The Herbarium at the University of Louisiana Lafayette

One of the focuses of my project is to create a paper room with drawings of native Louisiana plants. Viewers will be able to enter the room and sit inside of it surrounded by the drawings. The drawings will be on layers of architectural drafting/tracing paper.  

I have an appointment to meet with Garrie Landry of the University of Louisiana Lafayette Biology Department and curator of the herbarium at ULL.  I am looking forward to seeing the plant specimens.  The ULL herbarium specializes in specimens from the Acadian Region of Louisiana.

ULL is part of the Louisiana Native Plant Initiative.

Above: Andre Daugereaux, left, operations manager for University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism, and Troy Primeaux, site manager for the Louisiana Native Plant Initiative

Harvesting Summer Crops and Getting Ready for Winter

A cotton field in North Louisiana and a sugar cane field in South Louisiana. Farmers are harvesting and preparing their fields for winter crops.  

I am looking forward to documenting the changing seasons in the fields and parks of Louisiana.

A Quick Drive from North to South Louisiana

This last drive from Monroe to Houston was too quick. I prefer to stop along the way and drive off of the main highways. While you can drive from North Louisiana to South Louisiana in about 3-4 hours on the interstate, it is much more fun to meander along the small roads and through small cities and towns like West Monroe, Monroe, Grand Coteau, Arnaudville, Welsh and Lacassine.  

Mary Lu Keele, above, owns Potpourri de Tante Marie in West Monroe, Antique Alley. Kayla's Kitchen is a great place to eat if you are in West Monroe shopping in the old downtown area. Grand Coteau has a variety of shops, cafes and eateries.  Many of them across the street from the Academy of the Sacred Heart  founded in 1821.  Arnaudville is the home of NUNU Arts and Culture Collective which has regular events each month and the upcoming Fire and Water Winter extravaganza. Music, French literature, art and food are the focus of the NUNU event calendar. Further in town there are regular music events at Little Big Cup cafe.  West of Lafayette off of I-10 at Lacassine you can find Lil' Cochon's which sells homemade sausages, cracklins and alligator filets.  Welsh is the home of Cajun Tales Seafood Restaurant.

These destinations are just a sampling of the rich cultural life and unique blend of cultures and history in Louisiana.  More focus on people and towns to come in future posts.

Louisiana Portrait Project on Instagram

You can follow the Louisiana Portrait Project on Instagram at http://instagram.com/lisa.quallsartist. 

The photographs will follow my trips to and around Louisiana and return trips to Houston for the next six months.  They will also document the progress of drawings and other artwork being created for the project.

At the corner of Manassas and Elysian Fields in Monroe, LA are two small cemeteries, one Christian and one Jewish.  Both cemeteries have graves from the 1850's and earlier. 

The cemeteries are separated by a street.  I wonder if they were separated the same way in 1850.  The Christian side is crumbling, a few graves well cared for but most of them are disintegrating.  Only two graves had flowers on them.  The Jewish side is well cared for and many graves have flowers and stones.  

I noticed a small  gravestone for an infant on the Christian side.  Little Robert lived approximately one month from June to July in 1886.  Across the street is the grave of a Jewish infant who also lived approximately one month from March to April in 1885.

It is tempting to record the names of the families in these cemeteries and learn about them.  Did they stay in the Monroe area?  What businesses did they start? Where did they live? If they left Monroe where did they move to and do the descendants ever come back to visit their graves?

Two graves caught my eye because they were covered with stones and flowers. These graves of Sol and Tola Rosenberg have been visited often.  I have that Sol started Sol's Pipe and Steel in Monroe and that his family still runs the business.  

I have learned that the Congregation B'nai Israel hosts a concert/fundraiser every year to raise money for maintenance of the Jewish cemetary and that a small groups of citizens is working on funding to repair and maintain the Christian cemetery across the street.