A Walking Tour Abbeville LA...

Another week has passed here at Betty's RV and we have been having a blast. There are always lots of activities going on in addition to the famous Betty's 4:30 daily happy hour where everyone mingles and gets to know one another. A new activity we did this year was to actually take a walking tour of Abbeville LA.

Sharon and I have walked all around Abbeville on our own but never had a narrated tour. Abbeville was founded in 1843 and was named after its founder, Antoine Megret's, hometown in France. It is now part of the Acadiana region of Louisiana which is known for preserving much of the first settlers' music and culture.

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The first stop was at the old Sam Guarino Blacksmith Shop which pretty much looks the same today as back in the day when Sam was working the business in 1913. The lady giving us the tour even powered up all the motors to the belts which in turn run all the equipment. It was quite an interesting thing to see in action.

             
Next door to the blacksmith shop is a wall featuring a series of murals each telling a story about the history of Abbeville. Our tour guide explained in detail what each of the murals represented. I really liked the one about the old Sicilian Grocery Store as I was unaware of the Sicilian influence in this area given all of the French presence. 
                 

        

The next stop was at the St. Mary Magdalan Catholic Church. Built in 1911 this Romanesque Revival Church is quite the showpiece in the Magdalen Square. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places this church has some magnificent stained glass windows.. Just outside of the church is another cool mural of an accordion on the multi-storied building facing the square.

            

Our last stop on the tour was the Vermillion County Courthouse where our guide told us all about the history of Vermillion Parish. There are some great paintings of the simple life lived within the Parrish adorning the walls inside the courthouse. What made this tour even more entertaining was the tour guide was a former judge.

           

While there are many other sights in Abbeville this tour was both fun and enlightening. We finished the day at Betty's famous happy hour and then went to listen to a great little band at the spring musical series called Music on the Square in Abbeville.  This was just another great day on the road of retirement...

NOTE: We are now at Betty’s RV park for a month before continuing on toward Texas…