Senior Spirit Trip Saturday April 21

Spirit Trip Flyer PDF

**NEW**A FRESH LOOK AT OUR WEST BATON ROUGE AND POINTE COUPEE HERITAGE, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2018, 8:30 A.M. – 5:30 P.M.**Senior Spirit members are invited to join us as we visit and learn more about historic places in West Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee Parishes that are a significant part of our heritage. Our day is sponsored by West Baton Rouge Senior Spirit and the online group, “Our Ancestors in Photos,” organized by Debbie Doiron Martin.
The tour begins at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church at 8:30 where Brusly native Billy Hebert, genealogist and historian, will introduce us to the Acadian people who settled in the Brusly area. Our group will then depart by bus traveling south on River Road where we will locate Mark, LA and the St. Delphine Plantation site. Our trip along the River Road will then take us to several older Brusly homes where we will learn about the Cazenave/Babin home, the Hebert House, Benoit Plantation and the Aillet land grant, the original location of the family home now located at the West Baton Rouge Museum. We will drive by several other homes including Antonio Plantation which are connected to many descendants who still live in the area.
Traveling into Port Allen, Gwenn Laviolette, WBR Museum Educator, will provide us with a tour of the Aillet House on the grounds of the Museum. Leaving the Museum, Brusly native Debbie Doiron Martin, genealogist and historian, will continue our tour as we head north on River Road. She will point out several lost cemeteries in WBR Parish that she is researching and is working to preserve.
Our next stop is at St. Mark Baptist Church in Chamberlain. Construction began in 1867 and was completed ten years later on this church nominated for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The congregation will serve coffee to our group.
From St. Mark we travel to Alma Plantation which is owned by David Stewart, and the only remaining sugar mill in Pointe Coupee Parish. In 1789 Julien Poydras purchased the land that became Alma Plantation.
In New Roads we will enjoy lunch at Morel’s Restaurant overlooking False River. After our break we will tour the LeJeune House, built c. 1800 and owned by Randy Harelson and Richard Gibbs.
The LeJeune House, the oldest home in New Roads, is a Creole home surrounded by native Louisiana plants. There is also a 300-year-old live oak on the property. Leaving there we will drive by several other sites as we travel home along Hwy. 190, viewing several more lost cemeteries in our area. By the time we return to Brusly we hope that everyone will have a renewed sense of our heritage and a deeper appreciation of our history.
To register for the day trip, please call Carolyn Dupuy at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 749-2189, by Monday, March 26, 2018. We must have at least 25 participants for the trip to occur. The registration fee is $45.00 and is payable by March 26, 2018. Please mail checks to Carolyn Dupuy, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, P. O. Box 248, Brusly, LA 70719 or take the check to the church office, 504 Kirkland Drive, Brusly. The registration fee includes motor coach transportation, lunch and any admission fees. An itinerary will be mailed to participants about a week before the trip. We are looking forward to this day tour and meeting other folks who have a keen interest in local history.

West Baton Rouge Senior Spirit is a program of the West Baton Rouge Parks & Recreation Dept.