Chretien Point Plantation - Sunset, LA (One Tough Little Lady)

665 Chretien Point Plantation

Sunset, LA 70584

30.389406,-92.09826

www.chretienpoint.com

            If I haven't already informed you, I am quite man enough to admit that I have an intense case of arachnophobia! It's pretty pathetic how severe it is, as I will literally freak out if I get near a spider bigger than a dime. I can remember putting laundry into the washer once and as I pushed down on the clothes, a spider about as big as a fifty cents piece sprang from the clothes, onto my arm! I honestly do not remember much, as I seemed to come out of my own skin, hitting a level of consciousness that is hard to comprehend. Next thing I remember, I am stripped down to my underwear, running around the house, flailing my arms like an idiot! Needless to say, it was quite a sight! Oddly enough, the types of spiders I hate the most are the ones that are the most harmless.  The proper term for this species is the golden silk orb-weaver but in Louisiana, they are referred to as banana spiders. They are massive in size, ominous in color and make gigantic webs with strange zig-zag patterns down the middle. I have always been told they are non-poisonous but I have never bothered getting close enough to one to find out. Ironically, the next location I will mention is home to the largest banana spiders I have ever seen. Maybe that's why it's one of the only plantations in Louisiana that I have yet to investigate!

Joseph Jefferson Mansion - New Iberia, LA (Rip Van Winkle and the Buried Treasure)

5505 Rip Van Winkle Rd.

New Iberia, LA 70560

29.975237,-91.973441

www.ripvanwinklegardens.com

            In all my years of investigating, I don't think I have ever visited a location where the land itself has an even more interesting history than the haunted house that sits there. That is, until I visited the Joseph Jefferson Mansion and Rip Van Winkle Gardens, located on the outskirts of New Iberia on Jefferson Island. Although the focal point of this blog will be the home, to truly appreciate the complexity of this location, I must first introduce you to the unique land.
            Jefferson Island, originally known as Orange Island, helps make up the famous “Five Islands” of Louisiana. The islands were created due to enormous pressures in the earth, forcing large amounts of salt rock to form a mother bed located five miles below the earth's surface. This elevated several low laying hills, which became the five islands: Jefferson, Weeks, Belle Isle, Cote Blanche and Avery Island. These islands are elevated anywhere between fifty and one hundred feet above sea level, which due to the islands' proximities to the Gulf of Mexico, this is considered extremely high ground.