ON THE ROAD WITH MOYE
Jefferson and Avery islands are worth a visit for young and old alike
Road trip anyone? The sun is warm and the breeze is gentle, ragweed is in bloom and the azaleas won’t be far behind. This is the time for a quick getaway that doesn’t break your budget (which is fractured already from the holidays). You can see some of the most beautiful places in the U.S. within just an hour or two from your front door in southeast Louisiana. If interest is sufficient, I’ll be writing about some of those in the coming months.
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They are sometimes called “blue highways,” these two-lane ribbons of concrete or asphalt that wind through small towns that are now out of sight of the busy four-lane freeways we travel most of the time. Several of them lead out of Houma, Thibodaux and points south. La. 182, which I still call “old Highway 90,” is one such highway.
Ancient oaks hang over the highway as it wends its way across south Louisiana, passing by beautiful old homes, trees, azaleas and Louisiana irises. Leading from the highway, in the city of New Iberia, are two state roads that can take you to beautiful, landscaped gardens – Rip Van Winkle on Jefferson Island and the Jungle Gardens of Avery Island.
Most of the people who have lived in southeast Louisiana for several decades know of these two spots, some newcomers do not. Sometimes we speed by treasures under our noses while we go hundreds of miles in search on “sightseeing” vacations that take days to complete and hundreds of dollars for gas and lodging.
Having been to both places several times, I took the trip again, this time with a friend from Pointe-aux-Chenes, her 14 year-old-niece and a friend. The niece had, by coincidence, chosen to do a project for school about the spicy sauce used in almost anything south Louisiana folks eat – Tabasco. Avery Island is the home of Tabasco pepper sauce.
Deciding to time our visit to Jefferson Island with lunch so that we could eat at their café, we drove there first. To get there from La. 90, you take the La. 14 exit to Abbeville in New Iberia. If you are on La. 182, you will find La. 14 (marked as “Center Street” downtown) just across from the Shadows on the Teche plantation house.
After driving about five miles east toward Delcambre and Abbeville, you will find a sign on the right directing you to Jefferson Island and the gardens. There you will find a complex of buildings housing catering facilities, corporate meeting rooms and several bed and breakfast cabins, as well as the office, theater and café.
Jefferson Island is a hill, made by an underground dome of salt. A world-famous actor from New York, Joseph Jefferson built one of many of his homes there in the 1860s. Be sure to tour the house, where Mignon Wilson will tell you its fascinating history. When Jefferson died in 1905, his heirs sold the property to the Jack Bayless family. Jack Bayless Jr. and, later, Mike Richard, created the beautiful Rip Van Winkle Gardens.
A disastrous incident in 1980, which I remember from the news, almost destroyed Jefferson Island. An oilfield drilling rig was drilling a well in Lake Peigneur (over part of the salt dome) and suddenly a hole developed in the roof of the salt cavern. The result was a ferocious whirlpool of water that sucked the rig, service barges, boats and part of the island (including giant oaks) into the salt cavern. Miraculously, no one was killed, even though there were workers in the mine at the time and on the rig and barges. There is a short film shown at the main office, taken as this occurred. It is a “must see!”
In a section off to the side of the office, with great glass windows overlooking the lake (now calm and bordered by beautiful trees), is the Jefferson café. Café is a misnomer for this excellent restaurant, with an assortment that includes a hearty, authentic Cajun gumbo, very rich seafood and cream sauce dishes, and excellent sandwiches and salads. Our waitress, Rachel Bergeron, was both attentive and joyful, making the meal even more pleasant.
As tempting as it is to ramble on about Jefferson Island, Avery Island deserves equal attention. Getting to Avery Island from Jefferson Island turned out to be a bit tricky. The highway to Avery Island does not have a connection on the north side of La. 90 as you head south back toward this area. I don’t want to get you lost, so I will try to direct you.
You take La. 14 back to New Iberia when you leave Jefferson Island, pass under La. 90, and you will encounter La. 14 a mile or so further toward the city of New Iberia, where you take a right and pass under La. 90 again and head to Avery Island.
Avery Island was, of course, first occupied by American Indians. The Avery family settled there and raised sugar cane, as well as mining the salt. Edmund McIlhenny married one of the Avery daughters. In the mid-1860s, McIlhenny, who had an interest in horticulture, began experimenting with peppers, including a variety from the Tabasco area of Mexico. The complete story is fascinating but too long for this article. The Tabasco Co. is still owned by heirs of the Avery family, who also share in the mineral wealth of the island that has included oil and gas for many decades.
Tabasco peppers are grown on the island and you may see the fields as you drive in. They can only be picked when they are the perfect shade of red. The island is not, however, the source of all of the peppers (and there are others besides the tabasco). The peppers are grown in several central and South American countries, such as Honduras and Venezuela. This spreads out the risk of insect infestation and bad weather that can harm the peppers.
There is an excellent tour offered in the Tabasco factory, which uses film and exhibits, rather than actually exposing you to the fumes of the cooking peppers in the factory. You will surely start or end your tour with a visit to the country store, where all things Tabasco, including Tabasco ice cream are sold (the teens did not relish it).
The Avery Island Jungle Gardens are near the factory, but an entirely different atmosphere. The McIlhenny family has created a bird and flower paradise, presided over by an imported 800-year-old Buddha sitting in a shrine on a tiny hill.
A great platform sits in the marsh, providing a haven for snowy egrets. These beautiful birds were almost hunted into extinction to get feathers for fashionable ladies hats. Many other species also call Avery Island their refuge. The garden consists of about 200 acres. Thousands of birds sing in the treetops as you walk or drive along winding trails of hydrangeas, camellias, azaleas and other plants.
This article should be out at almost the peak of azalea season, and both of the gardens beckon you to wander among their beauty. Have a safe trip.