What's in a Name? Part 3 | Lost Louisiana (2006)

hello and welcome to another edition of lost Louisiana what's in a name part three I'm your host Charlie wooden over the years LPB travels the countryside to find some of the most unusual name towns and communities in Louisiana and we ask one simple question how did that place get its name and it's surprising to see how that one basic inquiry becomes the cornerstone to some wonderful storytelling and this time around our storytelling will include the town I'm in right now bro bridge which as the story goes was the first city in Louisiana founded by a French woman plus we'll head to the towns of Moana Turkey Creek and Avery Island but we begin with a town name start Louisiana to our knowledge this is the only town in the country by that name however in the world of country music it is the home to one of the biggest names in show business Tim McGraw but this town east of Monroe is more than just a home town to a country music megastar it is also home to probably the most unique volunteer fire departments in the country at first glance you would think start Louisiana is the furthest thing from the bright lights of the big city what do we do it's star what are you doing stars not much to do I mean for fun we go sit at the lake watch it Turtles but think again start Louisiana is the home to country music superstar Tim McGraw this welcome sign looms large but it is not the only sign in town that just might make you stop just ask the town's fire chief Johnny let low I mean the fire chief about six years now building apartment about 18 years anybody making fun the name of your fire department sometimes they do have to think about it while they do but this is on the interstate and people stop they look over here and see the fire department's pictures all over the pictures on the internet with the station on it Johnny oversees the start fire department and he does not mind the irony in fact he enjoys it some of their biggest hits are the volunteer fire departments hats and t-shirts if you wear one of the caps on cough course somebody always asks you about it or our young boys always wear the shirts they were in a church and I think using the girls and thanks to the start fire department the town's fire protection has dramatically improved before we had one we had to depend on other towns to put out our fires and our own fire department we were able to actually save quite a few houses and additionally our insurance rates about half of what they used to be and we enjoy doing it the origins of start Louisiana began in the late 1800s with a man named JM Morgan also known as Grampa Morgan back then the community was known as Charleston but that name was rejected by the US Post Office because there were already too many towns with that name the story goes his daughter Rachel he was actually postmaster at the time suggested that let's call it starring because I'm making a nice start and they sent that when he in it it took no we're glad of that we like that name start Louisiana is not very big just about two thousand people or so but this area especially right here at the CW Earl cotton gin exploded to 20,000 people because of a concert of a lifetime favorite son Tim McGraw came back to his hometown with a huge bang [Applause] the concert aired on national television on Thanksgiving weekend 2002 Tim McGraw sent his hometown into a frenzy concert was just across the street Tim McGraw went to this school yes he did you were the principal of Tim McGraw for about eight to ten years come on yeah what was he like as a student he had a lot of brass I mean you know he was very self-confident and I I believe that helped him to to break in of course being the son of Tok McGraw didn't hurt him any you know he wasn't shy he would always try to date the prettiest girls I guess that's why he ended up with faith but he wasn't as successful in high school that that is he it was after he got to be rich and famous of course I remember him when he was still going school up here but you remember just him being going to school I used to pick him and his sister up every now and then if this other stole over here give them a ride home and that's the body they'd ask for a ride to the house and I'd haul him into truck Charles dropped him off here this is where Tim McGraw grew up the street sign near his house has been changed to Tim McGraw Road the sign is up about eight feet above ground because visitors kept stealing it and over at the start Mart store owner Jim Davis has all the essentials for a typical convenience store including a small music selection I notice you sells some Tim McGraw CDs intake yeah we've got a few how they sell them a little here a little there mostly the tourists you know do you see many tours let's say you know what I like Tim McGraw so much I'm going to start Louisiana it will surprise you how many people stop and run over would rage where the house is long before the rise of Tim McGraw's career this town was also the start for Aileen and Fred Robertson they met in start when they were 16 and got married at 18 and 59 years ago Fred asked aleene's father her hand I said to mr. Adams Elena and I want to get married and he said well when do you want to do it and I said Friday night and so we did Fred travelled to South as a Baptist minister and the couple returned here a few years back to retire from time to time Robertson or his grandfather was the preacher of the start Baptist Church and last year the church celebrated its 100th anniversary it just means home to me perhaps because I grew up here and well it really means a start for me to get away from over in Mississippi where I was and get here where this girl is and if this is home for her it's home for me how about that oh it's not the prettiest place in the world but it's home and it's the only place to everyone to be lived here sixty-one years now and I've had a chance to live other places but I don't really care to I'm not going anywhere born here and I guess I'll die here so in conclusion about