To the Conference
Comment via blog
Prev
Next
|
Day 5: April 24, 2024 To the Conference Comment via blog |
Prev Next |
|
|
|
The Natchitoches Convention & Visitors Bureau is sporting a pair of
Jefferson Highway related signs on its front wall.
|
|
|
Right next door is "Louisiana's Oldest General Store" where Luke
Frederick, the third generation of Fredericks to operate
Kaffie-Frederick, greeted us. That still-in-use cash
register was built in my neighborhood in 1917.
The store is constantly updating its offerings to meet customer's needs
but its inventory does include some items, such as wooden wagon axles,
that are not selling as well as they once did.
|
|
|
The
Fort St. Jean Baptiste Visitor Center is a short drive
down the street. It was the last place I stopped before leaving
Natchitoches in 2019. At
that time the park next door was just in the planning stages with the
descriptive panel now mounted in the park temporarily displayed inside.
Today, a new Jefferson Highway marker was unveiled and the park opening
celebrated with a ribbon cutting.
|
|
|
Grayson's Bar-B-Q was our lunch stop. It been in
operation since 1959 and was also one of our meal stops during the 2019
conference.
|
|
|
I was right behind JHA President Roger Bell when we left Grayson's. That
let me snap a shot of him driving down a scenic bit of Jefferson Highway
as we headed to our next stop.
|
|
|
That next stop was at Hotel Lasace in Colfax. This was
a stop on our bus tour
in 2019. At that time, Robert Wolfe and his wife were working to
convert the former hotel to a bed & breakfast and I noted that they
had already jumped through several regulatory hoops but that more
remained. Those hoops eventually won, and the Wolfe's mow consider the
wonderfully restored hotel simply a second home.
In 2019, JHA member Wayne Shannon, who is not at this years' conference, sat down at that piano and entertained us with a little ragtime music. The piano belonged to Robert's great-grandmother and there is a portrait of Jenny Lind hanging above it that also hung above it in her home. Various found items have become decorations in the hotel. The lectern in the bedroom is one such example and there is more to it than what might be initially apparent. |
|
|
This year we made it inside the Dixie Pharmacy in Colfax where I treated myself to a
hand-dipped milkshake. Sitting on that cool back-bar, which came from a
neighboring hotel that burned down, is another cash
register from Dayton, Ohio. The business is a full service modern
pharmacy but there are some bits of its 116 years of history on display.
|
|
|
In 2019, we learned about the
Colfax Massacre and visited the markers at the
cemetery and courthouse. This monument has been erected since then with a
more complete and accurate description of the event.
|
|
|
The last Sociability Caravan stop was at Sparrow Lane over Bayou Marteau.
Built as part of the Jefferson Highway in 1919, the bridge looks much as
it did when new and is isolated enough to offer something of a feel for
what auto travel was like a hundred years ago.
|
|
|
It was now time to switch from caravan mode to conference mode at the
Hotel
Bentley. I've looked forward to staying at this historic hotel ever
since our lunch here in 2019. We picked up our conference materials and
relaxed briefly in our room before heading
over to the reception. I took no pictures but did eat crawfish pie, a
boudin ball, catfish, and alligator.
|
|
|
| [Prev] [Site Home] [Trip Home] [Next] |
