Denham Springs, LA to Orange Beach, AL
I am very pleased to say that today's itinerary went precisely as planned -- right down to our arrival time for our pre-paid parking spot in New Orleans!
We drove to New Orleans for the completion of JBS's Civil War journey. He was among the first troops to travel downriver after the surrender of Vicksburg, disembarking at Carrollton, LA. Of course, my husband did some impressive research and found the approximate spot along the river for us to drive by and then we went to the area where the regiment encamped: Old Camp Park, which is now Audubon Park. We visited a tree which was standing and already over 100 years old when JBS was there. Today, the "Tree of Life" is over 350 years old!
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| Tree of Life in New Orleans |
JBS's health had been deteriorating and he was declared unfit for duty while encamped here. His regiment moved on but he remained and was discharged from service with a Certificate of Disability on October 7th,1863. In just over a year, he had traveled from his farm in Hamilton County, Illinois, all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana, seeing places no one else in his family had ever seen and experiencing events and hardships they probably never imagined. He then made his way back home to Illinois. And thus ended his Civil War journey.
Our journey, however, is not coming to and end -- we are only about halfway through!
Our next stop was Jackson Square in the French Quarter. This was a bustling area during the Civil War and, while I have no knowledge that JBS left the encampment on the outskirts of New Orleans, if he did enter the city, he would have seen St Louis Cathedral, same as us.
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| Jackson Square in New Orleans |
Possibly he even passed by Cafe Du Monde which was newly opened in the New Orleans French Market in 1862.
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| Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans |
We, of course, had to stop in to try their beignets -- eating at Cafe Du Monde being an important rite for any New Orleans tourist. They were delicious! The kids loved all the extra powdered sugar.
We walked around exploring the area a bit until lunchtime when we were happy to sit in the air conditioned New Orleans Seafood & Hamburger Co. The Alligator Poppers were a favorite of my husband.
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| Alligator Poppers at New Orleans Seafood & Hamburger Co |
Our brief visit to New Orleans had come to an end. Our road trip following the Civil War journey of my 4th Great Grandpa had come to an end.
There were many options discussed over the years of planning as to what to do from this point. We definitely did not want to just turn around and come back the way we came! With ending up at the Gulf of Mexico, and our kids having never been to the ocean, it seemed that the next stop should be a beach. So, we planned to continue our road trip in an irregular loop to get back home and to include the beach, the mountains, and a few more stops once I learned of our other ancestors in the Civil War.
We drove east along the coast, stopping at the Alabama state line for a break (state #7 of the trip) and making our way to Orange Beach for the next two nights -- the perfect spot of a bit of relaxing halfway through our 17-day road tip!
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| Our Room Overlooking Orange Beach |
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| Relaxation and Fun in the Sun & Sand at Orange Beach |