The first thing you notice when you come to Winnfield is their love of the pig. As you can imagine, pork and pork products are an important part of the area's economy, so much so that every year the town puts blank stone pigs in front of businesses and decorates them (as you can see … Continue reading 268. Winnfield, Winn Parish (LA14) →

So, this is an interesting courthouse from an architectural perspective. See those windows? I've never seen anything quite like those. They seem very 1950's but I'm not quite sure what to make of them. In fact, it's beginning to make me think that maybe I might want to read a book on courthouse architecture or … Continue reading 267. Colfax, Grant Parish (LA13) →

Welcome to civilization? This may very well (other than Shreveport) be the biggest town I have been to thus far. It's not really a town, seeing that it's over 45,000 people, and yet, it feels much bigger than it actually is. The way the size of a town/city feels has always been a bit of … Continue reading 266. Alexandria, Rapides Parish (LA12) →

Now this (along with hotel waffles) was a lovely way to start a day. Indeed, this is a lovely building. Of course, the grounds, as with so many other parishes, were somewhat uninspired. I wonder about that, I guess. Why do the courthouses have such small grounds? Surely they should rate something more impressive. In … Continue reading 265. Leesville, Vernon Parish (LA11) →

Time and necessity chose this parish. After turning away from the northeast for possible tornado reasons, I decided to head in the direction of where I intended on stopping for the night. I might have been able to call an audible and head to another parish, but for some reason I felt incredibly drained. As … Continue reading 264. Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish (LA10) →

Modern! There's nothing intrinsically wrong modernity, but it does tend to lack aesthetically despite examples to the contrary. This case is not the exception. It's serviceable and perfectly fine, but it's hardly a wonder. But it does have a war memorial! That's something, right? The cache was a keybox attached to a big green electrical … Continue reading 263. Arcadia, Bienville Parish (LA09) →

This is an alright building. Yes, it looks like a high school, but it's still nice. I'm also running into a bit of a conundrum... I never really thought about how much I write about the grounds of courthouses and these I've been running into have been messing me up. If there's nothing there, what … Continue reading 262. Ruston, Lincoln Parish (LA08) →

Again, that's a courthouse. I nod approvingly upon it. There is no ambiguity about its purpose (especially not with the big letters that say "Courthouse" spelled across the top). I wish it was open so I could go poke around inside, but this was not the day for that. Behind was a square, shared between … Continue reading 261. Monroe, Ouachita Parish (LA07) →

Now this is a courthouse. It's not exactly the southern gentility of Homer, and it has a touch of the high school hybrid look about it, but this is still a thing and I like it. May I also say that I'm astounded by the complete lack of Confederate iconography. This is what? The third … Continue reading 260. Bastrop, Morehouse Parish (LA06) →

Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night nor house plants nor karate nor civil unrest stays me from swift completion of my something or other? Am I saying that right? Maybe this rain is starting to get to me? I don't know, but I do know that this one looks … Continue reading 259. Farmerville, Union Parish (LA05) →