Return to Mayberry

Well, Barn, do you wish you could return to those slow-moving summer days fishing at the creek with a bottle of pop and a baloney sandwich? Do I hear whistling as you make your way to the water’s edge, fishing pole over your shoulder?

You don’t have to relegate your desire for an easier time in the old South to just watching “The Andy Griffith Show,” you can actually live them at the 30th annual Mayberry Days Sept. 23-29, 2019, in Mount Airy, North Carolina, “where Mayberry comes to life.”

There’ll be local bands playing those old songs Andy and Aunt Bee loved, a parade through town, silent auction, “The Emmett” golf tournament, games and so much more. Best of all, Gomer, there’ll be special guests and shows, including:

• John Floyd, "the Mouth of Mayberry," performs comedy at the Historic Earle Theatre on Sept. 23;
• Ballet Magnficat! performs “Deliver Us” Sept. 24 at the Andy Griffith Playhouse; and
• Ronnie Schell Comedy Review, with a Special Tribute to Andy Griffith containing stories of his time working with Griffith will be Sept. 26 at the Historic Earle Theatre.

There's so much more. Check out the schedule of shows here.

If you can’t make it for Mayberry Days, be sure and come back to visit The Andy Griffith Museum, featuring the hundreds of items from the life and career of Andy Griffith collected by Emmett Forrest.

A fun way to tour the town Barney style is to take a Squad Car Tour in a genuine 1960s-era police car driven by natives who know both the town and its famous TV star. Visitors will leave from Wally's Service Station on Main Street and pass by Mt. Airy landmarks such as Barney's Cafe, Floyd's Barber Shop and Andy's birthplace, among other landmarks.

And don't miss an opportunity to sample sonkers, a cobbler-type dessert that's unique to this area of North Carolina. Read about the Surry Sonker Trail and the places to enjoy this special dish here.




Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by Chere Coen, a food and travel writer who grew up with "The Andy Griffith Show" (okay, maybe the reruns) and who loved sampling sonkers.

Doesn't get weirder than this — Abita Mystery House

You would think that a Weird South writer living in South Louisiana would have put the Abita Mystery House at the top of my list. And you would be right. A museum dedicated to all things odd? Sometimes, those amazingly weird attractions in your own backyard are the ones hardest to visit; I could never find the time or be in the right place to visit.

I finally found an opportunity.

And the heavens sang.

The Abita Mystery House is a rambling collection of buildings, centered around one main house, all filled with thousands of collectibles, found objects, unusual memorabilia, weird taxidermy, animated displays and so much more. It's the brainchild of Abita Springs artist John Preble, who assembled these items into a somewhat coherent fashion:

Shard House bathroom wall

• Religious postcards and artwork next to a Reed Organ.
• The Louisiana plantation home display complete with oil and gas industry next door.
• Taxidermy hybrids such as Buford the Bassigator, a combination gator and bass fish, or Darrell the dogigator.
• Push a button and the Mardi Gras diorama parade comes to life.
• The Shard House is literally a house made up of pottery, glass and mirror shards and contains one of the most interesting bathrooms you will ever find. Make sure you hold it until you get there.
• And then there's the endless number of paint-by-number pieces, yard and street signs and collections of everything from combs to old radios. 
• Play the Marble Machine to watch marbles fall down a wooden maze created by Preble.
• An Airstream filled with more craziness.
• And then there's my favorite, the Hot Sauce House, filled with bottles of — you guessed it — hot sauce.

Oh heck, we'll just show you the photos:

Mardi Gras Diorama

Old postcard collection

Diorama of a trailer park hit by a tornado

Leroy the Large-mouthed bass

More weird taxidermy

Hot Sauce House

Be sure and take in the gift shop as well, featuring a wide collection of funny gift items as well as artwork by Preble.

The Abita Mystery House is located on Hwy. 36 East in Abita Springs, Louisiana, one block from the Abita Springs traffic circle and about an hour outside of New Orleans. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except major holidays. Admission is $3 for those over 3 years old.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana who is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

If you can't go to Greece, try Nashville instead

            People were thinking big during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition that occurred in Nashville in 1897. Many buildings that went up during the Exposition followed an ancient theme — the Southern city had been called the “Athens of the South” for its highfalutin universities such as Vanderbilt — so it was only natural for them to recreate the Parthenon. This massive building in the heart of Nashville is an exact reproduction.

