A Day In The Life Of A River Boat Town

It was an unusually warm April afternoon. The street in front of Jesse Barkdull's store was crowded with passengers off the Mary Foley that had docked that morning. The Mary Foley was one of many steamboats making regular stops at Bayou Sara which included the Grey Eagle, Belle of the West & The Henry Clay to mention but a few. The male passengers were availing themselves of one or more of the local bar rooms and gambling establishments. The gentlemen accompanied by their finely dressed ladies were escorting the ladies into either, one of the few appropriate shops down here or making their way up the hill to the shops in St. Francisville. There the ladies would be safe from the raucous behavior of the less civilized down here, below the bluffs.

Jesse had several items delivered a short while ago from the Mary Foley. A nice new bath tub and a Cannon stove had been among his acquisitions of which he had been waiting. He already had customers waiting for these items and he was anxious to turn his profit. His business had been quite successful after he had recently taken in a partner who seems to have a talent in finding good products at a good price.

Jesse along with his older brother Joel had landed here back in 1839 after making their way out of Ohio. They were just two young fellows with not much jingle in their jeans but lots of enthusiasm and ready to make their fortunes. They had spent an afternoon in Bayou Sara never realizing that they would return. That day, like any young men, their interest was in reaching the Crescent City, New Orleans.

As his young daughters Anne and Louise skipped into the shop, his thoughts returned to the present. He lovingly touched the girl’s jet black hair. Anne would soon turn six but her tiny petite frame made her look younger. She tightly held the hand of her baby sister, 3 years her junior. They were followed by the beautiful Mary B, their mother and his wife of seven years. They had been sweethearts back in Ohio. The hardest time in his life had been the years he was separated from Mary, getting established so that he could provide for her and their future family. It had been easier after Eno and Olive had moved to New Orleans in 42. Mary and Olive had been friends since childhood so when Olive asked her to come live with them in New Orleans and help with the kids, Mary agreed. Then in 49 he and this beautiful creature coming in the door, had gotten married.

The girls were playing around the shop when the music first could be heard. They didn’t pay much attention at first as they were use to hearing the calliope music coming from the steamboats at the landing. But the music was different and coming closer. Soon the girls looked up at their mother with questioning eyes.

She and Jesse smiled at each other, knowing full well this would be an exciting two days for the girls. One they would probably remember for years to come. Mary took the girls hands and walked them out to the street and their darting eyes turned up the hill to a crowd of children running along a group of tumbling clowns. The girls gasped in excitement, but not exactly knowing what was occurring. Then came the huge pachyderms with beautiful young girls riding their backs. Their eyes were now the size of saucers. They jumped up and down and giggled with pure glee.

Jesse joined his family, laughing as he watched them. The Ringling Brothers circus was coming to town. The parade continued down past his shop and circled around to an empty field behind the line of commercial buildings. Then the music stopped but dozens of people had followed and now were going to watch the circus roustabouts put together the big top.

“Can we go?” chimed the girls, looking at their dad. “ Sure he said, let me lock the door and we will walk down and watch for a few minutes.”

The happy family wandered down and stood with the rest of the town, watching. What excitement for the girls. They had never been to the circus but that would be remedied tomorrow.

After watching all the animals and people scurry around in a dither of activity, dusk slipped down the bluff and enveloped Bayou Sara.

“This is no place for us after dark girls, let's head home”. “We will come back tomorrow and attend the circus,” Jesse promised them.

As they walked past the landing the passengers from the Mary Foley were re-embarking from their day in Bayou Sara. The candles & oil lamps illuminated the steamboat in a lovely, romantic way. Jesse loved the steamboats and sometimes wished he would have found his fortune as a boat captain. Over the years he had established very close friendships with many of the captains that frequented both Bayou Sara and New Orleans.

As they walked past the store and up the hill, Jesse felt very content. He had a wonderful family, a good solid business and tomorrow he was going to take his girls to the circus. He silently said a prayer and squeezed his wife’s hand. She turned and smiled.

“A lovely day in the life of Bayou Sara, wouldn’t you say?” she asked.


Authors Notes
The first piece I posted on Writing.com was a historical piece about a frontier photographer and the reviewer asked questions about what was my intended market or audience. With that in mind, this story would be targeted to a historical/genealogical audience. I would like to take this Barkdull family and follow them through their life or possibly even generations. I am a great enthusiast of the Louisiana culture especially pre-civil war. As a teenage girl I devoured books by Francis Parkinson Keyes. I like generational pieces and I am a history buff. I love researching families and taking what I know as FACT and using my imagination and logical deducing talents to fill in what might have happened, to take them from one verifiable fact to the next. Example: I know where Jesse Barkdull came from, I know he married in New Orleans and when. I know his wife came from Ohio as did he. I know he had a business in Bayou Sara. I know his brother Joel died in 1844 in Jackson, La about 20 miles east of Bayou Sara. I know his brother James was a doctor and director of the Jackson, LA mental institution. I know his cousin Eno moved to New Orleans around this time period and became an employee of the cotton exchange. This piece imagines the information that fills in the blanks.

Bayou Sara, which no longer exists, was a very important part of 19th century Louisiana and the Mississippi River trade. The largest port between New Orleans and Natchez. Many famous people passed through Bayou Sara on their journeys up and down the Mississippi River as well as traffic down the Bayou Sara to it conjunction to the Mississippi River. One, James Black was a ferryman for about 4 years there. James Black forged the first Bowie knife. Mark Twain passed this way. Jim Bowie spent time here. The Audubon’s lived here. President Zachary Taylor had family connections here.