start it really doesn't matter who you are from a fire chief with a sense of humor or an old flame still burning bright or even a red-hot shark busting music star for over 100 years the town of Start has had its share of great beginnings as well as some pretty big finishing back in 1999 tim mcgraw hopped over garth brooks as the most popular country male singer in the nation and every year tim performs a nearby Rayville for all his Richland parish fans Tim also generously contributes to education efforts as well in Richland parish that support scholarships as well as various sports programs behind me is a legend as well - the town folk of Bro bridge her name is school a sneak-peek who bro she is the force behind the founding of this city located about 10 miles east of Lafayette and just like start Louisiana there are some other well-known names that call bro bridge home there's so much fascinating information about this place you could write a book and we found one man who did just that did you know that the first business to sell coca-cola in burgers was a bank and not a store and the first report of red ants was in 1940 and before that time there were no red ants but that must have been a blessing meet Kenneth Dell come of bro Bridge this 60-year old furniture restorer former graphic artist and current innkeeper is passionate about the history of his hometown he's written numerous books that are housed in the State Library including some where some other time a celebration of lost eras in Breaux Bridge sit on the front porch of his bed-and-breakfast for a spell and he'll fill your head with all sorts of trivia and history that covers centuries and even includes present-day celebrities that call bro bridge home something of interest is that from bro bridge we have three people who are now famous we have Jake Delhomme who is the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers we have Dominic Davis and LSU player who is now I was Rookie of the Year at one time for the Houston Texans and we have our beloved Ali Landry Miss USA 1996 all from bro bridge but let's go back over 200 years to meet the people responsible for creating bro bridge in the late 18th century Acadian pioneer Furman bro built a foot bridge that crossed Bayou Teche so he could visit his son Agricole bro now you see this tree yeah and that one there these were the actual trees that held the ropes for that footbridge that frontman burro built across attached the first bridge and in 1799 Kenneth what's in a name how did bro bridge and this is the current bro bridge how did bro bridge get its name bro bridge got its name from a gentleman name of a Greek all bro who was a son of the first bro to settle in this area and and he had this bridge built and right around 1817 that bridge no longer exists but this one does built in 1852 it was once burned down by Confederate troops to slow down advancing Union soldiers thanks to the Kiwanis Club the bridge was restored and is now a community focal point to festivals parades and concerts the present-day bro bridge was built in 1950 the steel span bridge has a vertical lift in the middle it also serves as an annual centerpiece during the town's Crawfish Festival [Music] but Crawfish Festival is held every spring and is not only one of the most popular festivals in state it has also been named as a top-ten food festival by USA Today the first bicycle purchases you know we were made in Breaux Bridge on February the 6th 1897 which brings us back to Kenneth here's a bit of information that had the crawfish capital trying to make heads or tails of history he discovered that as the borough men settled along Bayou Teche in 1765 it was a woman school a sneak-peak kubrow who founded the city in the fall of 1829 when I constituted her as the founder yes it means some family members mad because they were all their life they thought it was Agricole bro but he had no intentions to have a city on his property but his wife did it reinvention spark and investing spark we have a statue that was erected in the honor of Agricole bright scholastic Picou borough your founding father is actually a woman exactly and better yet she is the first French woman to found a city in the state of Louisiana but by the academic communities and the state what constitutes the founding of a town is that is with the plan you have to have a church you have to have a stores stables hotels and schools and doctors and whatnot and it did so she has been given the credit August the 5th 1829 is when Burridge was founded over 300 women with donations of $100 erected a bronze statue dedicated to the female founder she was created very carefully this is not just thrown together her height is actual size I think she was about four foot five four foot six the clothing is period the face on her is from her own great-great granddaughter it is solid Browns and the the point they were trying to get across which the show determination that's why her foots up on a log and in her hand is the plan de la ville de pon de bro the actual drawing of the town of bro bridge and if you thought the bro bridge walking tour was complete with Scholastic you'd be mistaken underneath the live oaks Kenneth headlines two centuries of history in under a minute Kenneth we're underneath a couple of Oaks that range anywhere from 300 to 600 years and in between that there's a whole lot of interesting history within Breaux Bridge that happened right in this spot right here in Veterans Park is where underneath these Oaks in the 1817 90s Catholic Mass was held here for the masses but right for the general public and then by a travel increase and then also in 1883 vigilante hanging took place on this oak right here it was the first thing that was mentioned to be so deplorable in the state Louisiana around 1948-49 a lightning bolt hit the tree which actually held the branch of the hanging and it has split off and they had repaired it this way and this tree is registered as the st. germain over there was a Joseph II jinking as a white who had murdered his brother-in-law