Mon Reve
On a recent Sunday morning, my friend Richard Sexton and I headed south to Livonia, Louisiana, to have breakfast at Dreyfus House with Camile Persica and her family. We traveled miles along Bayou Grosse Tete, past the thousand-year-old Indian mound that stands silently next to the Dollar General on Highway 78, across the bayou on a small bridge, and across Highway 190—the Acadiana Trail. In the southern part of Pointe Coupée Parish, the Dreyfus House is located on the Maringouin Road on the banks of the bayou with the great French name. Grosse Tete means “big head”. Folklore says that early people found a giant skull in the bayou, supposedly that of an American mastodon that grazed this land twelve thousand years ago. There’s no documented evidence of the truth of the tale, but what a great story.
Dreyfus House sits up the hill and to the north of Joe’s Dreyfus Store, a restaurant that gained regional fame in the 1980s because of its charm and delicious food. The store was owned by the same family that built and lived in the old house that the Persicas now run as a bed-and-breakfast inn. Camile’s daughter Michelle greeted Richard and me on the big front porch of this center-hall Anglo-American house built about 1850.
Camile and her husband Manuel were busy in the kitchen when we arrived, but we soon met Nita and Charles Acklen from Shreveport who were staying the night at the B&B.
“We often stay in bed-and-breakfasts,” Mr. Acklen said, and his wife happily agreed. “We stayed in a B&B on our honeymoon. We love the age and uniqueness of the Dreyfus House.”
The Acklens are just the kind of people who regularly stay in bed-and-breakfast inns, like the four operated in antique houses in Pointe Coupée Parish.
Camile emerged from the kitchen carrying fresh fruit and juice for the breakfast buffet. Hot dark-roast Louisiana coffee was already out. In the next few minutes, hot scrambled eggs, crispy fried potatoes, grits, bacon, and homemade biscuits all arrived in the big dining room open to the antique parlor. Camille and Michelle sat down with the Acklens and us, chatting and, in true Louisiana fashion, making sure everyone got enough of everything.
The Persicas have managed Dreyfus House for five years. Before that they ran Camile’s Cajun Cafe at Erwinville—famous, as they say, for good food.
“The backhanded compliment I get is people say ‘Camile’s is still good, but it’s so quiet,’” Camile tells of that restaurant’s fate since her departure, and before long everyone at our breakfast table was laughing and cutting up. The Acklens were staying in one of three guest rooms, enjoying the old house and the hospitality.
On Saturday April 13, from 10 am until 3 pm, Camile will welcome visitors to tour the Dreyfus House as part of the Pointe Coupée Bed-and-Breakfast Historic House Tour. Four marvelous old houses are included in the tour: Dreyfus House in Livonia, and in New Roads, Mon Reve, Samson House, and Pourciau House.
Mon Reve, French for “My Dream,” is a Creole raised cottage built about 1850 for Valerien and Marie St. Cyr Bergeron. (The Bergerons had fourteen children, many of whose great-grandchildren still live in Pointe Coupée.)
Today the home is owned by Cathi and Joe Hinckley, who operate the bed-and-breakfast and keep the large fenced front garden. From the wide front porch guests get a great view of one of Louisiana’s largest live oak trees, the Randall Oak—more than 38-feet-around!
Pourciau House is a late Victorian cottage, built in the Creole style with two French double-doors opening onto a full front porch. Built around 1890, the house is ornamented in the Eastlake style popular throughout the US at the end of the nineteenth century. Jimmy Duckworth and Shelley Ford own and operate the bed-and-breakfast today, furnished with fine art and antiques.
Jimmy says, “We named Pourciau House ‘A Wayfarer’s Retreat’ because our B&B is a throwback in time. We provide a simple, clean, safe and comfortable place where guests can get away from the bustle of daily life.”
The garden patio is enclosed by hedges of bamboo, holly, and Louisiana palmetto.
The National Register property Samson House is an unusual combination of Anglo-American and Creole style. It has all the attributes of the simple Creole cottage, but is built around a wide center hall not seen in Pointe Coupée until the 1830s when this house was built. Owner Ms. Sam McVea points out a seam in the center of the hall ceiling where the house was cut in two to move it from Pennsylvania Street to Richey Street in the late twentieth century. McVea has operated her B&B here since 1996. She gave Richard and me a tour of her beautiful courtyard gardens just as the honeysuckle azaleas were coming in to bloom. An outdoor kitchen, open-hearth fireplace, sparkling swimming pool, and a billiards room make this a place you want to stay put for a while.
Of the upcoming event parish historian Brian Costello says, “This one-day home tour offers a broad view of architectural styles popular in Pointe Coupée through the nineteenth century. Each house represents a style popular in its own time.”
This is a rare opportunity to see inside four lovely antique homes, and to meet the owners. Who knows, you may want to come stay for a weekend soon!
Details. Details. Details.
The free tour runs from 10 am until 3 pm, Saturday April 13. Maps will be available at each of the four houses, at the Poydras Center (500 West Main Street, New Roads) and at the Pointe Coupée Museum (8348 False River Road, near Parlange Plantation).
Call the Historical Society at (225) 638-6575 or Randy Harelson at (225) 240-3421 for more information. www.pointecoupéehistoricalsociety.org
