Cane River Creole National Historical Park made for an interesting COVID-19 quarantine virtual…read moretour. Thanks to OnCell for sponsoring it. The virtual tour currently comprises of a simple, obscure link embedded in the word "app" on the webpage titled "Oakland Cell Phone Tour." The National Park Service (NPS) webmaster or whatever they are called these days needs to make this link more relevant and easier to find as they have done for other parks' main pages: https://www.nps.gov/cari/planyourvisit/oakland-cell-phone-tour.htm So it's a very simplistic "virtual tour." In actuality, it's a cell phone tour with a few photos of the buildings and landmarks that narrators describe as you would if you visited Cane River Creole NHP in the flesh with a map to guide you. Guided tours with an NPS staff member are also available when a pandemic hasn't plagued our great country. Their schedule is a bit lengthy to repost, so I suggest you call or visit their website ahead of time. The park encompasses two former plantations, Oakland and Magnolia, that are spread out near the Cane River in Louisiana. What was left behind pales in comparison to what the plantations must have looked like so long. The Creole people were extraordinarily clever at using their natural habitat to survive. Overall, I enjoyed learning about the history of this beautiful, live oak-lined area... especially "bousillage" (a mix of mud, Spanish moss, and/or animal hair used in architecture), the Pigeonniers, the Bottle Gardens, the Punkah fan, and the Overseer's house. TIPS - the Magnolia main house is still owned by the 7th generation of the LeCompte family and is not part of the park, thus, is off-limits to the public + the Oakland main house is guided tours only

Great time with good people! We took a private trip, and it was absolutely fantastic. The owner was…read moreso friendly, and our guide was fabulous! If you are thinking about going, DO IT!

Great history and presentation. Very interesting facts. Good tour. Cute gift shop. Very…read moreknowledgeable guide.

Melrose Plantation. Came to visit my wife's family in the rural parts of Louisiana and she…read morerecommended we visit this place because she had never been and always wanted to go. I'm a bit into history now so this would have been a great history lesson for my book I'm writing so great at idea all around. What I was expecting to hear and see was your usual plantation stories of slaves and Masters, but what I got was much more inspirational. A plantation, founded and owned by FREE people of color. Marie CoinCoin (pronounced "Quan-Quan" I believe) was an African slave who ended up having a 19 year relationship (and 10 kids) with Claude Thomas Pierre Métoyer. After being pressured by the local church to end the relationship, he eventually purchased her freedom and CoinCoin began building Melrose, selling tobacco to increase the family fortune. The Métoyer family ended up becoming one of the first families in a community of free people of color. There's a lot more to the history, especially learning about the internationally famed illiterate and self taught Memory artist, Miss Clementine Hunter. The last tour stops at 4:15 and it's $10 for a guided tour or you can roam the gardens and see the outside houses for $5 I believe. The wife ended up finding out she was actually related to the Métoyer family so that was an added bonus to her family tree. Overall, it was definitely worth the visit.

Meghan Schill gave us an excellent, very interesting and historically vibrant tour of the…read moreplantation. Thank you so very much, Meghan! We really enjoyed it!

Free, yes History, yes…read moreNot a lot to see but it's my first plantation to visit. We saw the Magnolia Plantation featured on a favorite show of ours and had to see for ourselves when headed back home to Texas. Simple place yet incredibly interesting. I'm fascinated with history and/or possibly haunted. Anyway wish we could have spent a wee bit more time. Here's our pics from our short and sweet visit. Stop by if you get a chance!!

Arrived after tour time, but was offered a personal tour instead of waiting for next tour time…read more Friendly staff. Great tour

We really enjoyed this tour. It was incredibly educational…read more The guides were very informative and personable. The education timely!

Had a pleasure of coming through here this morning with Saturday Morning Runners, and it was an…read moreexperience. What deserves some credit is the surrounding neighborhood. The houses are big and beautiful. It's centrally located, yet still manages to have more trees you can shake a stick at (see what I did there?)

Thrill Hill, as this bumpy, curvy, stretch of road on Gilbert Drive is universally known, as far as…read morethe Shreveport universe goes, is to be adored, admired, and certainly respected. The speed limit on this fairway is 35 miles per hour. It is an attraction premium for sledding as the snow falls on the occasional winter we might have in this area. (So, keep the toboggan within arm's reach should a snowflake appear and then descend!) This self-named Hill or series thereof successive Hills also may have some attraction to the occasional or even overnight extreme athlete be it via skate or possibly longboard, though it's somewhat terrifying to even imagine attempting this feat, especially with oncoming traffic in both, and at some points in this high speed quest even all possible directions. In a motor vehicle, at higher rates of ill-advised speeds one might actually catch their desired and sought after air and pull their very own Dukes of Hazzard, but this is again ill-advised, because we all know that what goes up, must at some point with great certainty also come down, and this is, sad to say that to stick this landing right here may be more difficult than one may have imagined or preconceived before that final press of the accelerator.

I had seen this in an article about roadside attractions and knew I had to come next time I was in…read moretown. Set next to a theater of some sort is this giant Dalmatian dog. All white during the day, it is lit up in colors at night that they change depending on the holiday or season. Very cool to stop and wonder at this figure.

A cool little place to stop at for five minutes as you're driving across the border. The two…read moremonuments are separated by about 100 ft, and are both on the west side of the road.

Bethany, Texas-Louisiana is an unincorporated community on the Louisiana and Texas state lines on…read moreU.S. Highway 79, yes the town once claimed both states as its location one of the early stores, bisected by the state line, was built in 1889 by a barkeeper who wanted to take advantage of the differences in state laws; in half of the store drinking was legal, in the other gambling was legal proving the that times may change but people haven't. The town once went by the name Lick Skillet if ever the truth was told many towns of the era were called by that same name all boasting tales of the name's origin, from the food being so good or so scarce people would lick the skillets or the only scraps left to feed the dogs was for them to lick the skillets, I am sure the truth lies somewhere in between the myths. Although Bethany abandoned the name Lick Skillet, many of the town's features retain the name such as the Lick Skillet Plantation, a thoroughbred breeding farm, and the Lick Skillet Old Time Store. There is also a Lick Skillet Arts and Crafts Festival which includes live bands, food vendors, and exhibits by local artists and craftsman. Bethany was founded in 1840 long before barbed wire fences and paved highways marked the historic road that eventually became known as the "Old Shreveport Road" it originally was part of a prehistoric trade route from Dallas to Shreveport (not named towns at the time) established by the Caddo Indians. On the north side of the road heading east at the state line is a Marker placed in 1936 that reads: "Site of Bethany - A thriving town of the fifties - through it passed the Shreveport road over which many emigrants entered Texas". There not much left of Bethany now but lots of memories, I'd say by the looks of it the historic value exceeds the town's net worth, but I'm sure those that remain like it that way.

a great place where people can see the patbeautiful old homes and much more…read more Great Village. brings the past to you

$2 if you are taking the tour yourself, I think $5 for a guided tour…read more I did the self guided tour, they have a map with detailed information of each building. You can get some hand on activites, like Corn cob dart, penmanship, ring the bell and play the old piano. It was a fun place, highly recommended it.

Great town. Locals are nice. The best food and shops. Love the river tour or lake. Learned about…read morenew French sauce I don't remember the name. It had cheesy dip with mud bugs in it. Sorry I'm from Texas. All we have is Steak and Whataburger

First time coming here for business, it comes off as an interesting small town. Old downtown is by…read morethe river and it's nicely curated. Dining and hotel options are limited but would be fun to come for a quick getaway.