St. Tammany's Amazing Museums
by Webb Williams
I’ve always loved museums. It’s eavesdropping on the past, with images and artifacts from bygone eras exciting the imagination and giving one a sense of place.
While we wait with great anticipation for the Mandeville Trailhead and Cultural Interpretive Center expansion and the Children’s Museum on Koop Drive, we’re fortunate to have many fascinating museums now. Slow down. Take time to appreciate what’s gone before us in our little part of the planet. All are kid-friendly and cost little or nothing. Dates and times herein exclude holidays.
Slidell Museum
The Slidell Museum is a few blocks from Possum Hollow Park in the 1907 building that originally housed the jail, town offices and, eventually, a firehouse.
It’s a friendly museum, with a welcome greeting from tour guides such as Jim Clark, assistant to curator Priscilla Davis; he took me on a tour. Old photographs, historical documents, artifacts, displays and scrapbooks abound.
The museum’s second floor is dedicated to the War Between the States from 1861-1865, with emphasis on military operations here in Louisiana. The multimedia display includes numerous artifacts, battle flags, portraits and mannequins costumed with actual Confederate and Union army uniforms and weapons. Concise interpretive text and audio tell the story of the Old South.
A most interesting feature is a display of the Louisiana Zouaves, a Civil War unit feared by Yankee troops. General Robert E. Lee called them his “Tiger Rifles,” but they were also known as the “Louisiana Tigers.” LSU adopted the “Tigers” moniker for its football team as a salute to this ferocious fighting corps.
A more contemporary display is of great interest to those who remember the 1950s—or who want to forget them! The charming “’50s Room” has TVs, radios, phonographs, telephones and other memorabilia of that innocent age.
2020 First St., Slidell. 646-4380. Free admission. Open Tues. - Sat., 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
H.J. Smith & Sons General Store & Museum
The face of this historic Covington treasure seems to beam a warm, welcoming smile. (Hollywood has filmed the front of the store for features such as “All the King’s Men.”)
Walking through Smith’s door is like walking through a time portal, with antiques combined with contemporary merchandise. Since 1876, this general store has been providing St. Tammany with house wares and farm implements, but today’s store also has a museum of local lore and curios. Many visitors think the real store is the museum because of the eclectic mix.
Great–grandsons Jack, Kevin, Larry and “Smoke” operate the store and museum with great respect for their heritage, as well as Covington’s.
The museum features military memorabilia, antique photos, classic newspapers, a 20-foot-long cypress dugout boat, a cast-iron casket, old farming tools, a 1920s gas pump, a hand-operated wooden washing machine, a metal icebox and much more. Whenever kids go through on a school visit, the first thing they report on is the famous “petrified rat” on a skillet beside some antique rat poison. But then, how many petrified rats have you seen?
308 N. Columbia St., Covington. 892-0460. Free admission. Open Tues., Thurs. and Fri., 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Wed., 8:30 a.m. – noon; Sat., 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
GOSH Museum
Another Slidell museum dedicated to preserving the city’s history is the GOSH Museum, operated by the Guardians of Slidell History. It was born out of the desire of some residents to form an all-volunteer non-profit organization in addition to the city-operated Slidell Museum. Members range in age from the 70s to the 90s. Willie Pittman, GOSH president, hopes more volunteers—of all ages!—will join this resolute group of preservationists. Dr. Charles Fritchie is the curator.
The museum is located in the restored Our Lady of Lourdes convent, itself a living memory of 1932 architecture and building techniques. Exhibits include Slidell memorabilia and artifacts, such as early French and Spanish Land Grant documents. The town’s elementary school from the late 1800s is remembered with photos, papers and other items. Heavily damaged by recent storms, the museum is coming back, with a formidable exhibit of more than 1,000 photos from Hurricane Katrina.
2065 Second St., Slidell. 646-6118. Free admission. Open Thurs. and Sat., 2 - 4 p.m.
Madisonville Museum
Also located in a former jailhouse, the historic Madisonville Museum offers visitors the experience of being locked behind bars nearly a hundred years ago.
The second floor, the old courthouse, is filled with attractions that recall local folklore and Civil War history. One unique item is an enclosed Plexiglas exhibit of a Civil War era cannonball, with a sign that says simply, “PLEASE TOUCH.” Kids love to reach in through the hole in front and feel a piece of history; most try to lift it, with rare success.
A recent acquisition is a true panoramic photograph taken in 1885 of the Madisonville riverfront, with landmarks indicated. Co-curators Jeanne Motichek and Ginger Stanga, and guides such as Cindy Maher, are happy to answer any questions about where the bridge is today, etc.
Wildlife exhibits depict local critters and creatures, including a ’gator protecting her hatchlings and eggs from a thief-in-the-night raccoon. Beautiful bird mounts seem to flutter above as one’s attention drifts to the Jahncke Shipyard display with photographs of the huge World War I troop carriers and other gigantic ships built in Madisonville.
201 Cedar St., Madisonville. 845-2100. Free admission. Open Sat. and Sun., noon - 4 p.m.
Otis House Museum
Featuring local history from 1880 through 1930, this antebellum home-turned-museum is nestled inside the lush 99-acre Fairview Riverside State Park. The former home of sawmill owner William Theodore Jay abounds with period furnishings, artwork and finely detailed original architectural features.
