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ARTISTIC TRIBUTE
TO NEW
ORLEANS
Creole West
Productions kicks off this new year with an artistic tribute
to the Crescent City and its
renaissance. Through talented brush strokes of artist
L.J.C. (Linda) Shimoda, the expressions of Julie Eshelman-Lee,
director of Creole West Productions, about her native
city and it's future, have been beautifully translated into a
work of art entitled: "New Orleans Ascending." Take in
this beautiful piece and share the experience of the
collaborative process between director and artist on the
home page of the website at: www.creolewest.com
EVENTS -
Pointe Coupée Parish,
Louisiana
Come visit
historic Pointe Coupée Parish for
cultural AND
historical events in 2006 . . .
Tuesday
February 28, 2006
Over Eighty
Years of Carnival in New Roads
The historic
Louisiana Creole town of New Roads is putting together
its greatest Mardi Gras ever! The 84th annual Community
Center Carnival Club parade rolls at 11 a.m. with the theme "A
Salute to New
Orleans" . This is the state's oldest
parade outside of the Crescent City. The New Roads
Lions Club parade, founded in 1941 as the first known Mardi
Gras parade to roll for charitable purposes, is set to roll at
1:30 p.m. with the theme of "Holidays on Parade."
We invite
everyone to join in this community event for all generations!
The parades roll through a circular route through the historic
town, just thirty-six minutes northwest of Baton Rouge on Louisiana Hwy 1 along
beautiful False River. There will
be plenty of booths with local cuisine, midway rides,
hilarious street maskers and a good dose of Pointe
Coupée's Creole hospitality for lagniappe.
Brian J.
Costello, historian and Lions Club Carnival Chairman, has
authored a pictorial history of the New Roads Lions Club
Parade. Proceeds from the sales of the book benefit New
Roads Lions Club charities which include the local schools in
the parish who have opened their doors to those who relocated
in the wake of the hurricanes. Rolling For Charity:
A History of the New Roads Lions
Carnival is available for purchase at
local stores.
Take a moment to
come to the country for the day and enjoy a long standing
tradition in New Roads!
For further
information about the parades and where to purchase the
book: www.newroadsmardigras.com
Friday
March 3, 2006
Come Meet One
of Pointe Coupée's Poetic
Storytellers
Spend an evening
with Mary Alice Victorian "Mary V" Jackson
while she reads from her debut book of poetry At Mama's
House. Join us at the Julien
Poydras
Center
auditorium in New Roads at 6:30 p.m. to include an engaging
introduction by Pointe Coupée's premiere historian, author,
and Creole speaker, Brian J. Costello, readings from guest
student poets, book signing and refreshments. Admission is
free.
At Mama's
House is a collection
of poems from a fruitful cache Mary V has composed over the
years. She tells her stories poetically in heartfelt memory of
her childhood in a magical place called "The Island" on False
River in Ventress, Pointe Coupée Parish, Louisiana--a little
town about five miles from New Roads, the parish seat. In her
pure style, Mary V's verses bring alive her experiences at
Mama's House. A journey with her poetry reminds the reader to
appreciate life's treasures.
Mary V is the
daughter of hardworking parents who were sharecroppers. A
graduate of Southern University at Baton
Rouge, she is an educator with a long
devoted career in the Pointe Coupée Parish schools. A prolific
poet and fluent speaker of the Creole dialect, she writes for
personal gratification.
For a print
version of the At Mama's
House Poetry Reading Event, go to http://www.creolewest.com/index.php?page=News
Saturday
October 14, 2006
Foundations of
Community: Pointe Coupée et Environs Forum Series
featuring:
The French
Colonial Era in
Pointe Coupée:
1682-1769
The settlement
and buildings of the earliest days along Pointe Coupée
Road,
then known as the coast, are gone. After centuries of
flooding her banks, the Mississippi
washed the remnants of the early settlement into the great
river bed. Some were carried downstream in her strong
currents to the gulf. From the written record of the earliest
days we have a view into the past. The explorers,
missionaries, early settlers and colonial officials recorded
their experiences in maps, journals, official correspondence,
and colonial civil and church records. Together these
begin to retrace the footsteps of Pointe Coupée’s
beginnings.
The history of
Pointe Coupée is not well known to the public.
