I visited several rural towns in southern Louisiana, deep in Acadiana, also known as Cajun Country. Towns visited: Erath Abbeville Kaplan Crowley Rayne Church Point Travel Vlog 157
As a Cajun myself, I absolutely appreciate your videos. Nothing is the same as it was “back in the day “, but so much will never change. By the way, those trees are “live oaks “ and if the branches lay on the ground, they’ll become water damaged
I lived in Lafayette for almost 5 years a year ago. Moved back to my hometown of Shreveport and been back here a year. Went through 2 hurricanes back to back and that was it for me lol The people of Lafayette and surrounding areas are some of the sweetest I have ever met. Willing to help and just love to make conversation. Very much inviting, and the food is DELICIOUS!! 😋
6:48 The mighty tree is called "Live Oak". Used to be indispensable in wooden ship building industry at the time. It's incredibly strong, dense, very rot-resistant and also, thanks to all its qualities, an absolute nightmare to work with.
The Granddaddy of all live oaks is Angel Oak near Charleston, S.C. The tree is 65 feet high with a circumference of 25.5 feet, shading an area of 17,000 square feet. It is approximately 400 years old, older than the USA, obviously. I've seen it and it is magnificent.
Back in the day that whole area was actually booming & very lively! But, when OPEC was voted in, South Louisiana has never been the same. The oilfield was the bloodline for many families, hence the Oil Center in Lafayette. In fact, after OPEC, there was a slogan for Lafayette, which was We Believe In Lafayette. But it soon became a joke and became We Be Leaving Lafayette. So many families had to sell everything they owned as well as their oil businesses and move because of the oilfield shutdown. It was a really sad time & has never been the same 😢
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip not everyone was part of the oil boom! This area has Greater Ties to the farming and seafood industry. The soybean, sugar cane, rice and crawfish farming and seafood industries are the economic hubs of the country. The oil and gas industry kinda disabled the lifeline of this part of the country and it went boom because the taxes for these corporations were all leaving for Texas better tax breaks in that state for oil and gas corporations. Those corporations came here did their damage and left Louisiana to clean up their mess just remember the Deep Water Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico😢💔😢 Seacor Power etc. etc.💔
@@stephenbrand5661 I think the one that mentioned O.P.E.C. Was referring to other countries voted to become the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was meaning to say for other countries not Louisiana (for that matter not America) and that is what was referred to ruining Lafayette Louisiana in it’s financial despair. 🧐
I took a trip from New Orleans to Avery Island, the home of Tabasco. Avery Island is a nature preserve and quite lovely. You can take a tour of the Tabasco factory where they made at the time, 500,000 bottles of the sauce a day. Beautiful, interesting country.
2:55, those "supports" under the houses are called piers. Back when most of those homes were built, it was much cheaper to build on piers than to build on a concrete slab, and before the 1950s, slab homes were not that common, especially in rural areas. The piers also serve to spare you from moderate flood conditions. I live on the water in SE Louisiana, and my home is on pilings nearly 12' off the ground. Newer homes have to be built to a certain elevation for flood zones depending on location. You have to be a certain elevation above Sea Level, this is called Base Flood Elevation, or BFE. Where my home is, BFE is +12.5', so the bottom of your structure must be at least 12.5' above Sea Level. My home is +15.5', I wanted a 3' cushion. The pilings my house sits on were 45' long, and were driven into the ground about 30'.
Wait until you get to coastal areas the houses are 10ft or higher on stilts because of hurricanes and river flooding. I lost a house to hurricane Katrina's storm surge of 31ft high water, Moved to Denham Springs close to Baton Rouge and was hit by a 9ft flash flood in 2016 without warning. High water is something we constantly have to worry about in South Louisiana
We can shield from the winds but we can't escape water 🌊 I have seen homes built high on pillers , that didn't look to safe , and the surge takes the house right off those pillars. Do you still live in that area or did the storm move you and family ? I live in Sarasota , and we feel blessed that we did not get the surge , because we were far enough north of Ian coming into Ft Myers.
It's hard for me to get my head around a 31ft. surge, absolutely mind boggling. I'm not sure how people can recover or if they do with that kind of horrendous event.
I'm in Livingston Parish also. Saw Katrina go thru as well as the flood of 2016. I had never seen water rise as fast as it did in 2016. We were flooded out too.
