Lafayette Louisiana

We would be in Lafayette for a day and asked the concierge for advice on what to see.  Vermilionville Historic Village was suggested.  This turned out to be very interesting.

One of the interiors at Vermilionville Historic Village - Click on this picture to see more
 

Considerable trouble has been taken collecting and restoring the houses and their grounds.  Each house has original furniture and domestic objects from its period and in each of them there was one or more 'explainers' dressed in period clothes and very knowledgeable about 'their' house.  The same applied to the grounds where a shepherd explained that the sheep were historically accurate and a unique flock.  

In one house women were making cotton fabric.  Starting from the raw cotton they showed how to 'card' the fibres then spin the thread/twine.  This is then wound onto multiple spools to be transferred to the drum of the rustic loom and form the weft of the fabric.  The shuttle is also wound with the warp thread and pedals on the loom selectively pull down weft fibres to create various patterns as the shuttle passes between them on alternate passes.  Using this technology the women could be expected to makes enough fabric to make one garment per year.  Presumably not full time.

In another house the host played a fiddle and was difficult to escape as he went through his repertoire of different regional styles.  In yet another we learned how important a guest room was to give hospitality to travellers and how to protect one's daughters' virtue with appropriate architecture. 

Of particular note in one house was a double seat waste closet.  In Australia we would call it a two hole dunny.  Our host invited us to consider using it as a rather too intimate family convenience - presumably avoiding a queue. 

There was also a nice little museum with an environmental and historical theme and more information about The Louisiana Purchase.