Rollin’ Rivards: Poches RV Campground- Breaux Bridge, LA

Poches RV Campground- Breaux Bridge, LA

The Tribute to Courage monument is a statue of Sam Houston located in Huntsville, Texas (where Sam Houston lived and died), which is 65 miles north of the city of Houston. Sam Houston is one of the founding fathers of Texas. He led the army of Texas during their War for Independence from Mexico in 1836, including the victory at San Jacinto (about 100 miles from the statue) where Texas won her independence by defeating Mexican President Santa Ana in the field. The statue by sculptor David Adickes is 67 feet tall and was built in 1994. It is clearly visible to motorists heading north on Interstate 45. It is the ninth-tallest statue in the United States.

Within 10 minutes after arriving at the campground, Karma decided it was time to go for a swim and jumped in. We were lucky enough to get a waterfront RV site again. We were backed right up to the water and Karma absolutely loves playing in the water. We tease and say he identifies as a Labrador, even though he is not a very good swimmer. The water was a little bit stagnant where he decided to go for a swim. Luckily, the water did not smell as badly as I feared, nor were the mosquitos too bad. Karma on the other hand, did not smell very good after his swim. He definitely had that wet dog odor.

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Baton Rouge is the capital city of Louisiana. Since 2020, it has been the second-largest city in Louisiana after New Orleans. Baton Rouge is the fifth most populous city proper in the Deep South region of the southeastern United States.

The Baton Rouge area owes its historical importance to its strategic site upon the Istrouma Bluff, the first natural bluff upriver from the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. This allowed development of a business quarter safe from seasonal flooding. In addition, it built a levee system stretching from the bluff southward to protect the riverfront and low-lying agricultural areas.

Baton Rouge has developed as a culturally rich center, with settlement by immigrants from numerous European and African nations brought to North America as slaves or indentured servants. It has been ruled by seven different governments: French, British, and Spanish in the colonial era; the Republic of West Florida; the United States as a territory and a state; the Confederate States of America; and the United States again since the end of the American Civil War. Throughout the governance of these various occupying national governments of Baton Rouge, the city and its metropolitan area have developed as a multicultural region practicing many religious traditions from Catholicism to Protestantism and Louisiana Hoodoo.

Louisiana is home to the mouth of the mighty Mississippi River. Now Baton Rouge can claim home to the river’s eye.

“It’s a lens to the city because it’s reflective back and to the river which this city was born from.”

We watched the many barges moving north on the Mississippi River. It is still a main highway to transport goods.

USS Kidd (DD-661), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named after Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, who died on the bridge of his flagship USS Arizona during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Admiral Kidd was the first US flag officer to die during World War II and the first American admiral ever to be killed in action. She remains a National Historic Landmark, she is now a museum ship, berthed on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, and is the only surviving US destroyer still in her World War II configuration.

Kidd (DD-661) was launched in February 1943 in Kearny, New Jersey, sponsored by Mrs. Isaac C. Kidd, widow of Rear Admiral Kidd. The destroyer was commissioned in April 1943. During her initial cruise to the Brooklyn Naval Shipyards, she sailed across New York Harbor with the Jolly Roger flying from the foremast. Subsequently, during outfitting, her crew adopted the pirate captain William Kidd as their mascot and commissioned a local artist to paint a pirate figure on the forward smokestack.

She departed for the Pacific in August 1943 in company with the battleships Alabama and South Dakota. Arriving at Pearl Harbor in September 1943, she was soon put to work escorting aircraft carriers toward Wake Island for the heavy air attacks conducted in October on Japanese installations located there, returning to Pearl Harbor on 11 October 1943.

On 11 April 1945, Kidd and her division mates, Black, Bullard, and Chauncey, with the help of Combat Air Patrol, repelled three air raids. That afternoon, a single enemy plane crashed into Kidd, killing 38 men and wounding 55. As the destroyer headed south to rejoin the task group, her fire drove off further enemy planes that were trying to finish her off. Stopping at Ulithi for temporary repairs, she got underway on 2 May for the West Coast, arriving at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 25 May.

