The Gulf of Mexico and Beyond

We’ve always been fans of a pioneer village because you can gather so much history about a region in one place. Google is such a wonderful tool that we didn’t have in 2008 when we were here, so a quick Google gave us a list of interesting places to visit along our roads less travelled and that’s how we found ourselves in Gonzales Pioneer Village.

The village was tucked away down a narrow lane, then a gravel road but we were pleasantly surprised when we entered. It had been raining all morning, so the girl in the office hadn’t opened any of the buildings because she thought noone would arrive. We explained that the rain wouldn’t stop us, so we paid our entry and she opened all the buildings for us.

There were 17 heritage buildings in all, each one having been removed from another location within the Gonzales area and donated to the village during the 1980s and 90s. Consequently, the buildings are also from different eras. The Presbyterian church for example, was relocated from Hamon, 9 miles south of Gonzales and like much of the village, was used for a variety of things, including a community centre and a hay barn before deteriorating and needing propping up with timbers and then being donated to the village.

The Greek Revival Muenzler house was built in 1892 and relocated to the village in 1989. The furnishings are original and came with the house.

This camera from the late 1800s was a wonderful find and in fantastic condition.

The Gates house was built in 1856 by Samuel Hardin Gates who received a land grant in recognition of his actions during the Runaway Scrape at the Alamo in 1836. Much of the timber was replaced when it arrived at the village but it was renovated using original techniques so the timber joiners are mortise and tenon, the joints half-lap and the entire structure is held with pegs and square nails.

The Knowles Townsend log cabin was built circa 1850s and relocated from fifteen miles away in Nixon. Archaeologists are able to date the timbers used and found that most of the “cutting dates” fall between 1867 and 1869, the oldest timber used can be dated to 1691. It is surmised that Artemis Knowles built the house as a temporary structure while his actual house was under construction. It’s a “double pen, central chimney” style cabin that was unusual for south Texas.

The furniture is a collection of pieces from the same period. Apparently the children slept in the loft so they were safer from wild animals and Indians, which also explains why the steps are so steep and narrow.

There was a schoolhouse, a printing shop and a broom shop which belonged to the caretakers grandfather and contained all the tools and equipment he used to make brooms during the late 1800s. It was relocated from San Antonio. The corn used for brooms is specially grown for the purpose.

While I found the buildings interesting, the memorabilia inside them was often more interesting. For example the print shop contained an original linotype printing press which was an innovation in the late 1800s, enabling a 90 character line of type to be selected at once. Before this, each letter was selected by hand.

The schoolhouse had original desks, complete with ink wells which were the same desks I remember when I first went to school in Sydney.

The washer and wringer were hand operated. Washing was put in the tub and spun using a crank handle then each item was fed through the ringer to press the water out. My grandmother used one of these when I was little. If I could send a note back to my 3 year old self, it would be “don’t put your thumb in the wringer when grandmar is wringing the clothes!”

It took us about an hour to look through all the exhibits and we learned more about the local history. We said goodbye to their resident potbelly pig, Penny and headed off.

One thing we know Texas is famous for are their longhorn cattle and I’ve been hoping to get some photos the entire time we’ve been in the state. A short distance out of Gonzales, we finally saw some and were able to stop on the road.

They’re the most amazing cows. I can’t imagine how annoying it must be to have two feet of horn poking out either side of your head to get caught in things.

We were also well past the dry, desert-like terrain we’d become accustomed to seeing in southern Texas, passing miles of lush green pastures, waterways and sugar cane.

After Gonzales our road less travelled took us through Yoakum, Edna, Bay City and Freeport until we joined the coastal scenic road, with 45 miles to Galveston.

This road traverses a narrow land spit between the Gulf of Mexico and West Bay and like many of the regions we’ve travelled through, its was unexpected.

We had a brief stop and walk along the beach at Quintana’s Bird Sanctuary, and found they have a foolproof way of deterring people from going into the sand dunes! And I thought rattlesnakes preferred hotter, more arid regions.

We had planned to stop at Gavleston for the night but after driving the 12 miles to Galveston Island State Park and discovering they were full, we decided to take the ferry and stop on the other side.

Galveston beachside was another place that surprised us. There were many houses built on stilts, right on along the coast. Being aware that this region has suffered a number of hurricanes, we marveled at how unconcerned these people were, stilts or not, building so close to the water. We discovered the most recent hurricane to hit Galveston was in September, 2008, when we were in America last. Luckily, we were in the New York State region. It hit as a category 2 with a storm surge of 20 feet (6 meters), certainly enough to engulf many of these residences.

It’s obviously a popular seaside destination, with amusements on the jetty’s, numerous large hotels, restaurants and even show rides.

Before we decided on this route we confirmed that Joey was able to go on the ferry, and found that it was a free service. We arrived as the returning ferry was about half way across the East Galveston Bay so didn’t have long to wait. The ferry is “free-wheeling” so unlike ours that traverse the Murray River by cable, this one travels under its own steam to the other side. The water wasn’t calm and our ferry certainly rolled about a little. Our docking was also skew whiff, so the driver took a second go at lining us up before letting the ramps down. It was already 6pm when we docked and the road we’d chosen along the intercoastal waterway was almost 80 miles, with only a couple a minor towns along the way, so we parked by the ferry terminal for the night.

