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| I returned to US 90 having plenty of time to cruise slowly and take it all in. At Welsh, I saw another old filling station. I could go on about them but I'll spare you this time. |
| I'll be dern, so that's what "vacherie" means. There is a Vacherie, Louisiana, on the west side of the levee above New Orleans. Where you gonna get that information, cher? |
| I finally stopped at the First Oil Well Park off I-10 in Jennings. This a great park, go. But, the real first well was in Evangeline, up the road, a location not on the tourist trail.. |
| The Museum |
| Picnic area, covered. |
| Threading my way south through Jennings past the golf course, I was reminded of Bayou Nepique's terminus at the Mermentau River, north of US 90. I came by here a while back and it was all flooded.. The "u" is missing on the gate sign. |
| Below is the "farm house". Zoom lenses are great. |
| I arrived in Crowley about 4:30. "Superb", used as an adjective below, is insuffient in describing these queens. They give Natchez Ms. and Franklin, La .a run for their money. |
| "Modern" architecture as seen downtown. |
| The Rice Theater has been the stage for more than movies. |
| The Train Station in Crowley. Would you expect anything less? |
| The neighborhood hardware store. |
| Back to filling stations. I'll let Mike D., a resident, tell you more.>>> |
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"The blue building with red roof is an old service station. Some old fella has been cleaning up all the mess. it was disgusting. I'm not sure who is doing it, but somebody is trying to restore it. They hauled off about 20 abandoned cars and earlier this week I saw him scooping up trash on the driveway into a trailer. I think it would be cool if somebody restored the building and used it for something other than used parts like the other one in your pics. That was an old Conoco service station that had been in service up till a few years ago. <It was owned> by an old friend of mine that I played football with in high school. He went back to farming and then recently Paul opened his glass shop up in there. This building wasn't in as bad a shape as the blue one is. The old depot was fixed up real nice and I think they wanted to put the tourist thingy there, but it ended up out by the interstate". Thanks Mike. |
| I was getting a little road worn and felt the need to get er home. I had to stop and get a picture of the train heading the other way. It's vision was foreshadowing of what was to await me as I took 90 through Lafayette, the last town before home. A train was stopped, evidently something was wrong with it. It's length crossed all crossing but one. It was 5:30 and traffic was snarled. If I'd been in a car I'd been there longer. |
| .Oh, and if you saw "*", that signified a little divergence from the truth. Something you may not see in the future as it uses up valuable ink.* |
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| We have a dedication with this one. It is to David B., in Broussard, who is recovering from having his nose fixed. Evidently, David stuck it where it shouldn't have been and has reaped the rewards. There's a lesson I might take notice of. David has single handedly convinced me not to blow up this whole thing on several occasions. Gee, thanks for furtheing my addictions. Take it easy bubba. |
| Crowley, drip, drip, drip. |
| Andy on Jennings and the beginnings of the oil industry in Louisiana. |
| "The historic section of Jennings runs down Main Street. Some neat stuff there. From what I can figure, the original US 90 or OST ran down Main instead of Cutting. I'm thinking Cutting Ave. was a truck route, later to become the only US 90 thrrough here. Hard to find any old timers that will talk about it or can remember it. I think there is an ole timer get together for coffee still here in Jennings. I'll have to research that.
Yeah [the first well was] in Evangeline. I've heard many tales of that place through my youth about the oil field and the people traveling back and forth every day as most that worked there lived in Jennings. My Dad's side of the family came down in the Iowa Migration due to the oil field there. My grandpa Chesley was a painter/wall paper guy. They had to build homes for the workers so it created a whole new city really. After the oil fell off, most moved either back to Iowa or other parts of the country". West of Jennings there is a town called IOWA. Now we know. |
| Historic Marker in Evangeline, north of Jennings. |
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| Memorial to Louisiana's first oil well. |