@@robertajones6311 North Baton Rouge flooded as well. 100 year flood. Also the I-12 dam didn't help matters either in East Baton Rouge and Livingston Parish.
My mother was born in Abbeville and her mother was born in 1910, just 1 year before the church was built. The older people, and some of the young, will definitely be able to speak Cajun French. Sadly, it’s dying out.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip My mother had 3 siblings (2 are still alive). All spoke French before English, but when they started attending school, the teachers forced them to speak English and treated them poorly for speaking French. My mom recalls a teacher rapping her knuckles with a ruler if she spoke French. Codofil (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana) was created to try to support and grow the francophone communities in Louisiana.
Same here. All of my grandparents had the same experience. Scolded in school because they couldn’t speak English and did not teach their children French because of their experience. My two oldest children were in French Immersion in Lafayette Schools for a coupe of years, but they left that to participate in the GT curriculum. I learned French when I got the opportunity to go to language school in the military.
The cemeteries, houses, and churches look so awesome and unique! I love those old southern cemeteries they are so unique and have so much style and character to them that they often leave me in awe! Thanks for the awesome tour!
I (briefly) knew a guy who was from some tiny burg in southwestern Louisiana. I'll leave out some details for the sake of brevity. The guy had such a heavy Cajun accent that you couldn't understand him at times, but he spoke very fluent, concise French with no American accent (according to another Co-worker who was French Canadian). He often told us that a lot of the old folks back home spoke mostly French, and some didn't speak English at all.
I'm 100% Cajun and .. yep you are spot on.... less today but when I was a kid and a teen... many of the folks in true Cajun country... St. Martinville, Breaux Bridge, Henderson... didn't speak much English at all.. unless they had to.
@@abelincoln3261 Yep, my Grandma was a Michel from Dularge, and she spoke fluent Cajun French. She taught my Dad a little, but they were in New Orleans at the time (Dad was born in 1927) and there was no one else to speak French with. And in the early to mid 20th Century, it was discouraged to speak French in public schools, and the language was nearly lost. Children were even spanked in school for speaking French among themselves. CODOFIL has some done some work to keep Cajun French alive. My Stepdad was from Point aux Chenes and his entire family spoke Cajun French as well as English. I grew up in Houma.
“Cajun French “ is French.. just has some Native American words in it for the things they didn’t have the word for in France. No deference from what’s spoken in southern France And what they speak here. You cannot tell the difference.. even by people in southern France
@@drubabineaux8772 I want to first thank you for having the interest to respond / replay. I was born and raised in Cajun Country... I can assure you, Cajun French is not French with Native Indigenous Language (s) : words " mixed in. First of all, there were several tribes, of which they would not have spoke the same languages nor used the same dialect. Example, the heart of Cajun Country is located in and around the surrounding area with the center being St. Martinville. The Choctaw were the dominant tribe.. yet only one of several tribes.. that would have lived within the boundaries and surrounding areas.. along the bayous. And across the plains. That said, French was not the only language nor the only nationality of the settlers. the first settlers... For the sake of keeping this as sort as possible... The Cajun French spoken in Cajun Country today is just about the same as it was in the mid 1700's That said, The area was settled by French Creoles, Acadians ( From Nova Scotia )_ as well as settlers from Spain... Most either are not aware or they simply over look the area was first settled ( colonized ) by Spain... anyway.... My point summed up is... Cajun French is a slang mostly that uses both French and French Creole and the melting pot of others... combined.. There isn't really much material that covers this subject.. least not fully researched material.. Mostly it is like mush of our history.. a mixed bag of a lot of different theories many of which are incorrect ! Trust me I was born and raised there, both of my parents are from two of the first settlers to the area in the 1700s... being two of the largest land owners at one time in the entire Louisiana purchase area.. so yeah seriously.. I can assure you.. My roots are as deep as they get there.. So let me sum it up.. If you have an interest in the history of The Cajuns... make sure to look up French Creoles / Cajuns / and no creole is not a mixed race.. between Africans and Anglos... so make sure to find the correct material so you get the correct history.. My passion has always been history, genealogy, political science !
A few years back, my son was stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana. We went down there and visited him a lot! Some of the kindest people and the best food I’ve ever experienced in my life! Love the channel!