Le Cercle
Historique brings this history to life
as it hosts the first forum on French
Colonial Pointe Coupée--
Saturday October 14, 2006 at the historic Julien
Poydras
Museum & Cultural
Arts Center in New
Roads, LA. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free and
refreshments will be served.
Come join
us for a congenial conversation about Pointe Coupée's
French era from a group of unique experts who are also
descendants of the early founding families. They will
take you on a journey to the past with the results of their
meticulous research of early journals, maps and original
records.
Forthcoming, and
as compliments to the French and Spanish colonial era forums,
are Volumes I and II for Colonial Pointe Coupée: Creole
Foundations 1699-1803.
Publication dates to be announced fall
2006.
Visit the
website for complete details for these events and
registration: http://pointecoupee.creolewest.com
CUBAN PAPERS -
POINTE COUPÉE
The
abstraction of the correspondence from the record group
Archivo General de
Indias (AGI),
the Cuban Papers (1762-1824) for the
poste of Pointe Coupée is expected to be completed this fall.
The documents are being compiled into a calendar of abstracts,
translated from French and Spanish to English, eventually to
be published in its entirety as: Cuban Papers:
Poste of Pointe Coupée Abstracted Calendar of Documents
1762-1824. A significant research
project, we will be seeking grant funding for full
translations of key documents and
correspondence.
The documents in
this record group include the correspondence between the
Commandant and officials of the colony, unveiling the
life and times in Pointe Coupée parish during the Spanish
colonial era, its brief transfer to France and then to the
United States. Pointe Coupée's plantation business was a
pivotal economic contribution to the colony and its
story is relatively
unknown.
The
correspondence includes, but is not limited to: official
orders and appointments, slave conspiracy and revolt trials,
inventory of records, civil suits, military
rosters, and a wealth of correspondence
illuminating daily activity of the officials and
people within the poste.
Look for
upcoming publications of fully translated records that give a
closer glimpse as we step back in time in Pointe
Coupée
.
For further
information, please contact: director@creolewest.com
PUBLICATIONS
At
Mama's House March
2006 $15 (A
collection of poems by poetic storyteller Mary Alice Victorian
Jackson reflecting on her vivid childhood memories at Mama's
House on the Island Side of False River, Ventress, Pointe
Coupée Parish, Louisiana; poetic verse about Creole people and
traditions.
Soft cover;
77pp; includes S
& H )
Decuir:
Early Creole Family of Louisiana | Creole Heritage
Day 2005
$15 (soft cover; 87
pp; complement to Decuir session, documented articles and
reprints, articles from descendants, genealogical data &
images; includes S & H)
Selected
Writings of Julien Poydras
(2004)
$18 (Volume I of
the *Liberating Pointe Coupée Parish History Series* which
includes correspondence from the Cuban Papers to and from
Julien Poydras. Soft cover; 124pp;, full
translation with citations, includes S &
H).
The
Louisiana Purchase: A
Dramatic Change For Pointe Coupéeans 1803-1815
(2003)
$25
(Soft cover; 112
pp; footnotes, glossary, resources - print version of online
text found
at http://pointecoupee.creolewest.com
Teacher's Guide available, includes S &
H)
For a complete
listing, and to purchase current publications, visit www.creolewest.com -
Publications link and download order form; or contact publications@creolewest.com
Forthcoming
book . . .
In progress is a
comprehensive book about the Decuir and connected families of
Louisiana, co-authored by
Brian J. Costello and Julie Eshelman-Lee. A founding
family of Louisiana and
Pointe Coupée, the journey connects with numerous
founding families of Louisiana. We extend
an open invitation and call for contributors of information
and photos for this book. Proper credit
and/or provenance will be given to all submissions used.
Please contact
director@creolewest.com
In order to
facilitate web discussions about the Decuir and connected
families, please visit our forum on the Decuir website. Simply
login and begin discussions.
Visit the
site:
http://decuir.creolewest.com
POINTE
COUPÉE PARISH
HISTORY
WEBSITE
Please tour the
site regularly for an array of information about Pointe
Coupée - past and present. Engage in our
Public Forum and Community Forum - links found on
the Vive La Pointe Coupée
page. Click a forum link , then
simply login and begin to share your
thoughts.
Visit the
website: http://pointecoupee.creolewest.com
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