A Day in Natchitoches

We contacted my cousin Opal last night and talked about our plans to go out to the Sardis Cemetery today. We told her we would also like to visit with her sometime. It became apparent that she would like to go out to the cemetery, also. So today, while she went to her weekly hair appointment, we went to Wally World to purchase some artificial flowers and other items. When Opal got home from her appointment, she called and we went and picked her up. We had told her we would take her to lunch before going to Sardis, so she recommended we go to Merci Boucoup in downtown. Mary got her first taste of a Natchitoches meat pie with dirty rice there. She loved it and shared a little with me. I got fried oysters for some reason. I would have preferred the meat pie platter. From there we headed on out to Sardis which is about 30 miles away.

Opal took the opportunity during lunch and the drive out to the cemetery to talk a lot about family. Some of it was what folks are doing now, and other was about those who have gone before us. I told her later that I wished I had a tape recorder to get some of those stories.

The cemetery looked very well maintained. There were lots of flowers around the markers. The Sardis and Brown cemeteries are in the same area there and are managed by an association to which families donate money. Otherwise, their operations are highly informal. They only ask that you let them know prior to burying someone in a family plot. Family plots are typically just marked off with some blocks or bricks to indicate that a claim has been "staked" on a spot. I had not seen my parents' graves since my mother was buried there six years ago, so I was anxious to see that it had been properly maintained and that the marker had been engraved with her date of death. All was good. In fact, flowers that had been placed by Opal's sister Jewel in July still looked very good and we left them in place. We placed our flowers (actually poinsettias) on each side of the monument. We visited the graves of my Durham grandparents and a lot of aunts, uncles and close and distant cousins. I decided to take lots of pictures so I would be able to document some of the later dates when we get home. I have most all the dates up to the 1980s now, but several have passed away since then. Of course, Opal could generally fill us in on various ones of the cousins as well as ancestors.

We stopped at the Brown Cemetery next. That cemetery is about a mile away from Sardis and has much older graves in it. My grandmother Durham's parents are buried in there as well as various other Durhams of that generation. The last time I was there, the cemetery was not too well maintained, but now it is nicely cleaned up and maintained. Again, I took pictures, but some of the older stones need rubbings to read the inscriptions.

When we returned to Natchitoches we stopped at Opal's house for a short visit. I think she was quite taken with Mary. She told me I couldn't have gotten a better wife. I didn't argue! Opal really got around the cemeteries well and could remember so much. She even still drives (but not at night, she says). Not too bad for a 91 year old. We really enjoyed spending time with her and were glad we were able to do it.

After we left Opal, we had to go to Front Street and do some shopping. One of the first places we stopped was an old hardware store (oldest one in Louisiana) that still carries hardware as well as a lot of other general merchandise. We decided we would stop back there on our way back to the car. As we strolled up the street and stopped in every store along the way, we also checked the menus on the restaurants and selected the one for our evening meal. We didn't buy something in every store along the way, but we didn't miss many. Since there were no special activities today associated with the festival of lights, there were not masses of people about, so it was easy to get around. We did stop back at the mercantile store and purchase a couple items for our kitchen. We both agreed that the prices in the store were very reasonable and we probably would have paid twice as much at home.

After hauling our booty back to the hotel and catching our breath, we headed back downtown for dinner. I decided to try the fried catfish (very popular around here) and it was really very good. I have had fried catfish at other places in the area when I was younger, but tend to stay away from fried food now (except for oysters).

By the time we finished dinner, it was fully dark and the festival of lights was in full swing. Well, actually it was mostly just the lights and music tonight. On Friday and Saturday night, they have various events going on and it looks almost like a carnival is set up on the lake front. I have heard people talk about the festival for many years, but had never seen it before. I was never here at this time of year. So, it was kind of special to actually see it. This is the 81st year for the festival. The main show comprises static and animated figures set up along the shore of the lake across from Front Street as well as lights on the downtown bridge across the lake. The lake front park has a lot of carnival style food vendors set up, but most of them were not open tonight. We strolled along through the park and took pictures and videos of the lights and just enjoyed a beautiful evening.

For a little background on Natchitoches:

• It is the oldest permanent European settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. It is older than St. Augustine, FL but was not a part of the United States until after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
• It is bisected by Cane River Lake which is most often called Cane River (also the title of an Oprah book several years ago). The Red River used to flow through Natchitoches, but changed course at some point and left the old river bed behind. That was closed at both ends to form a lake. Thus Cane River Lake.
• If you are familiar with the movie "Steel Magnolias", you have seen much of the area along Front street and the river front park. The buildings along Front street have a lot of French style wrought iron work around their balconies.
• It is a beautiful old town with many magnificent old homes and lots of history.
  
• Although I was born in Natchitoches, the powers that be have not yet placed a plaque at my birthplace. The clinic that was there has been replaced by some old auto parts store.

I did not grow up in Natchitoches, but I remember a few trips we took to here when I was young (we did not come often as it was a major trip in those days) and I made several trips here after my parents moved back down from Iowa. It was really nice to be able to stop here on our road trip and spend some time.

Tomorrow we head for home. We are planning on stopping in Tuscaloosa, AL tomorrow night then somewhere around the Virginia, North Carolina border Saturday. Then we are heading up I-81 along the edge of the Blue Ridge into Maryland and on to someplace called Derwood. We are ready.