand so you can start
following some of these people.
A lot of great content outthere about places all over the
world.
But River Parishes has morethan just tobacco and
plantations and swamp tours andalligators.
You can't go to Louisianawithout going and visiting for
the food.
(26:41):
And let me tell you about aplace that I got this Spargle
bait the night before I left.
And uh I had to get up early inthe morning, like three o'clock
in the morning, and drive fromHouston to River Parishes so I
could be there in the morning todo uh for I had scheduled to do
things.
(27:01):
And the day before I went, I'mtold, oh, by the way, you're
gonna be on the live cookingshow while you get down there.
I was like, excuse me.
What?
They said, Well, you're gonnabe on the live cooking show.
So, okay, we'll see how thisgoes.
There is a fellow down there,and his name is Maitland
Fachauex.
He goes by the name of Spuddy.
(27:22):
S P-U-D-D-Y.
A nickname he's had since hewas a kid.
And Spuddy runs Spuddy's CajunCooking Experience.
And he's got a couple of littleincome streams going on.
One of them is he will teach agroup of people, anywhere from
(27:42):
three or four people up totwenty people, how to cook Cajun
food.
Shows you how to do it, you'reactually doing it with him, and
then everybody sits down and hasa big dinner afterwards.
And he books these experiences.
It's Spuddy's Cajun CookingExperience.
Well, Spuddy also has a livetelevision show once a week.
(28:03):
And me and Spuddy made us someuh fish soup, I guess it was.
And he I sat there and helped alittle bit, stirred some stuff
and threw some stuff in the pot,but had a blast.
Spuddy's a great guy.
But he he had been doing thisfor several years.
He actually started out as acomputer programmer and project
(28:24):
manager.
Then he went into sales andthen he finally bought this old
restaurant, which he ran forseveral years because that was
his passion was Cajun food andCajun cooking.
Well, the restaurant's not openanymore, but he uses that
restaurant to host Spuddy'sCajun Cooking Experience.
And he also films histelevision shows here.
(28:46):
Go to YouTube and check outSpuddy's Cajun Cooking, and
you'll see some of the things hedoes up there and learn to cook
you some Cajun food.
Another thing you gotta dowhile you're in this area is try
some andouille.
Some people call it andouillesausage, but andouille is
sausage.
And you'll get a couple ofdifferent uh it's different than
(29:07):
any other sausage you willhave, but it's it's fabulous.
And if you look into thehistory of Andouille, some will
tell you it came from theFrench.
Others will tell you it has alot of German influence because
being the German coast.
Uh and some of the places thatthere's a lot of places that'll
make their own andouille sausageor make their own andouille.
(29:28):
I went to a couple of them.
I went to Wayne JacobsSmokehouse and Restaurant.
Wayne Jacobs has a German typehistory.
Even though Andouille mighthave been originally from
France, there's a German twistto it.
And he does all kinds of smokedbeats at Wayne Jacobs'
smokehouse and restaurant.
He showed me how he smokesthem.
(29:48):
They use these Cypress uh smokehouses made out of Cypress and
everything.
Been there for years.
Took me out there to thosethings, but he has all kinds of
smoke.
Smoked meat, chicken, and justvarious kinds of sausages, and
all just he's got a huge meatmarket in there.
But he's also got a restaurant,and the food is fabulous.
(30:10):
You get a chance, gotta gothere for lunch.
I mean, he's got lunch specialsevery day, and it is good.
And he had some pecancornbread.
My God, that stuff wasdelicious.
These people know how to cook,I'm gonna tell you.
And I met the owner of WayneJacobs, and he's a great guy,
hell of a chef, and he's got acouple of books out, and you can
(30:33):
find his books there at therestaurant.
And he's also come out withsome spices that are signature
spices that you can buy there atthe restaurant.
You gotta check this place out.
The other place that is worldfamous, because and they they
say we're we are Jacobs, worldfamous andouille.
And so I asked the owner, Isaid, What makes it world
famous?
(30:54):
They said, because we keepwinning all the awards.
They have andouille contestsand festivals and stuff all the
time.
And Jacobs, world famous, whois not related to Wayne Jacobs
Smokehouse and Restaurant,they've been winning awards for
years.
And they've been in the sameplace for many, many, many
years.
(31:14):
And you go in there and it's asmall, I mean, it'll fit like
four people or five people inthere.
You go in there, there's acounter, and there's just all
kinds of smoked meats.
Just everything in the world.
And in the back is where theydo all the processing and
smoking.
And she took me all through outin the back there.
And um showed me all about theplace and how they smoke all
(31:38):
their andouille and other stuff.
In fact, there was a guy therethat that works there who was
smoking up some ribs.
But it's they've got a fabulousfacility in the in the I'm
telling you, the andouille isdelicious.
And they sell little packs ofit, so you don't have to buy
like six pounds of it.
Stop by there and ask them fora sample.
(32:00):
They'll give you a sample of itand to show you what it tastes
like.
But they have the little uhsticks that you can buy that
like about half the size of aslim gym or something like that,
that are packaged up five orsix to a pack, and just all
kinds of stuff.
And then they have the regularsausage, which is like a link of
sausage.
But you gotta check out theandouille.
There's an andouille trail inriver parishes.