Rafael Castillo from bro bridge was arrested and put in the parish jail and because of the lenient law and our passive law enforcement at that time two hundred men from brobee's rode their horses to the jail unfortunately remove him and also in the cell was a black man who had murdered a young boy and like the newspaper said upon their arrival to growers they were swung in to return maybe there may have been some sort of divine intervention we don't really know but lightning hit the street in the late nineteen forties and tore off the limb that actually hung the two men so I would have to think that maybe it may have been divine you wouldn't you know it had to have been it's just weird I guess and strange so the next time you're in Breaux Bridge and looking for some local flavor make sure you hook up with Kenneth the first Christmas tree went up in 1888 and makes sure you have a few hours to spare when bro bridge celebrated its centennial back in 1959 the Louisiana Legislature officially declared this town as the crawfish capital of the world Kenneth Dell command his wife Susan have a beautiful bed-and-breakfast and it's one of many beautiful places to stay for a peaceful getaway that's filled with history antique shopping food and of course music for more information on bro bridge you can go the town's website at wwlp.com for a complete list of visitor information and attractions we are at the halfway point of our journey and we have three more towns to hit when we come back find out the red-hot story of Avery island the town that made Tabasco sauce famous and it shouldn't be a surprise than at a state that embraces hot sauce could also have a town named mo whatta we'll also discover how the village of turkey creek got its name as well you're watching Lost Louisiana what's in a name are three I'm Louisiana public broadcasting [Music] welcome back to lost Louisiana what's in a name part three our next stop takes us to Avery island for those of you who do not know it Avery Island Louisiana is printed on about 750,000 glass bottles every day it is part of the official label for McElhenney Tabasco sauce Tabasco sauce may have put Avery Island on the map but this area is also spiced with a crucial Civil War battle a breathtaking bird sanctuary and a mammoth salt mine that challenges the imagination Avery Island Louisiana pops out of the ground because of a vast underground salt dome that formed millions of years ago and solved is far from the only element giving spice to the Avery Island way of life but is avery island actually an island shane bernard is our resident expert it's it's an island in the sense that you can't leave without getting your feet wet unless you use a bridge or a boat but we're not an island in the traditional sense we're not off the coast of Louisiana we're not surrounded by a large body of water the bayou that surrounds most of the island is still called petit toss the island itself was known as petit toss island sometimes you see it referred to entirely and French's LPT toss petit toss means little Cove in Cajun French Avery island is a glorious contradiction of terms and realities over time it's a beautiful sanctuary to migrating birds yet this was also the site of a bloody civil war skirmish Avery island is a beautiful part of Louisiana country scenery however it is also the world headquarters to one of the most famous condiments made in America Avery island has been known by several names over the past hundred years or so but this area's current name originates from the Avery family who left New England for Louisiana the original family to settle here with descendants still on the island is the marsh family the marsh family came here in 1818 to to grow sugar cane on the island the Avery's married into the marshes and the McElhenney is married into the Avery if you're wondering why shane bernard knows so much family history of someone else's family it's because he works for the McElhenney x' and if you're wondering why that name might sound familiar they are the founders of the legendary Tabasco hot pepper sauce Shane as the company's historian and curator and he serves up his history in a bottle well we're on homestead Hill on Avery Island okay and behind me here is the original site of the first Tabasco sauce factory it was well it operated from 1868 until 1905 Edmund McElhenney created the Tabasco sauce known the world over he was originally a New Orleans banker but the civil war left his career in ruin like a snowy egret the Avery and McElhenney families took refuge on Avery Island that did not last long when the discovery of a vast salt mine beneath Avery Island brought the civil war once again to their door the McElhenney who had just married into the Averys we're living in New Orleans and the Avery's proper were living in Baton Rouge near the site of the on the side of the high burg hotel when Farragut came up to Mississippi and threatened New Orleans in Baton Rouge the Averys and Macanese left and and came here and thought they had gotten away from the Civil War but by finding solid rock salt here on the island at that time they actually converted the island into a strategic objective for the northern Navy which attacked the island in November of 1862 and eventually took the island six months later in April of 63 so where we are right now was at one point a civil war skirmish right the Bayou Bayou pet ethos was right back here and the Union Navy came up the bayou from Vermillion Bay with two gunboats in a transport ship and while the gunboats provided cover fire the transport ship unloaded foot soldiers in an amphibious assault but the Confederates were here waiting on this Highland in fact the Confederates were ultimately under the command of General Richard Taylor who was the son of US president Zachary Taylor after the war the Averys and McElhenney --zz returned to Avery Island to begin a new life and a new business venture the McElhenney factory on Avery Island now produces an average of 750,000 bottles of Tabasco sauce every day inside those bottles