Charles and William Houlton bought the home and lumber business in 1906; the area was called “Houltonville” after them. The brothers remodeled the lodge in the 1920s in the antebellum style. Guests from New Orleans flocked to their elaborate parties in horse and buggy carriages—and horseless carriages—by boat across Lake Pontchartrain.
The home was purchased and renovated in the 1930s by mahogany magnate Frank Otis. He bequeathed the property to the state to be developed into a recreational site for visitors. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
119 Fairview Dr., Madisonville. 792-4652. Slight charge. Open Wed. - Sun., 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and Research Center
(Try getting all that on a bumper sticker!) The big name befits the crème de la crème of northshore museums—26,000 square feet of professional displays and a grand collection of historic maritime memorabilia. Jay Martin, Ph.D., the museum’s executive director and a history professor at Southeastern Louisiana University, brings the expertise to take the museum to even loftier heights.
From the Louisiana swamp taxi/workboat, the pirogue, to the big “Biloxi Schooner,” the museum’s Wood and Water exhibit is comprehensive, with original video and beautifully crafted wooden boat models. A display of vintage outboard motors shows how power came to the marshland.
A full-sized replica of the first Civil War submarine, the “Pioneer,” offers an eerie hands-on experience of claustrophobia. Climb aboard a near-life-size replica of the 19th century steamboat “Louisiana” that frequented the Tchefuncte River. The museum’s Emmy-award winning video, “Treasures of the Tchefuncte,” is a captivating presentation that takes you from the Civil War through the spectacular shipbuilding industry that employed thousands of local workers.
An extensive homage to lighthouses displays amazingly detailed miniatures representing beacons on Lake Pontchartrain and beyond, including a 1/3-scale model of the historic Tchefuncte River lighthouse. Next to the museum is the 1900s-era lighthouse-keeper’s cottage, which serves as a fun overnight learning experience for kids over 6 years old.
133 Mabel Drive, Madisonville. 845-9200. Admission: $5; children, $3. Open Tues. - Sat., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Sun., noon - 4p.m.
Bayou Lacombe Rural Museum
This oldest schoolhouse in St. Tammany Parish is a treasure trove of unlikely artifacts and a unique blend of history and area culture. Built in 1912 with splendid heart-of-pine construction, it displays historic artifacts, antique tools, 100-year-old furniture, clothing, dolls, military memorabilia and other interesting items.
The Choctaw Indian exhibit pays homage to Father Rouquette (1813-1887), the famous missionary priest. The first native Louisianan to be ordained, he is acclaimed for his poetry and writings about the Choctaw nation. He was welcomed in homes from Mandeville to Lacombe to Bonfouca, as well as in Indian camps and villages. The natives named him “Chata-Ima,” or “He who is like a Choctaw.”
I was curious about a complete set of dinnerware that had a design featuring an “L” and the name “Elton.” The curator told me that the set belonged to former Louisiana governor Richard Leche. A leader of the Huey Long faction after Huey’s assassination, Leche owned land near Lacombe. “Elton” was his wife’s maiden name. The family donated the china to this quaint museum.
61115 St. Mary St., Lacombe. 882-3043. Free admission. Open the first Sunday of each month from 2 - 5 p.m., unless the Sunday falls on a holiday. Special tours are available.
Abita Mystery House
(a.k.a. the weird and wacky “UCM Museum”)
As soon as you possibly can, go to the Abita Mystery House, home of the Bassigator Monster. Or, to be more current, the “Abita Mystery House at the UCM Museum.”
Artist/inventor/creator/owner and resident maniac John Preble contends that the term “museum” scares people off because they think it’s just another museum. It ain’t, folks.
Trust me. This is where the “amusing” part of this article comes in. A vintage service station serves as the entrance and quirky gift shop for a labyrinth of buildings that host more than 50,000 rediscovered and recycled objects, including an antique bicycle, radio and cell phone collection. There’s everything from a large collection of paint-by-numbers art to very old, yet fully playable, arcade machines. A 90-year-old Louisiana Creole cottage houses the exhibition hall of memorabilia and the much-photographed House of Shards. Outside, there’s a UFO—complete with aliens—crashed into a classic Airstream trailer home!
Preble has created his own fantastic world—with a madcap tongue-in-cheek point of view—through interactive handmade vignettes of Southern life. There’s a Mardi Gras parade, a New Orleans jazz funeral, a rhythm and blues dance hall, a haunted Southern plantation, even a twister tearing up a trailer park! A lot of buttons kids can push to make things move, make music, and amaze!
Artist Ann O’Brien, John Preble’s late wife, is remembered in her incredible art nouveau handcrafted jewelry creations, which for over 30 years wowed galleries and museums nationwide. Her book, “The Ann O’Brien Jewelry Studio,” recently released, is available in the gift shop.
This hands-on, touch-friendly museum is a leading oddity of the area. It is officially “Louisiana’s Most Eccentric Museum.” (There. It’s in print, so it must be true!)
GO! GO! GO!
2275 Hwy. 36, Abita Springs. Admission: $3 (cheap). 892-2624. Open daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
