Repurposing Swampland

Tags

Ascension Parish, Baton Rouge, beignets, boutique shops, Café au lait, Cajun, Coffee, Coffee House, Cypress, cypress logging, Donaldsonville, football field, forest, logging, Louisiana, Louisiana citrus trees, New Orleans, oak tree, Oliphant Images, pond, Red Beans and Rice, Shopping, Sorrento, swamp, swampland, The Cajun Village, tractor, Tractor Barn, tupelo trees, wood duck boxes, wood ducks

There is a large pond tucked back in the woods behind The Cajun Village. To get to it, you walk between Oliphant Images and the Old Tractor barn, down a freshly cut path through the swamp forest lined with young cypress trees. As it winds its way through oaks and tupelo trees, a feeling of seclusion overcomes you. Nothing but you, the birds, the forest, a peaceful quiet away from the world outside.

Just as soon as you started down the path, it opens up out of the forest into pond about the size of a football field. The pond is surrounded by some secondary growth (Sorrento and most of the swamp land between New Orleans and Baton Rouge was prime-time cypress logging territory until the logging of cypress was banned in the 1920s). The Roberts have diligently landscaped around the pond for the last two year. They’ve planted live oaks, water oaks, the aforementioned cypress, citrus trees, grass.

The goal is to create a park-like setting back in the woods. A perfect place to wander to with a to-go cup of café au lait and belly full of beignets from the Coffee House. A place where you can commune with nature and escape the hustle and bustle of the real world for a few minutes. In fact, the Roberts just installed wood duck boxes around the pond in hopes that we attract some future short-term winged tenants.

There aren’t too many parks to be found in Ascension Parish where you can wander around and while away an afternoon. This is mostly due to the layout of the parish – it’s about half rural, half developed, but it has no real cohesiveness in terms of community areas. It truly is a vehicle-oriented area, unless you are in Donaldsonville on the West Bank, which is such an architecturally cohesive town that parks abound throughout it. Which is why the pond at The Cajun Village is such a  blessing. It has been wrested from swampland in which it sat, beautified, and paired with a unique set of boutique shops that already have you walking about and exploring. 

Next time you stop by The Cajun Village, make sure you take a peek back through the woods at the pond – it’s a perfect place to walk off big bowl of Red Beans and Rice!