Daubards in New Orleans: Oct 31 & All Saints Day - Plaquemines Parish

On Hallowe'en, the Daubards took the ferry to the French Quarter, visited the Audubon Aquarium, and shopped for souvenirs for friends and family until they nearly dropped. In the evening, they came to us for gumbo, another first for them. They had a lot of stories to tell of interesting costumed characters seen in the French Quarter.
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The photo of the day is this lovely picture of
the Algiers ferry with New Orleans in the background.

The French Market

Audubon Aquarium

The next day, All Saints Day, we headed to Plaquemines Parish. Once a part of the French Colony, Esmiland Daubard and his family settled here in this area around 1750. Dobards are still found here.

Under the sign outside the Plaquemines
Parish government building.

Belle Chasse was decked out for the holiday.

The farm stands were bright with
fall fruits and vegetables.

Jesuit Bend

In Jesuit Bend, our little party climbed the levy
for an overview of the unincorporated ancestral village.

The site of the houses where Ceasaire, Elodie, Nonc Joe, and other Dobards lived is now a trailer park. At one time, the family cemetery would have been between the home site and the river.

As the Mississippi changed its course, the cemetery
was moved behind the home site, where
it remains today (out of sight in this photo).

At one time Dobards owned the property from the river to the bayou behind the cemetery.

The cemetery is in a hollow on
the right side of Highway 23
as one heads south.

Edit: Several people have asked about the cemetery. Here is an aerial view from Google Earth take February 28, 2006. There are more tombs there today. The land to the right of the road and the wooded land to the left of the cemetery (between the two drainage ditches and reaching from the road to the bayou) was all Dobard land. Click to enlarge the photos.

The part to the right of the highway was
sold several years ago and is now covered
with trailers and manufactured homes.
The wooded area is for sale (as of Nov 2012.).

Family members had whitewashed the
tombs for All Saints Day.

Bernard told us that it is also the custom in France to visit the cemeteries with flowers on All Saints Day.

Bernard and Lloyd are placing flowers on
what we think is Cesaire's grave. Any
grave identification is long gone.

Although there are housing developments on either side of the cemetery, there is still a lot of swamp and bayou adjacent to the site.

As we were leaving, Bernard noticed
some scuff marks in the turf beneath
one of the live oak trees and identified
them as marks from wild pigs, attracted
by the acorns.

We stopped at the Fill-s-Sack mini mart
and diner near the cemetery to see
if any locals knew any Dobards.

We found a fellow who spoke a little
bit of Cajun French and was related
to the Dobards.
(I don't recall his name, but remember him.
He'll appear later in this saga.)

St. Bernard Parish

From Jesuit Bend we headed to the
Belle Chase ferry that crosses
the Mississippi to link Plaquemines
and St. Bernard parishes.

On the St. Bernard side, we visited the Chalmette Battlefield, site of the last major battle of the War of 1812. This battle became a symbol of American democracy triumphing over European aristocracy. The victory of General Andrew Jackson's ragtag army from New Orleans was celebrated as a national holiday on January 8 for decades.

A mural inside the well-executed visitor
center shows the site at the time of the battle.

As we left St. Bernard parish,
Bernard snapped this photo.
Note the street name.

Back to New Orleans

Back in New Orleans, we left more flowers
at St. Louis Cemetery #3.

After a long, hot afternoon, we took
a breather at CC's coffee house
on Esplanade.

That evening, we dined Chez Daubard. Bernard had been bragging on his culinary skills and proved himself with a dish of bacon and poached eggs with a red wine sauce which, as he reminded us several times, takes at least three hours to come to perfection. It was delicious!