| The Delta Queen is celebrating her 80th | | | | colonies later to be the United States. Over |
| birthday. I hope when I am celebrating my | | | | the next decades thousands of Acadians from |
| 80th I will be as surrounded by music, loyal | | | | all these areas began moving to southwest |
| friends and fun. | | | | Louisiana. The name Acadian got shortened to |
| | | | Cajun. Their bonds were close and their |
| This traditional paddlewheel steamboat has | | | | culture survives today. |
| been cruising up and down the Mississippi and | | | | |
| its tributaries for decades, recapturing the | | | | We will be visiting several of the towns that |
| days when hundreds of steamboats plied these | | | | still maintain the traditions. |
| waters. In fact, dozens of steamboats were | | | | |
| tied up, one after the other, all along the | | | | Whether it's Cajun, zydeco, or swamp pop, |
| docks in port cities. | | | | Cajuns like to dance. A Cajun band played |
| | | | several afternoons and evenings on the boat, |
| Delta Queen is a part of history, an American | | | | plus Walter Kross and the Riverboat Five |
| treasure, making the steamboat days live | | | | played jazz and dance music to continue our |
| again for those who still have the | | | | taste from New Orleans. Unfortunately there |
| opportunity to cruise her. In fact the Delta | | | | were no dance hosts on board for dancing and |
| Queen has been named a National Historic | | | | no instruction in Cajun dances. Shows each |
| Landmark and a member of the National Trust | | | | night also contained some great ragtime, and |
| Historic Hotels of America. And she has been | | | | the lounge pianist sang hilarious old |
| inducted into the National Maritime Hall of | | | | vaudeville songs. |
| Fame as a vessel that made an outstanding | | | | |
| contribution to the maritime industry, in | | | | We were scheduled to go to Morgan City first, |
| fact the only vessel still operating that is | | | | but you need to be flexible on river cruises, |
| in the Hall of Fame. She used to cruise along | | | | and that night because of fog a couple of |
| the California coast, then in drab grey was a | | | | barges got stuck on a sand bar and we could |
| troop ship in World War II, then guided by | | | | not get past them. So we went instead to the |
| tugboats came through the Panama Canal to her | | | | port of Iberia. There were shore tours past |
| present cruises on the Mississippi River and | | | | sugar cane fields and old plantations to St. |
| its tributaries. | | | | Martinsville and to Avery Island where rock |
| | | | salt is mined and Tabasco sauce is made and |
| Our cruise was a week roundtrip from New | | | | thousands of snowy egrets come to nest. In |
| Orleans so we arrived early enough to wander | | | | St. Martinsville the Cultural Heritage Center |
| the city, walked the French Quarter, bought a | | | | has a mural depicting the 1765 arrival of the |
| nice print of a jazz pianist at the French | | | | Acadians in Louisiana, a genealogy center, |
| market, took the trolley ($5 for the day for | | | | and exhibits on free people of color in |
| unlimited rides anywhere on any route), | | | | Louisiana who before the Civil War were |
| searched for an internet center, and then | | | | active in business, owned plantations, and |
| since it was cold and windy, headed back to | | | | indeed sometimes had large numbers of slaves |
| the boat for the first of many hot chocolates | | | | of their own. You could also visit Acadian |
| always on hand along with chocolate chip | | | | Village with authentic Acadian structures |
| cookies. | | | | including the home of senator and Hadacol |
| | | | inventor Dudley LeBlanc. |
| Walking around the Delta Queen is like a walk | | | | |
| through history … Victorian | | | | The next day we cruised to Morgan City. There |
| furnishings, Tiffany-style lamps, some leaded | | | | were more sugar cane fields, and rice fields |
| glass windows, tin ceilings, mahogany trim | | | | (which are later flooded for raising |
| everywhere, and rocking chairs and a swing | | | | crayfish), and bayous and large cypress trees |
| forward on deck 2. Large prints of old | | | | that were crucial to building houses and the |
