Shadows on the Teche: Leauxcal Lundi

A little Instagram.

     Last week I took you to Belle Ecorce Farms in St. Martinville. This week is an utterly shameless plug for a leauxcal place I hold near and dear to my heart. The Shadows on the Teche was built from 1831 to 1834 by David and Mary Weeks. After four generations of Weeks family ownership, William Weeks Hall bequeathed the plantation and all of the furnishings, documents, and clothing therein to the National Trust for Historic Preservation–– one day before his death in 1958. I have worked as a tour guide at this lovely Antebellum home and absolutely love to revel in the property's moss-laden oaks, winding paths, and rich history. 

     As you cross the hustle and bustle of Main Street New Iberia, your mind is in modern mode.  Everyone vies for the best spot to snap an Insta pic of this majestic plantation. The second you enter onto the property through a side-gate in the long white fence, the world slows to a more forgotten pace. Dragonflies float lazily from one azalea to the next. The bayou crawls toward the Gulf, not making a sound. You can almost picture yourself lounging on the wide front porch with hand fan and a glass of sweet tea watching the horse-drawn carriages clop past. Maybe without the smells and hoop-skirts of the early nineteenth century. 

     The Shadows on the Teche is so named because of the lovely web-like shadows cast to the ground by the live oak trees and myriad other flora and fauna in the garden. Teche is the name of the bayou that runs through New Iberia. The word teche is Chitimacha, our local Native American tribe, for "snake." Although the Shadows was a working plantation, sugar was not produced here but on another of the family's plantations on Weeks Island. The architecture is grand, neo-classical, and very sturdy. The home's interior is filled with items original to the Shadows' Antebellum era. Tours emphasize the Weeks family's personal lives, the role of women and children, the work done in and around the house, the production of sugar, and the house's role in the Civil War. You can even take a tour in French!

     It is amazing how many visitors we get to tiny New Iberia from around the world. Many stop by while visiting Avery Island, some are huge James Lee Burke fans, and others are from New Iberia and have lived here all their lives without seeing the plantation's interiors. No matter your relationship to this place, it is instantly magical and a wonderful way to see, smell, and sense what life in the Antebellum South may have been like. 

I spy at the Shadows: 

• Look for Mickey Mouse. He visited the house.
• The garden is home to statues, a rose garden, coy pond, and the family cemetery. One family    member's name is listed among the tombstones, but the body is not included. 
• A receipt from the 1850s is in the pantry. Scan the list for an item associated with America's westward expansion and the building of the continental railroad. It's something we don't eat too often today. 
• Two corner stones in the garden mark the location of one of the home's many outbuildings.  

A great back porch view of the house's second story beneath the arms of a towering and gnarly live oak.

      After visiting the house, you can stroll down Main Street and sample some of the local fare from: A Cake to Remember, Clementine's, Bojangle's (sushi, not biscuits), Victor's Cafeteria (if you're a James Lee Burke fan this is where Dave Robichaux eats), or Cafe des Amis  (related to Cafe des Amis in Breaux Bridge). They're all within walking distance of the museum, with Cafe des Amis being the farthest- about a mile. 

     Before visiting the Shadows, considering walking to the Bayou Teche Museum. You can park at the Shadows and walk down a block on the right side of Main Street to learn a little about New Iberia and this region's history and industry before going into more detail at the Shadows. 

After the Shadows, you can drive to Conrad Rice Mill–– America's oldest working mill. Mary Clara Conrad Weeks Moore, the Shadow's original owner, was not related to the Conrad rice family. If you're gluten free, the mill store has plenty of rice flour mixes for baking, cooking, and frying.