Baton Rouge | Spanish Town

Hello kiddies! Sorry it's been so long again. But you're in for a treat because I have two posts to make today. The first one has been a long time coming. Last fall, my wife and I did a walking tour of the Spanish Town neighborhood of Baton Rouge. Spanish Town has the distinction of being Baton Rouge's oldest neighborhood. Indeed, when established, the land was under the control of the Spanish government. Today, it's a sort of bohemian, eclectic neighborhood with a few small businesses and lots of old homes, including a number of bungalows. It's also not very big - just a few square blocks on the east side of downtown Baton Rouge. I haven't posted any of the photos yet because they were all taken on BlackBerry and I'm not thrilled with the quality... but last weekend we also took in the Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade, and I took some pictures of it, so I guess it's time to share everything.

First, the pictures from the walking tour:

The tour began at the Louisiana State Museum.

This home is a Civil War survivor and was used as a hospital during the war.

Spanish Town residents chatting on a nice Saturday morning.

The residents of Spanish Town are no fans of developer Richard Preis, who residents see as wanting to destroy Spanish Town in the name of progress.

Capitol Grocery.

Okay, now for some flavor from the Spanish Town Parade. Note the love for Richard Preis on one of the floats as well.

This is looking north, up 9th Street toward Spanish Town Road.

This gentleman was selling slices of king cake.

The people next to us offered the police bowls of gumbo.

PICTURE OF BOOBS (I did that just for pageviews).

Boudreaux (as in Boudreaux and Thibodeaux).