Ramblin' Woman

Lacking hills, South Louisiana relies on antebellum homes to upset landscape that’s hypnotically flat—except where it’s swampy. Clustered plantations, preserved with care, draw tourists from around the world to the region’s original artery, River Road, to admire totems of wealth and gentility; just as many, made cautious by close to two centuries of growing social consciousness, stay away.

But Mary Ann Sternberg sees what’s behind and between plantations during her frequent drives; over twenty years of traveling the route has given rise to her books Along the River Road (1996) and subsequent editions, River Road Rambler: A Curious Traveler along Louisiana’s Historic Byway (2013), and now River Road Rambler Returns: More Curiosities along Louisiana’s Historic Byway (2018). “It’s so much more than antebellum plantations,” said Sternberg, “as lovely as they are.”

For Along the River Road, the author canvassed a hundred miles on each side of the river, offering up terminology, architectural history, and even odometer markings of bygone sites so that a reader might travel this particular stretch with greater appreciation for the world flitting by the windows. Though eminently practical, Sternberg’s guide lacked the detail she treasured in her adventures. “I realized I’d seen some things that were honestly unique or they were just terrific but underappreciated,” she said. Twenty-nine stories across her two Rambler volumes fill in those gaps: Sternberg observes a synagogue-turned-hardware-store in Donaldsonville, she sniffs around communities built by tobacco and sugar, and she stands before an abandoned garden in Vacherie and a replica Lourdes grotto in Convent—made with bagasse (charred sugarcane residue) and clamshells. She heads over the levee to muck along the batture and ride a towboat too. “How I did this could be applied anywhere,” said Sternberg of her rambles. “Basically it’s identify a geographic area, then look for its history and culture, features that define it, things that people don’t see but are there—you just have to show it to them. You identify places that have a history but whatever defined the history isn’t there any more.”

More of the river’s history has risen to the surface in recent years, but Sternberg worries about the disappearing troves of memories and artifacts, whether it’s the shuttering of the St. James Parish Historical Society Museum in Lutcher or the death of an individual and his remembrances. “When I started, there was one generation that each kind of knew the history of their particular area,” said Sternberg. “They were lovely about sharing it with me. Most are now gone. In a few places, the generations haven’t succeeded them. But in other places, people have taken up the responsibility.”

So how does one ramble like Mary Ann Sternberg? First, grab her books. Then, “go out and have fun. Go, pack your curiosity.”

River Road Rambler Returns: More Curiosities along Louisiana’s Historic Byway by Mary Ann Sternberg. 144 pages. Hardcover. $26. lsupress.org. 

On September 22, Sternberg will hold a book signing at Cottonwood Books. 10:30–noon. 3054 Perkins Road.