I was born and raised in Louisiana and I know all about Kaplan Abbeville and Erath and surrounding areas the building u passed in front of in Kaplan was a rice mill and and our houses sit on pillars and we put them that high bc of the hurricanes and there is alot we have lots and gained my family is from Kaplan so I'm one of them Cajun Girls and Abbeville is one of the most knowing places for the cattle festival our Cajun food is one of the best u will ever taste and come to love any other questions or answers just let me know I'll give u more about our heritage and Cajun ways
Just wanted to let you know that you are partially correct about the Cemetery in Rayne. The original one next to the church (you drove past it a couple times) is St Joseph Cemetery #1 and yes those souls are buried facing north/south. When more space was needed, St Joseph Cemetery #2 was constructed further south. That is the Cemetery you were driving in. Those souls are all facing east/west. Also, the Mervine Kahn building was a general store/department store for many years. It is now an event venue and mostly has events at night which is why it was closed. Nice video and we love our frog statues, too!
Born in, raised in, and left kaplan in 1997. My great grandmother's house was actually briefly seen in your kaplan portion of the video. Seeing a video of you driving down streets i used to ride my bike down over 30 years ago sent chills up my spine. Btw that big abandoned building in kaplan toward the end of that portion of that video was a rice mill. Even when i was a kid in the 80s, it was abandoned, and i used to invade and play in the empty structure.
the tan somewhat house across from the pink house that you videoed with the white fence and with the storage container (go mini) in the drive way starting @11:30 is my grandmother and grandfather’s house. i grew up in that house and so did my mom who is 46 and my uncle who is in his 30’s now. just goes to show how old the house is. pretty cool too see this video on my recommended videos and as i’m watching i see the house that i grew up in and made many memories in.
my grandfather owns triple a mini storage which are storage units in abbeville and the go mini storage containers. the business is on south state street, the same road that the court house is on, you just go further south.
19:10 You caught Crowley setting up for the 85th International Rice Festival, the oldest agricultural festival in the state. The downtown was revitalized back in 2007. The building with the J.T. Meleck sign is actually a restored old opera house(Grand Opera House of The South).
I lived in Kaplan for a year. Lots of violent crime and drugs but I never had to buy food. As soon as we arrived a church food bank showed up with two shopping carts full of awesome food, spices, and even coffee. They told me if I helped them unload the food truck each week I`d get a shopping cart of food.
What an eclectic bunch of towns! I loved the architecture in the opening. I agree. The downtown should be kept up and people should want to gather there. Thank you for the interesting trivia. As usual, I learned something new. Very enjoyable.
Can't believe you found a functioning (?) Radio Shack! Thats amazing. My people are located mostly in the Baton Rouge and LeBeau, in St. Landry Parish. So enjoy your vids.❤
I love filming rural North Dakota. So, naturally, I'm loving your series on rural Louisiana. You're right: these rural towns are all interesting...sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad. But tourists will never visit these towns.
That is one of the main reasons these videos are so valuable! We will probably never get to visit these areas ourselves! This is our heritage though and it's important to see it! Thanks!
Tourism is actually quite healthy here in Acadiana. What you're seeing in this video is great, but it's quite literally a teenth of these cities, and although small, just a sliver of what Acadiana as a whole has to offer. This isn't just me brimming with local hubris...you can honestly be born and raised in Acadiana and continue to learn mind blowing things your entire life. For instance, the shot of Downtown Crowley shows the Grand Opera House of the South. If you've ever heard of author Laura Ingalls of "Little House On the Prairie" fame...she was real. Her daughter Rose Wilder, was part of the 1st graduating class of Crowley High School...she graduated on the stage of the Crowley Opera House. There's a picture of her and the graduating class of 1904 in one of the downstairs bathrooms in that building. There's SO much culture here that isn't something most lifelong residents know or even talk about. There are quite literally dozens of historical accuracies such as this in, believe it or not, every place shown in this video. Come on down some time, we'd love to have you!
This is great! Loving traveling with you! The trees in Abbeville are absolutely awesome!!! And so neat that The Blob was filmed there! So cool!!! How fun!
I lived in this area. I live in Virginia now. I was a teen last time I was in Kaplan . Guys would drive up and down the street showcasing their cars and sound systems. Good times. Thanks for doing this.
