Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sue herself will often take to the stage to dispense wisdom and songs in Cajun
French, all while taking pulls off a bottle of brown liquor she keeps in a pistol hol-
ster.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Northern Louisiana
Make no mistake: the rural, oil-industry towns along the Baptist Bible belt make northern
Louisiana as far removed from New Orleans as Paris, TX, is from Paris, France. There's
a lot of optimistic tourism development, but at the end of the day, most folks come here
from states like Texas and Arkansas to gamble.
Captain Henry Shreve cleared a 165-mile logjam on the Red River and founded the
river-port town of
Shreveport
, in 1839. The city boomed with oil discoveries in the early
1900s, but declined after WWII. Some revitalization came in the form of huge Vegas-
sized casinos and a riverfront entertainment complex. The
visitor center
(
888-458-4748;
www.shreveport-bossier.org
;
629 Spring St; 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat)
is
downtown. If you're a rose-lover, it would be a shame to miss the
Gardens of the Amer-
ican Rose Center
( 318-938-5402, 800-637-6534;
www.ars.org
;
8877 Jefferson Paige Rd; ad-
mission by donation, tours $10; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 1-5pm Sun)
, which contains more than
65 individual gardens designed to show how roses can be grown in a home garden - take
exit 5 off the I-20. If you're hungry, stop by
Strawn's Eat Shop
( 318-868-0634; 125 E
Kings Hwy; mains under $10; 6am-8pm Mon-Sat, to 3pm Sun)
. This basic diner serves good,
hearty Americana fare with a lot of Southern charm - think chicken-fried steak and mus-
tard greens - but it's most notable for its delicious pies.
About 50 miles northeast of Monroe on Hwy 557 near the town of Epps, the
Poverty
Point State Historic Site
( 888-926-5492, 318-926-5492;
www.crt.state.la.us
; 6859 Highway
577, Pioneer; adult/child $4/free; 9am-5pm)
has a remarkable series of earthworks and
mounds along what was once the Mississippi River. A two-story observation tower gives
a view of the site's six concentric ridges, and a 2.6-mile hiking trail meanders through
the grassy countryside. Around 1000 BC this was the hub of a civilization comprising
hundreds of communities, with trading links as far north as the Great Lakes.