The following morning we took a walk to a small inland village, popular with fisherfolk who were already out in force and managed to capture some of the water birds.

Most of the drive was indispersed with seaside houses on stilts but as we drove we started to see the results of category 4 Hurricane Ida that hit this part of the coast in August, 2021, with winds of 150 mph. It was one of the most severe hurricanes to hit Louisiana.

We were also surprised to see how very close the road was to the water and how little there was between them

And this house? Enough said!

As the name implies, the intercoastal waterway traverses a number of waterways. The bridges that span them certainly don’t give you a run up before heading for the skies! They are very steep up and very steep down!

The terrain was also more reminiscent of the Texas we’d seen previously with oil wells and electricity infrastructure.

And then all of a sudden we were in Louisiana.

The first thing that struck us was the French on the sign and as we started learning about Louisiana history, we realised their French ties are still strong. The second was that once we left the coast it got decidedly warmer and more humid.

We travelled towards St Martinville, stopping at some of the smaller towns along the way to appreciate their 18th and 19th century homes.

We were also in awe of the magnificent trees growing along the streets and among the houses.

In Broussard we were introduced to Arcadian history and began to get a better understanding of the strong French influence even today. This region of Lafayette is considered “Cajun Country” a term that came from the French “le Cadiens” which was Americanised to Cajun. In the 1600s almost 18,000 French-speaking Cathlolic people settled in Acadie, now Nova Scotia, during its Spanish rule. When the region became English ruled, they refused allegiance to the British crown or the Anglican Church so in 1755, were ejected. They scattered among numerous locations, but a number made their way to Spanish ruled Louisiana and settled between 1765 and 1785 in regions along the Vermillion River.

In St Martinville, we also learned about the Native Attakapa Indian tribe who inhabited this area and were christianised and civilised by missionaries.

At the outskirts of the town we discovered the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic site, named after the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem Evangeline which detailed the Acadian expulsion and relocation to Louisiana. It is dedicated to the diverse people who inhabited the region, a true melting pot of cultures, including Acadian, French, Spanish, Creole, Native Indian and African peoples who each brought their own culture and heritage to the region. French was the main language and remains very strong today.

They even had two horses and two long horned cattle.

Our next stop was the Living History Museum and Folklife Park Vermillionville, so called because it lies on the banks of the Bayou Vermillion. During the early 1800s the land was a sugar cane plantation but as the settlement grew it became the town of Lafayette. The village represents the different communities that lived in the region.

We were there on a Sunday so there were people in period costume in some of the houses who explained life at the time. A band began playing at 1pm for the afternoon and the restaurant was open, serving a buffet of local delicacies.

There were numbers of information panels throughout the houses that explained numerous things about the era, including who resided in the dwelling, how it was constructed and where, and how some of the implements were used.

For example, this is a wall panel that’s been laid bare to show its construction. The walls are a mix of Spanish moss and mud, a technique used by the Indians and called bousillage by the French.

Armand Broussard House (above) was a plantation home built circa 1790 and is an authentic French Creole style of the period. It’s one of the oldest buildings in southwest Louisiana and considered a large family home of the period.

Attakapas Chapel was Catholic and a reproduction based on two different churches in the region from the 1760s and 1770s. Enslaved people were baptised catholic by law (Noir Code) and both enslaved and free coloured people sat in different areas of the church.

The forge, also a recreation from the era, represents a blacksmiths shop with a large, open indoor space and earthen floors to dampen sparks. Blacksmiths were important members of these communities and often individual plantations had their own blacksmiths who fashioned everything from wagon wheels to tools, nails, cookware and horse tack.

Boucvalt House was a village dwelling from the late 1800s. This house is French Creole with some Victorian features, for example, there is no central hallway. It also had an authentic early gramophone.

We also had fun pulling ourselves across the lake on la petit Bayou ferry (guide rope ferry). This method was used to cross reivers and bayous before bridges were built. It was actually quite hard to pull across so I can’t imagine how tough it would be with any current or across a wider river although the guide ropes are intended to prevent it from being swept downstream.

I found the Beau Bassin House particularly interesting because the interior displays are tools of the textile trade. The loom is an original 200 year old Cajan loom, used by Arcadian women to weave wool, flax and cotton and became renowned for the intricate designs they wove.

The quilt was made in situ and by hand using a small and incredibly neat running stitch by the lovely lady in period costume, sitting at the back. It took her three years and is supported on a traditional frame from the era. We had a lovely conversation about quilting, sewing, knitting and crocheting and she told us about her grandmother who taught her to quilt.

She also explained how the moss, which hangs from almost every tree in Louisiana, was collected, washed, combed and used in pillows, quilts and stuffing for furniture.

We spent a very interesting 2 hours at Vermillionville but it was time to move on. Since leaving the regions of National Parks we’ve missed the wide open spaces and hiking so we decided to spend the night at Lake Fausse Point State Park and do some of the hikes the following morning.