are three simple ingredients red peppers distilled vinegar and salt which brings us to another grand-scale current-day avery island commodity salt this underground salt mine is one of the largest in the world and is currently operated by the Cargill corporation this salt mine is so vast in size it is as deep as Mount Everest is tall but you won't see the salt on the dinner table this rock salt is slated for industrial use including agriculture oil production and for salting roadways but the digging does not end in the salt mines we go back above-ground to the site of the original Tabasco sauce factory for a little more digging and these are modern display cases that we've built to enclose some of the excavation pits from 2000 2001 when we dug up this site Avery Island is a priceless archeological site that not only goes back 100 years but possibly 10,000 years or more to prehistoric times of native Indians this right here is the cistern the base of the cistern that served the original Tabasco sauce factory and we think that you know all these bricks right here were made on site the UL of Lafayette microscopy Center if I say that correctly is actually doing studies using scanning electron microscopes to study the chemical makeup of these bricks and to try to find out you know where they were made where they made here in the island or somewhere else and you never know what's going to show up I mean here's here's a fragment of looks like a stoneware jar or jug or something like that it's a very rich archaeological site from Tabasco sauce to mammoth salt mines to nature's refuge Avery Island is anything but bland [Music] ei McElhenney was the company's third president and was also affectionately known as mr. net he created a bird colony on Avery island in 1892 to protect egrets and other exotic birds from plume hunters the sanctuary is known today as bird city and has enjoyed each year by thousands of tourists from around the world well what goes better with hot sauce then milada that's right there is a town called mo whatta Louisiana it seems this small community between Eunice and Crowley suffered a three-year long drought over 100 years ago after rice farmers installed 14 new water wells for the fields the area earned the name more water community and that is where we begin our story [Music] out in Acadia Parish in the middle of the rice fields and cattle farms is a little community known as mow water this town has been around for over 100 years even though you may not find it on some maps these days the most notable landmark in mow water is a rice dryer that was built way back in 1947 so what's in a name how did mow water get its name some folks might think it has some Indian or Cajun background to it but it's not likely since this is a community that was started back in the 19th century by German immigrants a former worker at the Louisiana State University Library in unis offered us clues with a book on Acadia Parish history written by the late Mary Alice Fontenot the community was actually called more water community and the newspapers of the day when they had elected officials listed it as more water communities as the story goes there were problems in getting the sign for the more water train depot in time for their big dedication party that included all sorts of dignitaries and finally just in the nick of time the sign came in everyone's breathing this great sigh of relief lift the sign up out of the shipping crate and it says Moana rather than more water it's Moana mo w a ta the founding fathers kept a sign and their party plans German immigrants were not known for partying lifestyles but over the generations the Cajun culture would blend into everyday life self-taught fiddle player Bubba fry knows that firsthand he's a member of the mo Waterhouse band he also runs the mo whatta store and Bubba Fry's restaurant the two stores sit next door to st. Lawrence Catholic Church and complete mo wadis business and cultural district because you know from the German descent you know of course I have you know Cajun brother and me too but then the Germans they will you know a very hardworking people you know and and you had fun only whenever you was finished with you you work and I mean it was always work work you have to Depot it have to be in yeah and they'd bite down and probably 1925-26 I'm laying there for Mo information on mo water look to the lifelong residents of Paul fry and Loretta Kurt a Loretta has all kinds of historic pictures and possibly our first controversy this picture of a baseball team taken in 1911 has mo beer on their uniforms not mo water but on my picture it says that mo water was named mo beer before it got the name mo water I don't think so because they all like beer and that's why they called it both be right homebrew met home plate with the older men's team while the youngsters including Paul fry played fast pitch softball these teams would get together on Sundays cut out ball diamonds in the rice fields and go up against some of the best teams across Acadiana Johnny Davis in the middle of the back row was known as one of the best area pictures of his day the local ball yard is named after him Loretta Cortese mom was known as the mother of Mo whatta hilda's on Brucker took care of her ten children but it did not end there she was an outgoing person she could take care of us and everybody else I guess that's where she got it from she only went to the eighth grade but she knew more psychology than anybody I know she could control everybody and everything sometimes she had all of her grandchildren there like sixteen of them at one time and they were all well-behaved and doing whatever they were supposed to do and if you ever leave more water somehow you'll always take a little of it with you even Mele Jace Asher moved to unis seven miles away and took her house with her special thanks goes to the Arthur lower family I raised my children here when we were at the time I had 11 children in this one house we had four rooms then the Psalter decided to add another room so I