A Little History

It's funny how growing up in different parts of the United States leaves Travis and me remembering vastly different parts from our U.S. history classes. Missions, the Gold Rush, the railroad, and even the Zoot Suit era seem to ring clearer in my mind, whereas Travis can manage to rattle off names and dates of the Civil War that sound vaguely familiar to me. I guess for good reason. The Civil War took place in Louisiana and that history is still present in so many ways here in Baton Rouge, including Spanish Town, and even 765.

{Spanish Town}

As you can see in the sign above, Spanish Town was developed in 1805 by Carlos de GrandPre for the Canary Islanders to continue living on Spanish owned soil when their original home in Galvez Town (20 miles southeast of Baton Rouge) was taken in the Louisiana Purchase. It is now the oldest neighborhood in Baton Rouge and still includes some architecture from the early and mid 1800's. A few blocks away are the Pentagon Barracks, built in 1823 on the site of the British fort that began in 1779. In 1810 the British turned the land over to the U.S. and it became an assembly point for American troops. The U.S. expanded the site and built the barracks, along with an arsenal depot to serve the southeastern states. The area remained a military post until 1861 when the state of Louisiana turned it over to the Confederacy, becoming Fort Williams shortly after. Once the Civil War ended the Barracks became owned by Louisiana State University and today they house the office of the Lieutenant Governor and are apartments for state legislators. 

All this is to say there is alot of history here and it's not a huge surprise what we found in our front yard:

{three ringer}

Months ago there were rumors that a neighbor had found a Civil War button in his yard - a rare one - that was worth a good bit of money. It wasn't the next day that groups of people came hunting around Spanish Town yards with metal detectors, searching for a piece of history (and money) for themselves. Travis and I happened to be out front when a two men and a boy came by our house and asked to do just that. Travis allowed them, under the condition that the first bullet they find on the property was his - anything else was fair game. It was a deal and detecting they went. The younger boy was scouting out the front yard and it seemed he wouldn't find much more than some nickles and screws, until we finally moved the metal security sign. A loud beep. The kid started digging, and less than an inch under the dirt sat a bullet. A "three ringer" from the Civil War era to be exact. He was absolutely ecstatic because this was his first "three ringer" and he needed it to add to his collection. Sadly, a deal is a deal and the poor guy had to give it up. So the bullet sits in our living room, a little piece of history that leaves us wondering what we might find if we looked under the house...

Spanish Town history
Pentagon Barracks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! The turkey has been carved, everyone is stuffed, we lost at Bocci Ball, and now the Saints are playing. A little more time to relax until the shopping madness tomorrow.

{The feast}

{enjoying the car ride!}

Yellow Orange

We're anxiously awaiting...

{yellow orange}

The oranges are starting to turn! Now, between the dogs and the chickens if we can keep them on the tree to ripen it will be a miracle.

Living Room Lived In

Finally, an interior update!!

If you've had the opportunity to visit 765 you know that our living room is one long, big space. We've been lucky enough to have some gracious family members give us furniture to help fill this oversized space. But no matter how we organized it, the space always felt more like a furniture show room than a place to plop down and enjoy company.

{living room - before moving in - this is only half}

Our latest furniture addition however, changed that. Deborah and Mark gave us their old dining room table that was the perfect length to fit right in front of the fireplace. After the table was in place we started playing musical sofas until we found a layout that worked - for now at least. The long green room has now become a dining room and a living room with plenty of space for a dinner party or the monthly Spanish Town Beautification meetings.

{dining area}

{living area}

{chicken pillow}

We also had a chance to put our Anthropologie gift cards to work on some amazing deals. I scored a large area rug for in front of the couch and tv, (yes I said tv!!) along with a funky pillow that pays tribute to our late Gumbeaux and Pot Pie. Add in a few free house plants I got from work and it's really starting to get cozy! As always it's still a work in progress, but in the past two weeks we have used the green room more than we had in the past eight months, combined. I call that a success.


p.s. See the gold lamp in the before picture? If anyone is interested in it please let me know. I despise this lamp (it came with the house) and can't manage to sell it on craigslist. Anybody, anybody?

Random Little Things

Halloween night we had a very big event at 765. Travis carved his first pumpkin! With the pumpkin carving kit my mom sent us (thanks!) he finished it off in probably less than 10 minutes and made me, the one that carves religiously every year, look like the amateur. The pumpkins have spent the past week sitting happily on our porch and lasted this long with some help from the cold snap. Until Saturday. We came back from the LSU game (did you see the score?!?) in the early evening to find this guy sitting in the corner of the front yard as if he was staring at his buddy still on the porch. It gave us a puzzled chuckle and we've left it sitting there to see if it might venture somewhere else. That's Spanish Town for you.

{watching over 765}

I've mentioned it a bit in the past few blogs so I figured I'd show off what we see nearly every day: hatching butterflies. As caterpillars they covered our passion vine on the fence and have nearly devoured it to sticks. Now cocoons are gracing nearly any surface they can find and butterflies are popping out daily. Way more exciting than the butterfly box we kept in kindergarten.

{just hatched}

Check back soon (and I really do mean soon, because we FINALLY got internet!!!) for an interior update!