Hi Lord Spoda Very nice video showing beautiful rural towns of South Louisiana. Abbeville is indeed a very charming old town. @05:25 courthouse bldg @06:51 the huge sprawling tree. Enjoyed the video and also got to know more about the rural towns which normally are less talked, heard and read about. Superb!👍
Hey Spoda, that's pronounced Abb-uh-ville 😃the supports under the houses are "Piers", the big columns holding up the front porch on the court house are "Pillars" it is a parish, but it's called the county seat 🤨The huge oak trees are "Live-Oaks", they are native to the south, they don't grow tall, they grow out, it's why they survived the hurricanes. that big abandoned building in Kaplan is probably a sugarcane mill.
I was in my teens when i also saw the blob at a movie theatre and that film scarred the living crap out of me the way that creature would just snatch it's victims. I had always thought that movie was shot in LA like most movies. It was shot in a small town in Louisiana. What an interesting part of Abbeville history. Great job with your video.
At 16:50 I am going to venture the dilapidated structure was once the Supreme Rice Mill, which actually only operated for a short time before the owner moved his operation to Crowley, La. I am just infatuated with your channel. Great stuff
First time watching your channel. Was really impressed with Abbeville, looked beautiful. The little square with old trees looked like a perfect place to sit and read your paper or take a nap. Where was everyone though? Seemed like there cars going round but no one out enjoying walking in such a lovely place
Because it's hot. I moved here from W. Texas. Texas has nothing on the hot like South Louisiana. You can forget enjoying the cooler mornings or evenings because the mosquitoes will suck ya dry. It is beautiful here tho
From TN. Used to go down for all the local Mardi Gras parades in these cajun towns. Church Point still does the old traditional MG parade and they chase the chickens, goes back to years ago when people were hungry, they’d go by a neighbors place and ask them for some sustenance…neighbor would say “y’all can chase down a chicken”. Very unique parade goes to several spots where the parade participants actually “chase chickens”. All these towns have their own parades and local festivals.
Thank you so much for the video presentation. You take us to places many of us will never have the time to see. I also like the fact that you spend time taking the churches into account. This aspect, lets us no we're the original inhabitants of the area came from. And how it relates to the present culture.
Thanks for the view of Abbeville, a friend has lived there for some years, must say its nicer than my mind imagined for a small weisiana town. I can understand why he likes it now.
The live oak branches want to touch the ground all around the tree to help anchor it in high winds. If the supports weren't there, the branches would be resting on the ground.
Sensacional vista a Louisiana da grande USA, podemos conhecer um pouco também da história e cultura através da sua cobertura, obrigado meu caro brother pelo o seu vídeo.
If you come to lake charles. On the outskirts of it is a small town called sulphur. It's a nice small town as well. Maybe 15 minutes from lake charles.
I appreciate the number of people who are kindly filling in the banks and questions this video leaves, and for showing your Louisiana support! I'm a little east of Baton Rouge now, but spend a lot of years in Cajun Country. Wonderful people, fantastic food and great festivals!!
I was baptized at Saint Mary Magdalen Church in October 1960. Born in New Iberia. Live in Lafayette. Fun to visit all these familiar places through your videos.
Looks like you missed Baton Rouge. You would’ve loved it!! You always would’ve driven through Denham Springs, and you would have LOVED the towns reclaimed downtown “antique district.”
Hey! I’m watching a lot of your videos lately, and the thing that catch my eyes is that there is nobody on foot in every single of videos I’ve watched! It’s amazing and scary at the same time!
Hey, I live in Erath(the town at the start) I’m familiar with every place in this video. You won’t really find people walking around or using bikes because of the sheer distance you need to travel to get anywhere. Also the town centers are very walkable but there are no business or anything really that would make someone want to walk there. Small businesses are what should be making these towns places you want to live but sadly their having a tough time staying open. 1:39 you can barley see “t-bobs” seafood. That’s my grandfathers crawfish shop it’s really sad it wasn’t flashy enough to receive a glance from a passerby. (It’s not open at this time of year anyway) Inside there is so much culture, family, and just plan cajun mementos. I personally feel as if the overall economy dealt business in this area the worst hand. In short, business are what make places “walkable” that is why you don’t see people out and about, even though there is some walking infrastructure.
Many Cajun families moved into Southeast Texas for refinery jobs. That huge tree was a Live Oak. They are evergreens and shed their leaves in spring as new ones come out.