            The original building was meant to be a temporary display — yeah, let’s build the Parthenon but don’t worry about making it permanent! Nashville residents were so enthralled with having a slice of Greece in their midst, their mouths watering for grape leaves daily, that they insisted the towering building remain. The plaster, wood and brick building was then rebuilt using concrete. The Nashville Parthenon got an even more thorough facelift in 2002.

            Today, the Southern Parthenon is used as an art museum in the middle of Centennial Park, just outside downtown Nashville. Inside the icon lies another re-creation, that of Athena Parthenos, standing at 42 feet high and covered with more than eight pounds of gold leaf. In case you’ve forgotten your Greek history, the Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena.
            So save your money if you’re thinking of heading to Greece. Nashville, Tenn., might just do the trick.

It’s not weird, it’s down-right gross

            I had a run-in last night with a roach the size of Montana. I could have sworn the damn thing winked at me from my lampshade as if to say, “Try swatting me on this baby, bitch!” I sent in my best man, my brave son Taylor, who after knocking the imposter on to the floor managed to beat him into submission.

Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans offers an up-close view.

            It took four hours.            

            You know I’m kidding, but not by much. I live in South Louisiana where these suckers — called tree roaches — grow the size of dogs. OK, exaggerating again. In reality, they’re oversized, they fly and they multiply like rabbits in our humid, junglesque environment.

            And before you start judging the cleanliness of my home (Yahoo Answers will back me up!), we all have them, even those McMansion folks. I remember once walking the streets of New Orleans at night with tourists who have that romantic Tennessee Williams idea of the city in their heads. We were on Prytania, waiting to cross the street to take in a movie. Above us, flying around a streetlight, was a collection of these buggers. My tourist friends asked if they were small birds.

            In my husband’s haste pulling out of our driveway one night he knocked off our faucet and sent water everywhere. Our plumbers, who are now our best friends, raced to the rescue but the new faucet has left behind a small hole leading straight into the kitchen sink. Call it the super roach highway. It could be a pinhole and those nasty creatures would find a way in.

            So today, I will be closing the front door to the roach motel with a calking gun, then spraying everything in sight. Hopefully they won’t even check in. The only thing worst than a live roach is one dead on its back, waiting for your shoe, sending off a cracking noise that drowns out the TV.

            Now, if you’re one of those weird people who loves looking at creatures like this, the Audubon Institute in New Orleans has a fabulous Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, located in the U.S. Custom House on Canal Street, that includes a Cockroach Chat, a live cam of the museum’s miniature New Orleans kitchen crawling with you know what. I've included a nice photo above of the Insectarium, because there was no way I was going to post a cockroach to my blog! I know my readers will thank me. 

Take last train to the Lovin' Spoonful Cafe

    You know you’re in for a treat when you head out for a good meal and the restaurant’s walls are decorated in paint-by-number sets. Particularly when the artwork is grouped by subject matter — the cat table for instance or the Jesus section.

      It’s all part of the fun at the Lovin’ Spoonful Café in Clarksville, Tenn. In addition to the retro décor, there’s a blast from the past and then some on the menu as well. Diners can choose from items such as a Frito Pie (a layer of Fritos beneath the café’s homemade chili that’s topped with melted cheddar cheese and sour cream) or the meatloaf sandwich (the family recipe served warm and topped with cheddar and mayo on French bread). There’s “Spoonful sides” too, items such as Cowboy Caviar, fruit salad and jalapeno grit cakes. I couldn’t resist the Green Goddess dressing on my salad, sending me immediately back to my grandma’s house eating dinner off a TV tray!

            The restaurant offers catering for special occasions as well.
            Be sure and check out the bathroom area. More retro furnishings that will make Baby Boomers swoon.

If smoke comes out, there’s a new crawfish pope

           We eat just about anything in South Louisiana, including the low man on the underwater totem pole, the crawfish. These creatures live in freshwater wetlands, which is pretty much all of South Louisiana. And because they love water, such as bayous, marshes, swamps, ditches and the like — again all of South Louisiana — it’s not uncommon that you’ll find them burrowing in your backyard.

            In summer the most common species of crawfish crawls deep in the mud and stays there for most of fall and winter. When they come out of their holes in spring, it’s crawfish season, meaning Louisiana residents gobble them up. It’s amazing the species has survived.