| riverboat scenes are on many walls. The | | | | railroad in the development of the area. We |
| dining room which also serves as the show | | | | visited beautiful Oaklawn Manor, built in |
| lounge has old Siamese iron bark flooring, | | | | 1837 and now the plantation home of former |
| now honey-colored and smooth after being | | | | Louisiana governor Mike Foster and featuring |
| cleaned of the grime when that level was used | | | | a large collection of John James Audubon |
| for cargo. | | | | carvings and prints. Audubon spent many years |
| | | | in this area. And we visited the |
| Since the boat has an all-wood superstructure | | | | Wedell-Williams Aviation Museum, with |
| (the hull is steel clad) there is no smoking | | | | Wedell's famous plane that broke the world |
| allowed in cabins or in the interior public | | | | speed record in 1933. |
| rooms. | | | | |
| | | | Next stop was the port at Krotz Springs, and |
| It has an old steam calliope and the ship's | | | | our tour guide on the bus played a guitar, |
| bell that sounded out landings for the | | | | sang songs, and told stories about his |
| steamboat that Mark Twain rode downriver in | | | | memories as a boy of sitting in the bayou |
| 1883. The calliope at the stern, built in | | | | with his father, building a fire, their food |
| Cincinnati in 1897, is played at departures | | | | cooking in a big black pot. Another guide |
| from the river towns, usually by the band's | | | | talked of their family land and how they grew |
| piano player, but occasionally by passengers, | | | | and shipped sweet potatoes, a big crop in |
| and one night by the captain. Typical of the | | | | this area. We visited the Academy of the |
| casual family atmosphere on board, the | | | | Sacred Heart and heard their stories from |
| captain also played the piano at the party | | | | Civil War days when soldiers were camped |
| given for repeat cruisers. | | | | outside. And we visited the Chretien Point |
| | | | Plantation built in 1831, often used as a set |
| The engine room, open to passengers, has the | | | | for films, including Gone with the Wind. |
| original old steam engine that drives the big | | | | |
| red paddlewheel. Parts are sometimes pirated | | | | At the next stop, St. Francisville, were many |
| off the engine of sister ship Delta King, now | | | | antebellum houses. One tour was of the |
| serving as a restaurant in California. | | | | Rosedown House, built in 1835, and The |
| | | | Myrtles, a West Indies style home, supposedly |
| There is even reputed to be a ghost on board | | | | haunted. The other tour was of Greenwood |
| -- the ghost of Capt. Mary B. Greene, of the | | | | Plantation, a grand old home lovingly |
| Greene family who owned the steam boat for | | | | restored by owner Richard Barnes who |
| decades after the boat was a troop ferry in | | | | personally showed us through the rooms it |
| California. She had both a Master's and a | | | | took him 16 years to restore. Many movies |
| Pilot's license. Knocking sounds sometimes | | | | were filmed here. This same tour went to the |
| are still heard in the cabin where she died | | | | Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a |
| of a heart attack and it is said she still | | | | maximum security prison where prisoners farm |
| walks the decks. | | | | their own produce on 18,000 acres, hold an |
| | | | annual "Wildest Rodeo of the South", and |
| Delta Queen has accommodations for 174 | | | | participate in many educational and work |
| passengers. Cabins are air-conditioned and | | | | programs, including an inmate band. There are |
| have a private bath with shower. Higher | | | | 5,000 prisoners here, all with a 50 year |
| category staterooms also have a tub. Some | | | | sentence or longer. The longest escape time |
| cabins open only onto an outside deck; others | | | | -- three hours. They sell t-shirts saying |
| open into the interior. | | | | "Angola -- A Gated Community". |
| | | | |
| The staterooms have been lived in by many | | | | Our departures from the river towns visited |
| famous people including Presidents Carter, | | | | are accompanied by loud calliope music. Every |