Hallo Mr. Spoda it's a very nice town, with nice small houses, and a historic church and cool downtown, I dream I can see live this town, I never make holiday in USA😢 Thank you very much, and many greetings for my family My wife and daughter look these video to 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I have enjoyed all your videos, you do a great job as a tour guide and you do your homework for each place, very impressive! BTW, from what I recall, the word CAJUN is the contraction and evolved local dialect of the word CANADIAN , French Canadian to be exact, who originally settled here.
Cajun is the contraction of Acadia (now Nova Scotia) from which the Acadian colonists were expelled between 1755 and 1763. I was born and raised in Abbeville. Loved the video.
Watching now. Will comment.Life is so different from where I live. I'd move in a heartbeat. That house is beautiful. Old time living. Not crime. Peaceful way of life. 20 to 45 thousand.
@@JoeandNicsRoadTrip Where you from and who you're Daddy?
6 месяцев назад
To explain the three black swoops on the Bank of Erath building in the very first shot. The building was originally a movie theater. The two side swoops were the ticket windows and the center was the main entrance. 100 years ago, my grandfathers store was directly behind it. I wish you would have shown some of the older stop signs in Erath. They are in French - Arret.
Not much changed in a hundred years . Still $$$$$ make da man . Big house , Clapboard cottage . Top end of town , da wrong side of da tracks . The more things change the more they stay the same. Great show mate 😊
Thst huge tree is called a live oak. We have several of them on our property along the Mermentau River. Beautiful trees. Kaplan - that huge old structure is an old rice mill. One other town you have to visit is Jennings. The downtown is very nice and on the way to the landing at the river are some nice houses. God Bless...
16:00 Yes, that is the old Kaplan Rice Mill. Last operated around 2005 or so. Still a lot of rice cultivation in the area. Farmers had to move on to rice mills outside Kaplan with more modern equipment.
My grandmother is buried in that cemetery in Church Point. I'm pretty sure I've been to that chapel/church there as a kid too in the mid 90s. I have family that lives on the outskirts of Church Point as well. I spent plenty of time there in the late 80s and throughout the 90s. I'm from Lafayette, currently living in Slidell, and got to spend a few weeks on some family land in a cabin (with no running water or electricity lol) with my then girlfriend late last year. It was awesome to see how much the area and the town really haven't changed in 30 years. It still has that small town relaxed vibe. We frequented that Piggly Wiggly across from the cemetary for supplies and picked up some excellent as always fried chicken from Sonny's which has been there since I can remember. My gf at the time even cooked a gumbo out on a makeshift fire pit that was magically delicious. So yea it was awesome to see Church Point, albiet briefly, featured here in your travels and get to relive some great memories throughouy my life. Also the drive from Church Point, through Lewisberg (blink and you'll miss it), and into Sunset is a nice slice of out in the middle of nowhere Louisiana.
Most of the older people also have French names in South Louisiana. Saint Martin Parish is also a large parish with a lot of history, and tourist visits.
Good afternoon Sir, in Germany we call this:"Kunst am Bau",or in English it means architectural art,or you have as builder no idea, and says to the constructer:"Make the front of the building nice,but not too expensive."
I miss Erath im from Kaplan i work in the rice mills in Kaplan when was younger, when you were on your way out of Kaplan on the corner of hey 14 and Wilson Ave is Sunnyside hotel my house was just down the way
Hey Spoda...I think you should consider re visiting these small towns and do a more extensive walking video,really showing alot of the towns character and charm...the things that you can't really see without getting out on foot and experiencing em' on a more intimate level...
Thanks for sharing this video. I found it kinda interesting to see that tree by the courthouse that has the stands holding up the branches. I've only seen that done one other place and that would be at the Michigan State Capital which has one or two trees with a couple of these.
I absolutely love this! Love travelling and seeing cool, old places and especially the more rural parts of America. I noticed that you like old advertising and signs. I have been collecting those exact things since I was a kid, way back in the day. I have a very large collection of mostly 19th century, and early 20th century, on up to about WWII or so, advertising signs and a ton of very old calendars, which I also collect. Most of my collection is all from Montana and Montana Territory, before Montana became a state. I am sure my collection is worth a lot, but I have no idea. One of these days, I will probably part with a lot of it, though much of the collection should and probably will go to The Montana Historical Society in Helena. I would love it if you could see my collection! I am betting you would like it very much. I am happy to see that someone else loves old advertising as much as I do. All the best to you and your wife. Keep travelling, and thank you for sharing with us all!
