Baton Rouge Area

There is so much to see, but some sites becomes redundant. So I try to get a variety of attractions to visit in an area. With the Louisiana State Parks, there is variety. The first stop Thursday morning was to Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site, just south of Baton Rouge. This was a very informative tour, giving us insight to the history of the Mississippi River, its movement, its strength and its power. The original project was to improve the bayou by clearing and dredging of the channel in order to divert the water to go down the bayou to the Gulf, as well as an inland waterway to Texas.

After 14 years of building, it was completed in 1909. In 1961, a larger set of locks was built and began operating in Port Allen, and the Plaquemine Lock was closed.


We continued south, on to Carville, passing over the Mississippi River via ferry.


There we toured the National Hansen's Disease Museum. Again, we were treated to a very informative tour. Since 1894, the leprosarium has done research, cared for patients, and made medical history. The unknown was what made the disease so dreaded, and it was thought that it could be spread easily, which was later disproved. Although the site is now a military base, there are still 15 "patients" ranging from 79 to 101 years old who do not need any assisted living. Dormitory rooms were made into apartments for them. Although they are cured, the result of being forcibly quarantined during most of their lives, they have been allowed to remain as compensation. Just hearing some of the stories was heart wrenching. In one instance, a 19 year old girl from a wealthy family was diagnosed, and then sent to Carville, leaving a fiance. When entering, most did not use their real name. Betty never revealed her true name. When she was able to come home for a weekend, her fiance told her he no longer loved her enough to wait for her. When she returned to the leprosarium, she met someone else, they fell in love, but were not allowed to marry. They eventually "ran away" together, hiding for a time, then got married and held jobs. But he began getting worse, so they eventually returned for treatment. They lived there for approximately 20 years before an experimental drug was tried and became the miracle drug for them. They were released after being tested over a period of time, and lived out for 35 years. She wrote an autobiography entitled Miracle of Carville, and No One Must Ever Know on their experiences while they were "on the outside". The Star was a newspaper that was published from there, giving patients jobs. Click on The Star, there is a great article I found detailing the "characters of Carville"! It is truly interesting! At the bottom of the page, click on page 4 for Betty Martin's story toward the bottom. In 1999, the center moved to Summit Hospital in Baton Rouge, where Betty lived out her years. The hospital still houses some patients who need assisted living. This is a picture of the original plantation home on the property. Since the museum is on the military grounds, and I could not take pictures inside or out, this is it!
Our next stop was in Baton Rouge. However, we did digress off the path a bit when we saw a sign for Dutchtown. We thought maybe it would have some dutch related stores, but we found it was nothing unique.
When we got to Baton Rouge, we toured the Old Governor's Mansion, learning all one needs to know about the lives and personalities of the past Governor's! Huey Long had the existing mansion torn down before going to the legislature to tell them he needed a place to live. They okayed the building of this mansion and he designed and had it built. He had great aspirations of becoming the president of the United States, so he used the White House as a model. Doesn't it look familiar?

His favorite color was green. Besides this room, there was a green tiled bathroom along with the same color green for the sink, bath and commode. There was also a purple and pink bathroom! But I resisted taking pictures of them. TMI!

Anyway, the seven bedrooms each had period items owned by the governor the bedroom honored. Along with a saddle, in this pink bedroom, was memorabilia from Jimmy Davis singing career, pictures of his horse Sunshine, for whom he wrote the song, You Are My Sunshine! The picture Paul is looking at is the words and music for the song, along with a couple of pictures of the horse going into the capitol building in protest of something!

Paul was getting tired, so I made a quick peek into the Old State Capitol. It is an 1847 Gothic Revival masterpiece!

It was designed to resemble a medieval castle. There were additional towers above the existing towers, but they were destroyed in a hurricane.

It serves as a museum of political history, but I was more enthralled at the beauty of the architect (this is looking up the stair case),
and the stained glass! On the ceiling located above the previous picture, and in a conference room


The same governor who had the old mansion built also was not happy with the old state capitol building, so had this new one built. He is buried on the grounds here, where he died under suspicious circumstances. It was officially listed as an assassination but there is wide speculation based on facts that it was an accident. Bullet holes are still in the hallway of this building. We could only drive by the New State Capitol, too late for a tour.

and the New Governor's Mansion (I like the old one better!) before heading back to the RV!

Friday will be low key, as Saturday we will be heading out and probably driving about 4 or 5 hours.