| Truman, and Hoover, Lady Bird Johnson, | | | | day a riverlorian talks about the river and |
| Princess Margaret, the Vanderbilts, Errol | | | | steamboat days. One day we could fly a kite |
| Flynn, Helen Hayes, to name a few. | | | | from the top deck. |
| | | | |
| The loyalty to the Delta Queen is one of the | | | | In between it was just relaxing on the river, |
| highest in the cruise industry. Most | | | | watching the shore go by. It was too chilly |
| passengers on our cruise had been on Delta | | | | for alligators so we did not have the |
| Queen cruises previously, some booking a | | | | opportunity to take a swamp boat trip to see |
| different itinerary every year … lower | | | | alligators or birds in the bayou. |
| Mississippi, upper Mississippi, Ohio, | | | | |
| Tennessee … with the goal of | | | | The last day was spent in Baton Rouge. We |
| experiencing them all. One man on our cruise, | | | | docked beside the Mississippi Queen and |
| from Virginia Beach, had cruised on the | | | | passengers could visit back and forth. Shore |
| paddlewheelers 81 times. The frequent | | | | tours included such things as a tour of the |
| cruisers all said that they liked the fact | | | | destroyer USS Kidd and Memorial Museum, |
| that the boat was small and it was casual. | | | | visits to historic homes and plantations, and |
| One veteran cruiser, not on our cruise, has | | | | to the old capitol building to hear stories |
| cruised with the company more than 100 times. | | | | of Louisiana governor Huey Long, assassinated |
| | | | one day on his way to his office. I chose the |
| The Master, Capt. Gabriel Chengerry, began | | | | Cajun Heritage Tour to a Fais-Do-Do dance |
| his career on board in 1968 as night watchman | | | | party on the bayou at the Cajun community of |
| and has been Master since 1976. | | | | French Settlement. We sampled Cajun |
| | | | appetizers of alligator, crayfish, boudin, |
| The Delta Queen has many theme cruises -- | | | | and jambalaya, and were taught some Cajun |
| Civil War history, antebellum plantations and | | | | dances (finally), then were given the |
| gardens, Mardi Gras, golf, quilts, fall | | | | opportunity to spend the next half hour |
| foliage. Each of them is like a step back in | | | | dancing with the dance instructors. This was |
| time. | | | | one tour that I did not want to leave. |
| | | | |
| Our cruise was on Cajun heritage. There were | | | | That night on our way back to New Orleans, |
| lectures on Cajun history and about the | | | | there were bonfires and fireworks along the |
| history of the river and the river towns we | | | | river in our honor. The century-old tradition |
| visited. Much of the US Cajun population is | | | | started so Santa Claus (Papa Noel) could find |
| in the small towns from the mouth of the | | | | Cajun children at Christmas even though they |
| Mississippi River west to nearly Texas and | | | | were back in the bayou. On Christmas Eve |
| north to about 300 miles. | | | | there will be more than 100 such fires all |
| | | | along the banks of the river. |
| Acadian (Cajun) culture has been in Louisiana | | | | |
| for almost 300 years. Acadians formerly lived | | | | We had gone through many locks and under many |
| in eastern Canada; then when the English took | | | | bridges, steamed along on the Mississippi |
| control there after war with France, they | | | | River, the Atchafalaya River, several canals, |
| made a deal to remain neutral in any future | | | | and the Intracoastal Waterway, for a total of |
| conflicts if they would be left to live in | | | | 518 miles. |
| peace. But a new governor in 1755 ordered | | | | |
| them to swear allegiance to the crown of | | | | If you go: Check for occasional special |
| England. When they refused and reaffirmed | | | | offers such as 2-for-1 pricing, 50% off |
| their desire to remain neutral, the governor | | | | second passenger, or free airfare, and past |
| confiscated their lands and forced them to | | | | passengers (called Frequent Floaters) often |
| leave. Some returned to Europe, some moved to | | | | get a discount or a cabin upgrade. |
| other parts of Canada, some to areas in the | | | | |