            One of the most unusual sites you will see in South Louisiana are little mud "chimneys" poking out of the ground. Inside these chimneys there’s a crawfish or two living in his underground tunnel.

            Since Bob Thomas of the Loyola University Center for Environmental Education explains it so much better than I can, here’s his take on things:
          “Crawfish chimneys are those “smokestack”-looking things that appear in ditches, fields, and our yards each spring,” he writes. “Everywhere you see one (sometimes a crawfish will make two), there is a crawfish living in a burrow underneath. Their tunnels may extend down into the earth 3 feet or more, sometimes being a single burrow going straight down, but more often being a main tunnel with a couple of side tunnels, each with a room at the end. They are normally full of water.”

Here you go, Lafayette!

             When the Marquis de Lafayette was visiting central Georgia, he remarked that the countryside reminded him of La Grange, his French country estate. Because of his heroic status in the American Revolution, the people of LaGrange, Ga., named their town in honor of Lafayette, George Washington’s aide-de-camp.

            Today, Lafayette welcomes visitors from his fountain perch at the town’s center, a replica of the LaFayette statue located in LePuy, France. And visitors toss coins into its water as part of a long-standing tradition.

According to town legend, Lafayette told Col. Julius C. Alford that tossing coins into wells brought luck. Upon leaving for the Creek Indian War of 1836, Alford tossed a coin into one of the two LaGrange wells and said, “Here you go, Lafayette.” His men decided to do the same.

Today, the custom continues but with two coins, to double a person’s chances at luck, and within the Lafayette fountain. Luck seekers stand with their backs to the Lafayette statue and toss a coin over their shoulder and make a wish. Then they turn and face the Marquis and toss the second coin while making another wish. If they so desire, they can add a “Here you go, Lafayette” as well.

Explorations in Antiquity

LaGrange and the homage to Lafayette sits south of Atlanta on the road to Montgomery, Ala., a sweet collection of charming historic buildings, downtown murals, the historic LaGrange College and nearby West Point Lake.

The home and gardens at Hills &Dales estate is a must-see to any visit to the region, offering a tour of the home and the 176-year-old gardens. The Italian villa on the 35-acre property was built by textile magnate and philanthropist Fuller E. Callaway Sr., accenting gardens begun by Sarah Coleman Ferrell in 1841. Some of the estate’s many features include a boxwood garden shaped with a “God is Love” message, a greenhouse full of magnificent orchids and other flowers and ancient magnolias.

Hills & Dales

For something truly unique, LaGrange’s Explorations in Antiquity Center offers full-scale archaeological replicas from biblical times, allowing visitors to walk through residences, workplaces, houses of worship and even an authentic shepherd’s tent of the Judeo-Christian times of the Middle East. There are catacombs to showcase burial rituals, plus logged crucifixes from felled trees resembling what was used at the time, as opposed to the lumber versions most of us see today.  Visitors can watch docents weave on looms and shepherds create butter and attend lectures and demonstrations.

If this interactive museum with its special events and time travel experiences weren’t enough, Explorations also serves an authentic biblical meal using recipes and traditions of the First Century with a guide who explains the customs of the day as well as the meanings behind Passover and the Last Supper. Visitors will enjoy foods such as unleavened bread, olives, a salad comparable to a Greek salad and grilled chicken and lamb, among other treats. Groups are needed to request such a meal, so if you can arrange one or manage to join another do! It’s an excellent lesson in history, religion, culture and fun.

The South's just weird all over!

            We drive along the South’s intricate web of Interstates and routinely come across this weird image. No, the truck isn’t driving backwards and heading straight for us, but this truck cab being towed sure makes for a scary sight, especially if you’re heading home after a night in New Orleans.

            This weird moment made us think of a few more.

            Like the no swimming sign at the Louisiana Welcome Center, on the Bayou State side of the Sabine River outside southeast Texas. Even the hardiest of souls who ignore undertow warnings and go outside during hurricanes will probably do exactly what this sign says.

            Or how about this dinosaur someone placed in their back yard in Eureka Springs. To keep cats away? To give the dog a fright when he takes a leak in the middle of the night?

