Blogs from Saint Francisville, Louisiana, United States, North America

Geo: 30.7608, -91.3954The American Queen's journey is shadowed by four AQ-branded tour coaches. These do hop-on, hop-off shuttle duties at the various stops. 'Docking' is where we tie up at a wharf. 'Landing' is where we pull into the bank and launch the gang plank.After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the US was keen to encourage settlers to the new (ex-French) lands west of the Mississippi. In the next few decades paddle steamers reigned supreme for the carriage of goods and passengers up and down the river. The first railway crossing of the Mississippi was in the early 1850's, and railways slowly gained ascendancy as the preferred means of transport. Today the river is deep enough to carry ocean going ships and tankers as far upstream as Baton Rouge (mile 229). The Upper Mississippi starts at ... read more

ST. FRANCISVILLE LOUISIANA - Interesting small town in West Feliciana Parish, population 12,500 including 5,000 inmates at Angola Penitentiary. St. Francisville has a population of fewer than 2,000 but is the parish seat. They have three traffic signals. A lot of the homes and buildings are ante bellum and very beautiful architecturally. The hop on - hop off tour included a stop at the Grace Episcopal Church built in 1827 and slightly damaged in the Civil War. Weather was cloudy and relatively mild but a cold front came through and rain started after I was back on board. There was a very good lecture by Lynn Roberts outlining her music career and talking about the various bands she sang with and, in response to a question from the audience, mentioned that she was born one day ... read more