New boat allows more views of Bayou Lafourche
Matthew AlbrightStaff Writer
For thousands of Lafourche Parish residents, the bayou is an everyday sight. But when something becomes part of everyday life, it's easy to forget the things that make it special.
That's something rangers at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Thibodaux hope to prevent.
Ranger Allyn Rodriguez led a group of Golden Meadow High School's Class of 1963 on a four-hour tour of Bayou Lafourche Friday.
It was the third tour she's given since the park got its new aluminum, 22-seat boat last month. The National Park Service gave the boat to the park using donated money as a way to give visitors a close-up view of the bayou.
As the tour went on, Rodriguez wove between the past and present, mixing biology facts with historical anecdotes.
As the boat glided beneath the rusted underbellies of the bridges that crisscross the water, she hushed the group so they wouldn't disturb mud-nests of barn swallows.
As the tour passed an old plantation building, Rodriguez regaled the tour with tales of the cantankerous Braxton Bragg and the beloved Leonidas Polk, known as "The Fighting Bishop," neighbors across the bayou who served as officers in the Civil War. Bragg would famously blame Polk for losing the war when Polk refused to send his troops in as "cannon fodder."
The history lesson was interrupted when Rodriguez spotted a bald eagle looping high overhead, unconcerned with the oglers passing below.
The tour passed plenty of birds, from squawking mother ducks leading trains of fuzzy ducklings to egrets effortlessly keeping pace with the speeding boat.
Then Rodriguez explained how Bayou Lafourche, before a dam shriveled its size, was a key strategic asset in the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. It was a major supply route, and Jean Lafitte, the legendary pirate for whom the park is named, was able to use his fleet to block the invading British army's supplies.
"Many of his men were from right down here in the bayou," Rodriguez said. "They knew these waters like the back of their hand."
The tour guides also know the water like the backs of their hands, though there's a bit more science involved these days.
Rodriguez, a trained biologist, plucked a leafy spine of hydrilla out of the water. She showed the group the fibrous inside of the plant and explained the bizarre life cycle and history of what's now a common scourge on the bayou.
The ride stopped at Madewood Plantation near Napoleanville. After feeding the tour a leisurely lunch of gumbo, shrimp etoufee and bread pudding, plantation staff gave a grand tour of the sprawling house, a local landmark. The tour group then re-boarded the boat for an uninterrupted ride back to Thibodaux.
Kay Knight, a member of the tour group, said the trip was in the planning for a year as they waited for the boat to arrive. She said they weren't disappointed.
"We loved it," Knight said. "That's the prettiest view of the bayou I've ever seen. And I've lived here a long time."
James Hogue, another rider, said he especially appreciated the historical lessons.
"I didn't even know who E.D. White was when I started. Now I know his life's story," he said of the U.S. Supreme Court justice for whom many local landmarks are named. "There's a lot of history on this bayou I didn't know about."
Anybody can book a boat tour with the park by calling 448-1375. Tours start at 10 a.m. and end at 2:30 on Fridays and Saturdays.
The cost is $28.25 a person; that includes the boat excursion, tour of the plantation and lunch in the plantation's formal dining room.
Another tour is available of the E.D. White Plantation Home. That tour includes a shorter boat ride and plantation tour. It costs $4 and lasts from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays.
"We'd encourage everybody to come check it out," Rodriguez said. "We got this boat for just that reason, and we hope to get a lot of use out of it."
Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at matthew.albright@dailycomet.com.