           What’s a weird thing you’ve seen in the South, or is this a gross understatement? (Yes, we realize there are many weird things in the South, which is why we wrote this blog!) But we’d still love to hear about it. Or send us a photo by email with the subject line “Weird South” to cherecoen@gmail.com.

Resting in the Blues: The three graves of Robert Johnson

             Apparently Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson did more than sell his soul at the Crossroads. He split it three ways, kinda like Voldemort’s horcruxes in Harry Potter.

            Johnson has three gravesites in Mississippi.

            Robert Johnson blazed the blues trail, leaving us with some of the genre’s most important recordings, many of which influenced later musicians and helped developed other genres such as rock ‘n’ roll.

            Legend has it that his ambition drove him to meet the devil near Mississippi’s Dockery Plantation, where the devil tuned his guitar and endowed him with great talent in exchange for his soul. Today, visitors can easily find this “Crossroads” in Clarksdale, marked by a giant sign.

            Whether this story is true, you be the judge. Robert Johnson and the “Crossroads” has spurred numerous discussions over its origins and truth.

Robert Johnson's grave at Little Zion in Greenwood.

             The indisputable reality was that Robert Johnston died way too young, at the age of 27 in 1938 outside Greenwood, Miss. Where he’s buried is another mystery.

            The three gravesites of Robert Johnson in Mississippi are:

            Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Morgan City, where an obelisk headstone exists with a photo, discography, biography and the following inscription, “Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues Singers, his music struck a chord that continues to resonate. His blues addressed generations he would never know and made poetry of his visions and fears.” It’s believed Johnson was buried here in an unmarked grave and the market was later placed by Columbia Records.

            Payne Chapel Memorial Baptist Church in Quito, with a small headstone that reads, “Robert Johnson, May 8, 1911-August 16, 1938, resting in the blues.” An Atlanta rock group named the Tombstones placed this headstone here upon learning of it being Johnson’s burial site.

            Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Greenwood, a short walk from Tallahatchie Flats (see last week’s blog) is the most likely place. The story of his death near Greenwood seems to hold the most credence and there’s a copy of his death certificate floating around the Internet. The little cemetery next to a quaint church on the banks of the Tallahatchie River is nestled beneath trees and offers a nice headstone to the bluesman with a stone copy of his handwriting stating, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of Jerusalem. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He will call me from the Grave.”

            Around his grave were items placed in reverence by fans. And a few empty whiskey bottles.
     Want to follow in Robert Johnson’s footsteps and solve the mystery yourself? Greenwood tourism offers a self-guided legacy tour. For a tour of Mississippi blues legends, follow the Mississippi Blues Trail. 

Shacking up in Mississippi

             There are plenty of hotels throughout America that offer luxury and intensely comfortable linens. 

Shack Up Inn

             In Mississippi, you can stay at a sharecropper’s shack.

            Just outside of Clarksdale is the Shack Up Inn with its several “shacks” moved to the property from neighboring plantations. “The ritz we ain’t” they proclaim on their web site — and that sums it up well. There’s the Electric Blue shack with two separate bedrooms and a shared kitchenette and private bath to the small eco-friendly “Tinth” shack that sleeps two. Most have porches with old couches and chairs — not to mention old relics and found architectural pieces — conducive to sitting and jamming or enjoying good company. 

Shack Up Inn

             The Cotton Gin on the property operates more like a hotel with large beds, bath, microwave, small fridge, TV and coffeemaker. There’s a massive lobby at one end, perfect for live performances, and a converted silo at the other, now used as a staircase.

            Prices range from $65-$100 in most cases with the most expensive night’s stay being the old farm tractor shed now converted into a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house with a full kitchen ($250) and the “Sky Shack” above the lobby that features a front porch with rockers overlooking the lobby stage.

Tallahatchie Flats

             Outside of Greenwood, Mississippi, is the Tallahatchie Flats, a collection of equally authentic sharecropper shacks located on the river where Billie Jo McAllister threw something overboard — was it a baby, did anyone ever find out for sure? These old-time tenant houses offer wonderful décor, from the license plate covering the hole in the floor to the old record player sporting 45s.

Tallahatchie Flats

            Nighttime is quiet out here in the country, with nothing by cotton fields for company, and a good rainstorm on the tin roof offers loads of ambience. The night we stayed here hunting season was in full swing and we came home from a dinner in Greenwood to lots of dead ducks lying on the porches. 

