Tuesday, November 18, 2014

52 Photos - Gallery 29 - Vintage Buildings

Bike rides in the city!  We ride in the summer, winter, fall and spring.  It doesn't matter if it is cloudy or fair, we ride a lot.  Usually our rides are about 15 to 18 miles long on the weekends and up to about 5 every other day during the week.   Oh, but we dolike to go at a leisurely pace!  We tried to ride for a while with the big bike club and they ride at 20 mph plus, plus, plus.  Not what we enjoyed doing. 

I am trying to get a couple of us together and forming a new "club" of riders who like to do what we do and actually enjoy the ride.

When you are street level and going slow you get to see much more than when you whiz by in your air conditioned car.  We have so much history here.  Some of it was destroyed in the War Between the States but what remains, we can walk into and feel the souls of those who walked before us. 

The Old State Capital was built in 1847 on the bluff overlooking the mighty Mississippi River.  Now it sits several hundred feet off the river as the river has moved.  The style is called "Castellated Gothic" because of the cast-iron decoration of its crenellated battlements and turrets.  Whatever that means, it looks like a medieval castle of sorts.  During the Civil War it was used a a prison until one of the Union troops set the building on fire.  It was reconstructed and the huge curving staircase (where lots of high society brides get their wedding photos done) was added to the interior.  The building served as the seat of Government for the State of Louisiana until 1932, when the NEW State Capitol Building was completed.


Louisiana Governor Huey Long was a very very interesting character, who was hugely proud of his state.  During the Great Depression he used WPA workers and money to build a new State Capitol Building.  It was to be the tallest of all capitols in the States at 450 feet and 334 stories tall!  And it still is!  If you walk through the marble hallways of the first floor, you can still see the divots in the marble where Huey's bodyguards shot his assassin 62 times.  Those bullets were a-flyin' !  

There is an observation tower on the very top, that all schoolchildren from across the state visit during their 7th grade year.   


On the other side of the Capitol Building is a beautiful park where Huey P. Long is buried.  He was pretty full of himself, wasn't he!

We have a beautiful city and it is fairly safe to ride in.  We stay off the main roads and ride on the weekends in the city.  I have a lot of photos for future galleries of Belle's 52!



ere HHere is the link to the 52 Photos where yu can see other old buildings


1 comment:

  1. I wish biking was easier around here. Akron is so darn hilly and I don't like riding up hill! Unless you go to the bike path very early in the morning (it is not hilly) , it gets crowded with bikes and walkers. Many families take their pets also, but the adults let the kids and pets wander all over the place and you have to battle your way around them sometimes coming to a complete stop as they are not paying attention. They act like they are the only ones on the path!

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