The story of a Christmas foundling
The letter to the Lafayette Advertiser published on February 16, 1901, was headlined, "A History Veiled in a Mystery - A Young Man Seeking His Unknown Mother." The letter told the story of an i...
Chachere royalty?
We're pretty sure that Louis Chachere arrived at the Poste des Opelousas at least by 1790, because on November 25 of that year he signed a legal document saying so. The document also said that he c...
Spoiled by the Virgin Mary Nearly a century ago today, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception 1918, Breaux Bridge native Jules Benjamin Jeanmard became the first native of Louisiana to be consecrated a bishop. Four days l...
1875 Basin duck hunt Ten years after the Civil War, Judge John B. Robinson, who was visiting from somewhere Up North, went on a duck hunt in the Atchafalaya Basin. He had a bit of trouble spelling the names of south Lo...
A purely American holiday 0. Henry said it:
There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the po...
Rayne boasted first radio station Today, the call letters WBKB are assigned to the CBS television affiliate in the Alpena area of northern Michigan, but for a short time in 1930 they belonged to the first radio station to broadcast...
Acadian prairies good for health, wealth
When mapmaker William Darby toured south Louisiana in 1816, he was impressed with our mild climate, rich soils, and the huge potential of the prairies of the Attakapas and Opelousas districts which...
Old places still exist on old maps Some years ago, Cliff Durand of St. Martin Parish sent me a wonderful old map showing every railroad whistle stop in Louisiana. In the days when the map was drawn, there were branch lines running t...
‘Fine horses,
racers & trotters’ Horse racing has been a favorite pastime in south Louisiana since the first time two Cajuns on horseback happened to meet on a two-rutted road.
Harry gave 'em hell in Abbeville The political stump speech was developed into a high art form in Louisiana by folks like Huey and Earl Long in north Louisiana and Dudley LeBlanc and Cat Doucet who could deliver in both French and...
