Natchitoches, Lousiana
Natchitoches, LA | 2/25/22 - 3/2/22
While trip planning in Galveston, we found that things were pretty booked up around New Orleans due to Mardi Gras, and we were growing weary of killing time and were eager to check out some communities where we might potentially settle for the next phase of our lives. Mary had been scouring internet lists of great villages and small towns across the US (Booneville CA made one list of 50 Most Beautiful Small Towns in America, lol), cross-checking against demographic and climate data on Bestplaces.net (thank you Bert and your team!), and mapped out some stops between Galveston and Atlanta, where we were scheduled to visit with family. So instead of continuing on the standard southern route of I-10 along the Gulf Coast (the seafood corridor - sorry we missed that!), we turned north at Lake Charles, LA and headed inland in Louisiana to visit Natchitoches (pronounced “NAK-uh-tush”), a town with a National Historic Landmark District and several Plantations to visit.
Sticking with our “under 4-hour travel day” preference, we stayed one night near the halfway point, and found Whispering Meadow RV Park in Westlake, Louisiana, just outside of Lake Charles. As we left the Galveston/Houston area skirting around Trinity Bay on Hwy 146, we passed huge oil refineries and processing plants, a reminder of what it takes to support America’s (OUR) lifestyle of driving everywhere. Along our drive we saw 2 Massive trailers, each with 18 axles per side, apparently quad axles, meaning 4 tires at each axle, each side of the trailer, so we calculated 144 tires per trailer (guessing they can carry approx. 360,000 lbs based on commercial loads!).
At Westlake LA on I-10 you find many above ground (oil?) pipes crossing the roads, presumably heading out to the Gulf via Calcasieu Lake. It is a very industrial look - definitely not on the Most Picturesque lists! Whispering Meadow RV Park was clean and easy access, a great spot for an overnight stay. In the morning it was raining as we headed north on LA 171 toward Natchitoches. At Leesville we continued north on LA 117 through the forest and state parks. This road was terrible - both lanes full of potholes, some more than a foot deep, and tire grooves that filled with water for some hydroplane hazards- for about 45 miles. Near the end of it a warning came up on the RV dashboard: Water in Fuel! At that point we were only 6 miles from our RV park, so we continued on. Soon after, the rig was jerking as if we had a blowout, but our Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), which covers both the RV and the car, showed all tires normal. We found a spot to pull over and everything looked normal, so we pressed on and made camp at Nakatosh RV Park. We think the jerking was due to the car readjusting on the tow kit, probably from hydroplaning on the wet road, because we had a similar experience at our very first truck stop in Williams CA after the car jumped the curb as we pulled out of the parking lot.
Natchitoches is the oldest settlement from the Louisiana Purchase - the original French colony in Louisiana established in 1714- and has a beautiful Historic downtown district and developed river front along the Cane River. We learned that Natchitoches is world-famous for its Christmas Festival, as well as the filming of the movie Steel Magnolias. The District is filled with shops, art galleries, and B&Bs of various architectural styles, including Queen Anne, Italianate, Spanish Revival, Federal, Victorian, and rustic French Creole. We were taken with the architecture, the river front, and the amazing old-growth trees with their own ecosystems of ferns and mosses. We explored the nearby residential blocks for homes for sale, found one neat Victorian for under $300K and began imagining how friends and family could visit. Then we ventured only a couple more blocks away from the historic district and were shocked by the stark juxtaposition of absolute poverty for the rest of that side of town. Rundown houses on brick or even wood piers with sagging porches and ancient paint jobs, no driveways or sidewalks, let alone landscaping. People sitting on their porches or steps, standing around in the front “yard”, walking down the middle of the narrow streets - reminded us of the photos from the Great Depression. After having JUST passed the large Antebellum mansions on beautiful grounds, it was a very unsettling to see this all-black part of town without even a gradual blending zone. On the other side of the river is the bulk of the town, with houses and shopping from the 2nd half of the 1900s. We found typical sprawl strip malls and fast food joints without any thought toward landscaping or design guidelines. The grocery stores were blah and fresh produce was lacking. So although we loved the historic part of town, we could not picture having comfortable real-life living here.
There are several plantations near Natchitoches, and we visited Oakland Plantation which is part of a State Park. Unfortunately we were not there on a day of interior tours so we were only able to see the grounds. Again, the TREES! Just stunning! This particular plantation house was not as grand as we normally associate with southern plantations, but we learned that actually it is not atypical. We say many grand Antebellum mansions, mostly in the towns, in Louisiana and Mississippi, but this is the only Plantation we visited.
On the day to leave Nakatosh RV Park, we stowed every thing, including the cats, and Mike drove the rig out around the park and into the adjacent truck stop so we could hook up the car. But in this short move the dash warning came back on “Water in Fuel”. We had forgotten all about that episode! We were in a good safe place along the side of the truck stop, so Mike did some research and found the fuel filter should be replaced, and this was not a repair he could do himself (due to accessibility). He called around and no one locally could change it for us. Eventually he found a mobile RV repair guy who would come - from Texarkana Arkansas! It took him 2.5 hours to get to us and about an hour to confirm the issue and replace the filter. By then it was after 5pm, so we called the Nakatosh RV park and asked for our spot back, then called our next stop and dropped a day in that reservation. When the repair was done we turned the rig around in the truck stop and went back the 100 yards to our campsite. Gotta be flexible in the RV life!
Fun Fact: Mary (doing most of the mapping) noticed that there are different versions of the name Natchitoches throughout the south, including Nacogdoches (na-kuh-DOW-chuhs) TX, which is considered one of the most historic towns in Texas, and Natchez MS (another town we visited). A little research tells us that Natchez was named for the Natchez tribe, while the other 2 names come from the Caddo Tribe, and in the Caddo language “Na” means “place”. Various myths about the name origin agree that a Caddo chief with two sons sent one east and one west, travelling equal distances, to establish new villages.
petroleum processing in Baytown, TX near Houston
incoming cargo
a familiar sight! But this is long-grain rice
Lake Charles, LA
on I-10 at Westlake LA
Whispering Meadow RV
our first bayou, Louisiana
Nakatosh RV Park at Natchitoches LA
Natchitoches is home to Northwestern State University
the Cane River
Front Street, Natchitoches
This General Mercantile is the oldest store in Louisiana and dates from the Louisiana Purchase
inside the General Mercantile
where Steel Magnolias was filmed
front "drive" of Oakland Plantation main house
at Oakland Plantation
Oakland Plantation main house
pig houses behind the main house
pigeonnier - one of 2 pigeon coops for the squab
Overseer's Cabin, Oakland Plantation
Slave quarters, Oakland Plantation
We gave Southern food a try here...
...Fried Okra - we both said simultaneously "zucchini."
this building does not look suitable either for making nor consuming frozen Daiquiris!
had a decent meal at the Mexican restaurant right next to the truck stop our RV park was behind
a group of young construction workers came in, and made Mary do a double-take for a second, thinking it could be Andy, lol
good idea...??? But it made me think of you Mom!