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You are listening to What a Wonderful World,
performed by Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong. Louis Armstrong was born in
New Orleans and during his lifetime met or possibly exceeded the definition of
the word, "legend."
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The picture used in the
above banner was provided by our favorite photographer, Sher
Hogue. Please visit our Sher
Hogue Page to view more of the beautiful work done by this incredible
photographer.
NOTICE: Please help us locate
two items that were illegally removed from the historic Rodney,
Mississippi Cemetery. Click
Here for Details.
After
some disappointing military ventures in Haiti, Napoleon Bonaparte abandoned his
hopes of an empire in the Americas. He convinced his fellow countrymen that owning,
maintaining and defending the area in North America known as Louisiana, was proving
to be an expensive endeavor that was not in the best interest of France, it was
sold to the US for a total of 15 million dollars or approximately four cents per
acre. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, 1803, Louisiana consisted of land
in the current states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri,
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North
Dakota, and South Dakota. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the US doubled in size.
After acquisition by the United
States, Louisiana became the eighteenth state on April 30, 1812. The
first permanent European settlement in Louisiana was Fort Maurepas, located in
present-day Ocean Springs, Mississippi, was settled in 1699. The
oldest permanent city in Louisiana is Natchitoches, settled in 1714. On
January 26, 1861, Louisiana seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy. In
April, 1862, Union forces captured Louisiana, due in large part to the Union sympathizers
in the area of New Orleans and south Louisiana. When
the average person thinks of Louisiana, images of that pleasant madness called
Mardi Gras come to mind. Though New Orleans can claim the most famous of these
festivals, Mardi Gras is also celebrated in other cities, such as Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, Galveston, Texas and Mobile, Alabama, where the original Mardi Gras
occurred. Louisiana is known for its festivals, ranging
from the most raucous, New Orleans Mardi Gras to the most family-oriented. There
are festivals for Dolls in Deridder, Blueberries in Clinton, Crawfish in Breau
Bridge and a Giant Omelette Festival in Abbeville. The International Rice Festival
is held each year in Crowley during the third weekend in October. For
more information on Louisiana, check the following links:
Festivals in the Beauregard Parish area, click
here. Other, mostly family oriented festivals,
click
here. For festivals listed by parish (county
in most states), click
here. ©2007 Wilson Jay |