(32:23):
And if you go to the riverparishes website, which is the
tourism website, they listseveral places where you can try
and the river parishes and getyour little andouille passport
stamped.
It's a great way to sample alot of excellent food in the
area.
But they have some other greatrestaurants too.
I went to Pier 51 SeafoodRestaurant and Oyster Bar.
(32:46):
It was fantastic.
Um had a great dinner there.
For breakfast one morning,there's a place.
I go to a lot of local places.
There was a place called theDonut Hole.
And it's on the airline in LaPlace, Louisiana.
Just a little bitty donutjoint.
Well, little did I know thatit's like famous in the area.
It's always busy.
(33:08):
There's some tables and chairsin there, but people were coming
in, getting their donuts andleaving.
I went in there just to grabsome breakfast.
They have donuts and kolachesand breakfast items, and they
sell Mardi Gras king cakesduring certain times of the
year, and they have really,really good coffee.
I went in there, got a cup ofcoffee, and got I think I got a
(33:29):
kolache or something forbreakfast.
But they open up at 4 a.m.
in the morning and they closeat 11 o'clock in the morning.
I mean, they're open forbreakfast and that's about it.
And they're open every dayexcept Monday.
They're closed on Mondays.
And while I went to this place,right next door, I mean right
next door, I'm looking, I said,this is straight out of the
(33:51):
1950s.
It's called Fro Stop Drive InRestaurant.
The place was closed.
I was there about eight, eighto'clock in the morning, and it
was closed.
But what caught my attention isthis huge neon root beer mug
that's on a pole sticking way upin the air that rotates around.
(34:13):
I'm like, man, this is youdon't see this stuff anymore.
Nobody built stuff like that.
This is a drive-in right out ofthe 1950s.
And I'm sitting there and Itook a few photos of this place
and everything in this.
I'm looking in the windows, youknow, just being a pest and
looking at the decor in there.
And this older fella drives up,gets out of the car, gives me
(34:37):
the side eye, and so I kind ofwalk back over to my car and I
see him take his keys out,unlock the door, and go in.
So, like I did.
I walked up to the takeoutwindow and tapped on the takeout
window, and he came up andopened the window.
I said, I told him who I was.
I said, Look, I'm a travelrider.
I'm here vesting the area.
You have a really coolrestaurant here.
I said, Could I come in andtake a look around?
(34:59):
He's like, Yeah, sure, come onin.
Well, he was the owner of theplace.
And I found out that this placewas opened in 1958 by a fellow
named Morris Terry.
And he leased out thisrestaurant until 1973 when his
daughter Evelyn and her husbandJimmy took it over.
And Jimmy was the fellow I wastalking to.
(35:22):
Well, nowadays, Jimmy stillcomes in there, but their
daughter Terry st joined, andnow she is the owner and
manager.
She graduated LSU back in 1993and just came back and started
running the place.
And I met her too.
She pulled up a little bitlater.
(35:42):
And they make their ownhomemade root beer there, and
they serve primarily burgers andfrench fries and it's a couple
other things, but it's just anold-fashioned diner.
It's cool as all get out.
I did not have a chance to goback there and have lunch or
dinner, but I desperately wantedto.
And when I go back in February,I am gonna go to the fro-stop
(36:02):
drive-in restaurant and have mea burger and fries.
I mean, it is right out of the1950s.
And they're open, um, I lookedup after I left there.
It says they're open Tuesdaysthrough Saturdays from 11 a.m.
to 6 p.m.
And I appreciate uh Jimmyletting me in and stoop around
and look at the place.
And they were justaccommodating us all get out and
(36:24):
friendly as as you could be,and just told me all about the
place and let me take photos andall kinds of good stuff.
But there is just a ton ofthings to do in this area.
And if you ever get a chance, Iknow you want to go to New
Orleans and see all the coolstuff there, and and there is.
This is like twenty milesoutside of New Orleans.
And you can go up there andspend a couple of days.
(36:46):
You can even there's hotelsthere all over the area.
And like I said, some of theplantations have cabins you can
rent.
But there's also if you don't,you could leave your hotel in
the morning, New Orleans, anddrive up there for 20 minutes,
spend the day and then driveback to New Orleans.
It is a fantastic area.
It's slow paced compared to NewOrleans.
(37:09):
Everybody on that was asfriendly as could be.
Tons of history.
All kinds of historic locationsand places all along the side
of the road.
They have historic markers thattell you all about these
places, historic cemeteries,historic uh old churches.
These are buildings that goback a hundred, two hundred
(37:30):
years.
They're still there.
Lots of history, fantasticfood, and like I said, the
people were all just friendlies,get out.
And it's just a beautiful,beautiful place to visit.
If you ever get a chance, yougotta go there.
So that was my trip to theriver parishes of Louisiana.
I enjoyed it.
I highly encourage you to everto go see it if you ever get a
(37:52):
chance.
I think you'll enjoy it too.
And next time, I'm gonna takeyou someplace else.
So I appreciate you listening.
If you hadn't had a chance, hitthat like or subscribe button.
Like I said, there'll be acouple of links in the show
notes about uh because Iactually wrote a blog post about
some of this stuff.
https://thetravellingfool.com/8-stunning-louisiana-plantations-to-tour-in-the-historic-river-parishes/And until next time, safe
(38:12):
travels.
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