Decked out in Victorian style

General (Alexandre) Mouton House

National Registry of Historic Places

Lafayette Museum

Caretaker - greyhaired lady - heard a squeak from floors above as I entered & so she mentioned she thought there was a ghost visiting today - also adding that her husband had passed 3 yrs ago so maybe he was visiting her for the holidays, I said I guess you'll know when he taps you on the shoulder...

But as I walked around , inside & outside, downstairs & upstairs I soon found out the real non-ghostly cause of the noise...in the children's room, a smoke detector needed it's battery changed - I knew I'd heard that sound before in other houses I'd lived in, knew also it wasn't her other idea either that the heater was flowing air up thru the floorboard vents making the squeak possibly...

Well, the house was build about 1800 so it could indeed be haunted by a ghost--but not today, it was only decked out in Victorian style for the Christmastime spirit...

I loved the evergreens all over the old house, the smell together with the old wood in the house was lovely, & especially liked the garland over the fireplace mantle mirror hung with 3 or 4 red paper horns of flowers like you might do on a doorknob for May Day instead (which is also an old tradition...)

Another natural decoration I liked were the centerpieces - one of stacked apples, another of stacked fruits with a pineapple on top & one more of the gum ball seed pods from a certain tree that grows here (now I've forgotten the name of it - must relearn these things, having lived here 2 times before in the past...)

Of course there was a Mardi Gras room upstairs, where they'd taken over a bedroom to put behind glass past glorious King & Queen plus Page gowns/costumes with their crowns & septers...

Next to another room in honor of the Carmelite Nuns - Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart - where you could find what looked like a floral design framed inside a shadow box, which was curious until I read that when a girl became a nun they cut all her hair off & then if the family could afford it her hair would be sent off to some place where it was then made into these designs they'd frame & return to hang in either the family or the new nun's room (still curious that, even after reading what it was...)

Suppose in the future if they want Victorian DNA could they possibly tap into these real hair designs of girls who would become nuns?! hmmm...(for another writing idea that?!)

There is a Music room in the old house too, as that was their only form of entertainment back in those days around the 1800's (other then making 12 children with the first wife & 6 more with the second wife - for at least 1 of the owners of the big old house, no wonder they added rooms & floors) - complete with not just a piano, but a harp & I think it would of been great fun to have a recording play music from that time when you stepped into the room (maybe I'm asking too much of these old caretakers...)

Different owners of the house would sometimes (of all the things) etch names or dates into the window panes of the house - on one is a whole poem, the oldest such etching & it reads...

"Around me will hover
 in grief or in glee
'Til life's dream be over
Sweet memories of thee."

by Rosa Mills, 1855

Again find it interesting to note the times & use of language, how that changes in prose or in poetry over the years & am guessing from one region to another just within the US - as we are talking Louisiana here where this house is located, but folks here too have a long history of being influenced by the French...

During the years the house evolved from the original 1 little room, once called a Sunday house, (yes you may have guesssed it - a 2nd house used to come to town from the country & usually to go to church on Sundays, were popular in the 1800's) that still stands in the backyard - which you can step into that little square floor space with the small fireplace inside & look out the windows there & ponder how in the world they raised 12 children in that teeny tiny house....we guessed they must of spent a lot of time outdoors?!

To the house's next evolution which was into a 1 story bigger house in the front with a separate kitchen (would later burn down, it seems they all did that) & smoke house in the back, (which it's still there though) then they added a 2nd story & a cupola on top - that reminds me of a gazebo, only not in the backyard but up on the rooftop...

Sadly you cannot go up to the 2nd floor, nor the cupola - due to insurance reasons, which back in the day you could go all over the house...that's the time I miss, when you could do all sorts of fun things not to be in fear of being sued?!

Of course the caretaker lady was old enough to remember when she use to could take the boyscouts up to the roof for a grand view up there in the cupola...

As I walked out the front doors I looked into the entry hall mirror one last time & imagined I was checking out my long petticoats in the full length mirror there behind the table (since it is called a petticoat mirror afterall, as I watched in the intro video on coming into the house) - thinking again that I would never have survived in such times & always do when I visit these old Victorian houses...

Location:

1122 Lafayette Street

Lafayette, LA

337-234-2208

Hrs:

Tues - Sat 10 - 4:00 pm

Read more about the Carmelite Nuns on Wiki...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelites
Note: Carmelite Nun in habit - Teresa of Avila with John, painting borrowed from ANunsLife.org

Borrowed photo at top of house - to see this & more Photos of Alexandre Mouton House click link below...

http://www.lafayettetravel.com/meetingplanners/conventionandfacilities/alexandremoutonhouse/

Borrowed photo in middle of the Sunday house & below of the petticoat mirror - at Acadians in Gray link...
http://www.acadiansingray.com/photo%20gallery-alexandre_mouton_house.htm