raised all who cheer in that house in those five room hey it was fun in the country was you know I couldn't live anywheres else but in the country and probably more you know my great great grandfather my great grandfather my grandfather and my daddy was never probably more than one square mile of this whole place in their whole entire life and I can see I'm doing the same thing I'm never more than one square mile of this place [Music] just God and I know about it and that's the way I like it it's a small community very peaceful and this probably won't be the last we hear of mow water and the mole water house band they have a CD out called live at bubble fries number one and they sell it at the restaurant for 10 bucks and according to Louisiana Life magazine the modest or pranks is one of the best places in the state for boudin well since we're on the subject of food let's talk Turkey up in northern Evangeline Parish is the town of Turkey Creek Louisiana and if you ever want to know what's going on there you don't have to pick up a newspaper just pull up a chair with the mayor and he'll be happy to fill you in Turkey Creek Louisiana population around 600 and some of that population gathers on a regular basis at the turkey creek city hall the ringleader is usually mayor Blaine Chen a how would you like to meet up with that in the woods early in the morning that face huh when they get faced to meet up with her in the inner square look at it they like we always have something to talk about always entertaining in fact the preacher used to come and get a sermon at least once a month he'd come in he'd get enough information where he could have enough sermons for more so for more visit so how did turkey creek get its name when the people first come here it was a bunch of turkeys along the creek eating berries so they named it turkey creek that's been years and years ago once upon a time turkey creek was the main street included storefronts and a movie theater there was even a high school in Turkey Creek and as far back as the 1920s the Gifford hill rock quarry and Crowell Lumber Company timber mill provided jobs to hundreds of people in northern Evangeline Parish the boom days of Turkey Creek have slipped away after the closing down of the sawmill and the quarry and what's left is an even quieter and smaller community which is an ideal area for hunters and it's safe to say that some in Turkey Creek are bilingual Sam Johnson talks truck sir doesn't nothing like turkey on a hunt ducks on deer and a hot turkey if we had two seasons I would hunt nothing but turkey they real smart I got a keen eye and very smart they can see you way before you see them if you barely moved they see you and they take off I use strictly a dot my mouth diaphragm collar and this is what it looks like almost looks like a retainer kind of like a retainer you put it in the back of your mouth trick is to make it make a sound I mean this in the most respectful of terms but Sam is a female impersonator he imitates the sounds of the hen and hopes to draw in the dominant male known as the gobbler and Sam has spent 25 years in the woods learning the language of Turkey love there's something about calling hearing him in the background and it's an adrenaline rush if you see a deer you've got an adrenaline rush for 30 seconds with a turkey it might last 5 minutes or it might last 2 hours before you kill him and it's one-on-one you're trying to make the gobbler come to the hand and that's against everything in nature they ain't supposed to go to the government oh really right that's one reason he stands out there and he gobbles and he struck he puts on a show the end goes team Samet make a call maybe see if you know shop gobble-gobble yeah heard in the spring time which is when island because we don't have a follow season a hen that wants to make she usually make a series of seven to eleven yep and it's gonna be two ways it can be an assembly call or it can be a mating call and if you're wondering how these Turkey Creek turkeys taste salmon curry say they are better than anything you will find in your grocers freezer he's not uh he's not a dry bird like a like a tame bird you deep fry and he's fit neat well Sam was born and raised here and I've been knowing him since 67 and he hunts all the time he works for the water department even working for them about 25 years which brings us to the newest industry that keeps Turkey Creek afloat the municipal water company Turkey Creek probably wouldn't be a town if a windy filed water system we got a water system which covers the majority of Norton Evangeline parish and we've been in the business I guess for about 25-30 years in the water business and that's that's what keeps us alive so for these folks sitting around City Hall there's a lot to like about Turkey Creek to them it's the perfect combination of wild turkey and water paceful no you know you go in the woods and ride your forwarder to hunt where she's living in the city it's got it's got everything now you can hunt see go in the woods ride your bike now if you're looking to hunt that perfect wild turkey from Turkey Creek in time for a Thanksgiving holiday you'll be sorely disappointed the turkey season in Louisiana as Sam mentioned is in the springtime only well that will do it for our third edition of lost Louisiana what's in a name from Turkey Creek and Avery Island to mow water and start Louisiana I hope you've enjoyed finding what makes Louisiana such a fertile ground to great stories and great storytellers I'm Charlie Wynnum and I hope to see you again for another edition of lost Louisiana [Music] they were given land [Music] that's how them family [Music]

Channel: Louisiana Public Broadcasting

Views: 2,027

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: mowatta louisiana, start louisiana, avery island louisiana, breaux bridge louisiana, turkey creek louisiana, lost louisiana, turkey creek, start, mowatta, avery island

Id: oChbO9LM2YY

Length: 39min 43sec (2383 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 17 2020