Time for another update.
I'm still doing house tours and absolutely lovin' - it! Later today, I'll be doing a Blacksmith demonstration again and talk on enslaved life on the plantation. I'm still thrilled to be here.
Yesterday was one of our employees last day. Even though she was a young lady, she was in every respect, a "lady", a true Southern Lady. Her knowledge of the time period is phenomenal, and she will be missed.
Here's a Facebook video of the skit she and her boyfriend, and her mother did at the plantation last February. Actually, I'm the one who took the video and they uploaded it from me.
Click here.
Things have turned absolutely beautiful here in central Louisiana now. Everything is so lush and green. The trees are making canopies over the roads, wild life is roaming freely now too.
A grey fox was spotted yesterday on the plantation, and every night around 7 - 8 pm we are seeing between 5 and 7 deer herds.
There is some other animal life. Here's a photo from the park office / museum. The cat is named Marley. She is a farrell cat that lives in the park. She's fed daily by the park staff, but can't be touched.
Our little campsite has spread out a little. On the back side of the camper is this patio / concrete area. We've taken it over. The heat is pretty good in the day time now, but the evenings, things cool down and we can enjoy some rest and relaxation:
We finally made a trip to Baton Rouge to the State House building. The historical significance for this location is the fact, there use to the Spanish fort there. This is the same for the Planters (Plantation owners) storm trouped in 1810 when they all came together and broke away from Spain. The battle was minimal as the Spanish soldiers, basically ran and only 1 person was actually killed. This area of Louisiana became known as the Republic of West Florida, it's own nation, until it was included as a USA territory and then in 1812, Louisiana became a state.
We also had opportunity to visit the Locust Grove Cemetery. The cemetery is maintained by the staff at Oakley, so I had the code to enter any time I wanted. The significance of this cemetery is the fact that Sara Knox Taylor Davis is buried there. Who was that woman? She was the first wife of Jefferson Davis, she died on September 15, 1832. She was also the dauthter of Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States.
As promised, here's a photo of my finished medical civil war boxes. There is no labling on them yet. I'm not doing that part. But, here's the finished boxes. I did have a lot of fun building and finishing these. There is about $220 invested into just the material for those boxes. Wood isn't cheap!
So, my wife and I opportunity to meet Robert Irvine in Baton Rouge for a Vodka bottle signing opportunity. We had the dogs with us and he told us to bring them "in".
And last, here's a photo of Homochitto, Mississippi. What's so significant about this place? Well, it's a national forest for one thing, but... it's also the location of the plantation that Ruffin Grey owned in 1795, when he received the Spanish Land Grand which started the Oakley Plantation in St. Francisville (Bayou Sara).
So, there it is. My wife and I have been busy.
Gotta run, get geared up for that blacksmith demonstration is a short while.
Happy Camping!