On 1 August 1945, Kidd sailed to Pearl Harbor and then she returned to San Diego, California 24 September 1945 for inactivation. She was decommissioned on 10 December 1946 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

The Kidd is the first ship we have toured that was not in the water but sitting on dry dock keel blocks.

In the heart of Louisiana’s capital city, there is a large memorial to veterans in all branches from all wars fought by Americans. One section of the Riverfront pays tribute to Louisiana natives who died in the service for their country. The memorials black Granite walls are inscribed with over 7000 names from the Revolutionary War to the present (excluding Civil War names) the memorial's eternal flame rests in the center of the square, overlooked by seven American Flags.

The Old Louisiana State Capitol, also known as the State House, is a historic government building, and now a museum, in Baton Rouge. It housed the Louisiana State Legislature from the mid-19th century until the current capitol tower building was constructed from 1929-32.

It was built to both look like and function like a castle which has led some locals to call it the Louisiana Castle, the Castle of Baton Rouge, the Castle on the River, or the Museum of Political History; although most people just call it the old capitol building.

In 1846, the state legislature in New Orleans decided to move the seat of government to Baton Rouge. As in many states, representatives from other parts of Louisiana feared a concentration of power in the state's largest city. In 1840, New Orleans' population was about 102,000, making it the fourth-largest city in the U.S. The 1840 population of Baton Rouge, on the other hand, was only 2,269.

In September 1847, the city of Baton Rouge donated to the state of Louisiana a $20,000 parcel of land for a state capitol building. The land donated by the city for the capitol stands high atop a bluff facing the Mississippi River, a site that some believe was once marked by the red stick, or baton rouge, which French explorers claimed designated a Native American council meeting site.

New York architect James H. Dakin (then living in New Orleans) was hired to design the Baton Rouge capitol building. Rather than mimic the national Capitol Building in Washington, as so many other states had done, he conceived a Neo-Gothic medieval-style castle overlooking the Mississippi.

Mark Twain, however, as a steamboat pilot in the 1850s, loathed the sight of it, "It is pathetic... that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things... should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place."

In 1862, during the Civil War, Union Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans, and the seat of government retreated from Baton Rouge. The Union's occupying troops first used the capitol building — or "old gray castle," as it was once described — as a prison, and then to garrison African-American troops under General Culver Grover. While used as a garrison the building caught fire twice. This sequence of events transformed Louisiana's capitol into an empty, gutted shell abandoned by the Union Army.

By 1882, the statehouse was totally rebuilt by architect and engineer William A. Freret, who is credited with the installation of the spiral staircase and the stained-glass dome, which are the interior focal points. The refurbished statehouse remained in use until 1932, when it was abandoned for the new Louisiana State Capitol building.

Restored in the 1990s, the Old State Capitol is now the Museum of Political History.

A Live Oak tree proudly sits on the original Capital grounds with her arms outstretched. These trees are so regal and impressive as their branches reach out protectively to give shade to a large area.

Lisa was standing in front of the stairs to the Original Capital Building. It was horribly hot outside. It looks like she was in a hurry to get some where with air conditioning. She was already in the lobby by the time I caught up with her.

This stained glass window brings beauty to the Senate.

Another stained glass window adorns the House of Representatives.

The stained glass in the dome in the center of the State House is the largest and most impressive piece of artwork in the capitol building.

The restoration of the building was performed so meticulously that even the reproduced hinges were manufactured from the same company to hang the doors. We had a very pleasant long chat with a gentleman who has volunteered as a docent with his wife for over 20 years. We met her at the welcome station to the museum. They had extensive knowledge of the history of the building and the people from that era associated with the capitol. They seemed to truly enjoy sharing their knowledge to improve the guests visit. We definitely learned and noticed so much more than we would have done had we toured the museum without meeting him. He pointed out so many interesting things we most likely would not have even noticed. They have been doing this for free for over 20 years. I wish we had asked their connection to the capitol that triggered their interest and dedication. I assume there was some personal connection for them to remain this enthusiastic and dedicated.