Washington: Threshold to a time warp       

    Driving aimlessly has never been more rewarding than trolling into a treasure trove like Washington, La., which is as notable as the name itself.

            Exit 25 off Interstate 49 appears no different from any other dot on Louisiana’s map. The drive, is carved through a series of dense woods, fields of grazing cattle and then more trees again, in a leap-frog pattern.

Then, a roadside welcome sign marks the threshold to a time warp. It has been more than a century since the town’s heyday faded away. Other, larger, cities have assumed the community’s erstwhile commercial duties. Time seems to be at a standstill in a community where 80 percent of its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is impossible to become disoriented within the confines of Bayou Courtableau to the north, Bayou Carron to the south and open roads to the east and west, when four left or four right turns onto perpendicular streets will always lead to some place familiar.

At the entrance to the town a fire engine-red boxcar next to a white house stands out like a steamboat in the Sahara Desert. No train tracks touch this town’s terrain. It is almost as if it serves as a reminder of the community’s financial demise, caused by that serpent on wheels.

Historic homes on mounds too mild to be considered “rolling hills” overlook the rest of town like Egyptian pyramids. Cement steps serve as aides up such steep inclines. Next to the Schulze House and across the street from the old steamboat warehouse, now a restaurant by that name, such steps lead to a bare lot as if the home that should be there were blown away to Oz. Only a lone, purple iris at the steps’ side occupies the lot.

The town’s buildings are a gumbo of architectural styles, from the Victorian library and Acadian homes, to the prominent, colonial Magnolia Ridge antebellum home and the French West Indies-style De La Morandiere Bed and Breakfast.

The one-room museum also serves as a tourist information center. The front wall is plastered with photos of all the historic sites and descriptions beneath each. On the table in front of that wall are images of the community’s five live oaks holding a spot in the Louisiana Live Oak Society’s register. In the center of the room, displayed on a table, is a grade-school student’s state-wide award-winning intricate model of a home in the community with a garden of corn stalks.

Along the left and back walls are items from the past, including a photo of Washington High School’s 1915 class of five (two women and three men) a replica of Franklin Roosevelt’s wheelchair; an antique spark plug, which was invented by A.S. (Sebe) Pierrel of Washington; and photos of two Washington-native pageant queens, the 1931 Miss Louisiana, Mildred Kingsberry Nicholson, and the1969 Miss Louisiana Universe, Pat Dupre. The museum is also the place to procure the only publication about Washington, the 1996 book “The Memoirs of David Jasper McNiccol: Looking back at Washington, La.”

“Dupre was in town for the Catfish festival,” says Sheryl Pitre from Plaissance, who works in the museum on the weekends. “Every year some of the former beauty queens come to the festival.”

When spring blows in, so do the tourists and events. A Civil War reenactment in May brings Washington’s past back to life with tents pitched, Civil War enthusiasts clad in period attire and a reenactment of a battle that was fought on the grounds of Magnolia Ridge plantation. The more modern Catfish Festival is also in the spring and benefits the town directly. Proceeds from last year’s festival funded the public library, which should be open by May. Proudly, Pitre adds that the library will even have a public computer. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the museum for new displays.

Unlike many Southern towns and cities with rich histories, most of Washington’s nineteenth century homes and businesses have remained intact, although some have undergone restoration and the wagons and dusty roads have been replaced with automobiles and narrow, black-top roads. There is only one traffic light in this community of 1,329. Approximately 50 percent of the descendants of the town’s original denizens are still in residence.

            Natchitoches and New Orleans are the only Louisiana settlements with seniority over Washington, which was founded in 1720. The town was the largest inland port between New Orleans and St. Louis, and reeled in more than $7 million in 1877.

            The first steamboat docked on the muddy waters of River Opelousas, now known as Bayou Courtableau, in the early 1800s and the last boat, Warren, paddled away in May 1900.

In Washington’s heyday, 91 steam packets traversed the river between here and New Orleans, trading cotton, moss, syrup, livestock and hides from Washington for lace, spices and other goods until 1883, when the railroad played the antithesis of the river-trading business.

            It seems everything about Washington is antique, from Magnolia Ridge plantation, situated in the back corner of town opposite the moribund garden of tombstones, to the plethora of antique shops and ubiquitous bed and breakfasts.

            Across the street from the plantation sits 88-year-old Mary Landry, keeping her daughter, Mary Stevens, company as she shovels into the earth, turning the soil before transplanting a vividly colored assortment of impatiens that are temporarily scattered about her porch.

            “We’re a town of antique people and antique shops,” Landry jokes.

            Stevens admits the younger generations venture to neighboring towns because there is not an abundance of work in Washington.

            “I like country life,” she maintains. “I hate traffic; that’s the beauty of living in the country.”

            Several residents say they prefer the serenity of living in “God’s country” and are relieved to be far from urban living’s congested roads, not to mention the fact that Washington is clean and the people are friendly. As a matter of fact, a green sign outside the museum and adjoining town hall, of which the bricks are as vibrant as maple leaves in the fall, boasts the 1992 title of “Louisiana’s cleanest city.” Still, Landry claims that what appeals most to her about Washington is its history.

            “I lived here all my life, except 30 years when my husband’s job went overseas,” says Camellia Cove’s Annie Bidstrup.

She points out the town’s common attractions and the town’s low-trafficked back streets and bike trails. She also says she thinks the new casino in Opelousas and easy access to Lafayette add to the appeal of  this time capsule of a town.

That’s good for her bed and breakfast, too. When not traveling the world—something they do extensively—the Bidstrups open their fragrantly landscaped circa 1825 home to guests.

“We bought this big house to renovate and it was too big for he and I, so we decided to rent rooms,” she says. “They like the quietness and ambiance of an old house. I serve a large breakfast with eggs benedict and crystal glasses.”

            As to other local attractions, the interior itself of the Steamboat Warehouse restaurant is worth a trip on its own. The wood and brick structure’s ceiling is crisscrossed with exposed cypress beams; the tables are covered in signatures of past customers and the open room is cluttered with antique memorabilia from floor to ceiling. An anchor dangles above the middle bar entrance and a steering wheel is mounted above the same entrance on the dining room side.

The menu offers an abundance of savory Cajun delicacies from crawfish and crab cakes for starters to a generous choice of seafood pastas, steaks, stuffed fish and an award-winning crawfish palmetto. The étouffée is loaded with savory crawfish and entrées arrive served with sweet, orange juice-and-honey-glazed carrots. 

Other popular eateries are the Antique School Mall’s Old School Café (the mall itself comprises more than 100 antique dealers) and, believe it or not, the Citgo station is known for its “killer hamburgers,” which are a juicy mouthful with a hint of Worchester sauce.

            Before stopping at the Steamboat Warehouse for dinner, venture to Magnolia Ridge for a stroll along the four miles of paved jogging paths through the plantation’s garden. Behind the plantation is a small swamp surrounded by yellow Louisiana irises and teeming with crawfish and turtles. A wooden deck extends to the center of the swamp and encircles a cypress tree.

So peaceful is it, the “plunks” of turtles returning to the water are the only sounds to hear.          

An extended version of the story published in Country Roads Magazine in February 2006