Happy St. Patrick’s Day

28 degrees
Late Evening

We walked Jefferson today admiring all of the beautiful homes, toured a bit of the bayou, and we toured the oldest working hotel in the United States, The Excelsior, and we walked through a private rail car owned by Jay Gould.

The homes here are very well kept, the architecture varied. Everyone was out working in gardens, planting, trimming trees and washing windows. A typical neighbourhood Saturday.

Downtown we entered antique stores and gift shops before taking a “train” ride around a bayou, (a marshy outlet of a river). As the train started with a bang, squeal and a jolt we started to laugh. We knew we had made a mistake. For forty-five minutes we chuckled as we encircled the riverbanks looking for something of interest. Turtles, one alligator that refused to eat a piece of chicken that was dangled above him (part of the show) and a bass boat that flew by was all we saw. We could not hear the commentary, noone could, people chatted among themselves. This private enterprise needs a lot of work.

Off we went to The General Store. Everything was in here from candy to coveralls. You name it. Coffee was 5 cents. Local condiments from hot sauce to pickles lined the shelves, the ice cream line kept growing and the cash line was long. Obviously a very popular place. We stopped for a cold beer, Bloody Mary at the biker bar....fun people watch not smoky in the daytime.

Our next stop was the Excelsior House. This hotel built in the late 1850’s is full of southern charm with rich rosewood, cherry and mahogany furnishings, antiques, and lacy ironwork. The local Garden Club purchased the hotel in 1961 and volunteers spent thousands of hours restoring the hotel to its formal place. It is a real step back in time. They also purchased the Jason “Jay” Gould private rail car “The Atalanta”. He was a leading American railroad developer and speculator in the mid 1800’s. He was not liked by all and was at times referred to as a villain.

The parlour car was luxurious; four staterooms, lounge, diningroom,

kitchen, butler’s pantry and a living-room. It is ironic the train car ended up in Jefferson , because the town rejected Gould’s bid to pass his railroad through the town. After his rejection he wrote in the hotel register “The End of Jefferson - will end up being a pile of weeds”. Now the trophy car is owned and operated by the Excelsior Foundation - The Ladies Garden Club, and there are no weeds in sight.

Back through the neighbourhoods we go to our B&B where sod has been freshly laid. It looks good. We played cards and had a drink outside in the gazebo, winners to be determined, before walking to dinner at The Stillwater Inn.

The StillWater Inn is housed in an 1890’s Victorian home. It is surrounded by a white picket fence and blooming dogwood and pecan trees. In 1984 it became a restaurant. Dinner was scrumptious for all. Tony and Cathy had Shrimp Scampi sautéed with lemon garlic butter, Mike had a beautiful Colorado Lamb Rack and I had a delicious Grilled Duck Breast, perfectly cooked with cassis-blackberry sauce. We waddled home. It wasn’t long before we said good-night.

By the way, I made a mistake yesterday, won’t be my last. Cathy and Mike are moving to a place called Trophy Club, not King Trophy. Must have had Elvis on my mind or Mike will end up being the King at Trophy Club!

Enjoy photos of some of the beautiful homes in Jefferson.