             If you’re going to travel the Blues Highway through the Delta of Mississippi, might as well as do it right and experience why people got the blues to begin with. Although we doubt the original tenants had maid service, little shampoos and fresh linens.
     Tallahatchie Flats is located less than a mile down the road from Robert Johnson's grave. Or one of his graves. Why does the bluesman who supposedly sold his sold to the devil at the Crossroads have three graves? Read next week's blog.

We've been told a lie. Humpty Dumpty lives!

             Eureka Springs is a funky little town. It began with a doctor’s discovery of the medicinal springs, drawing people to the area who built the town around the side of a mountain. Throughout town you’ll find old buildings and remnants of buildings along secluded roads and trails, an underground city from when the current town was built on top of the old and lots of caves and springs. 

             And then there’s Humpty Dumpty.

            He sits on a wall — intact — in the middle of downtown Eureka Springs. Apparently he hasn’t fallen yet — or we've been lied to! Visitors looking for the fairy tale need to know where to spot him or they will easily walk by and never see him perched above. Humpty makes his home next to the Basin Spring Park, where Spring and Main streets intersect. Just pass by and look up.

            The town is also home to the world’s largest tuned wind chime, a 36-foot-tall creation hanging from a 100-year-old oak tree that’s listed on the Guinness Book of Records. It’s located in front of Celestial Windz Harmonic Bizaar at 381 Highway 23 South. Listen here to the NPR story, which includes audio of the chimes.

Maybe it’s a radio thing

            Most people who watch live performances prefer to sit as close as possible to the stage so they can see the faces of those doing the performing. At the Grand Ole Opry, the choice seats are on the stage, behind the performers. There are actually seats at the back of the Opry stage where VIPs sit, watching the action from behind.

Opry VIPs seats

             I’ve been in those seats and it’s a thrill, even if you do watch the backsides of Minnie Pearl and Chet Atkins (and yes, I’m showing my age here, was a seat warmer back in the 80s).

            Perhaps this tradition harkens back to the Grand Ole Opry radio days, when people couldn’t see the performers anyway. Radio listeners also can’t see the performers coming and going noisily on and off the stage. Even today, there's one announcer sitting at a podium, and the performers casually come and go during the commercials. Like one big happy family. 

Porter Wagner's Dressing Room with its purple couch.

             That’s what’s so interesting about watching the Opry live even today at its grand and glorious new theater. It’s still a radio show and even though there’s a live audience, it’s still operated like one.

            I visited the Grand Ole Opry recently and this time got a backstage pass as a journalist, which wasn’t as elitist as sitting on the stage, but we did get a tour of the dressing rooms. Porter Wagner’s was pretty funky, had a crazy purple sofa.

            We did get to stand at the back of the stage briefly, watching Mandy Barnett perform in front of us. It was quite the thrill.

What the Grand Ole Opry looks like from the front.

Elvis has NOT left the building and other Shreveport haunts

            Elvis Presley performed on the “Louisiana Hayride” radio show, broadcast from Shreveport’s historic Municipal Auditorium. It was a transitional time for Elvis; he started garnering a following while in Shreveport and left for bigger pastures. But when screaming teens arrived at the Municipal to hear him sing, “Hayride” producer Horace Logan had to tell then “Elvis has left the building” to make them stop.

Cora Lee Wilson's grave

             The screaming teens may have left the building but some think Elvis still hangs around. Actually, most people have other views about who’s haunting the Municipal Auditorium but it’s definitely someone who is not of this plane.

Logan Mansion

            The Auditorium is only one site in Shreveport that claims to be haunted, and these downtown haunts were spotlighted in last weekend’s inaugural Paranormal Festival. Participants were treated to tours of Oakland Cemetery, where the gravesite of Cora Lee Wilson routinely has bricks pushed out — from the inside! The cemetery is also home to more than 750 bodies buried in one massive grave due to the 1873 yellow fever epidemic. Vicki LeBrun gave tours of the Victorian Logan Mansion where it’s believed a young girl threw herself out of the third-story window and hangs around performing ghostly pranks (and sits across the street from the old gay nightclub that's now seen in the opening of "True Blood" episodes). Ghost hunting sessions were held at the Spring Street Museum and the Multi-Cultural Center, where people (including yours truly) heard unexplained noises, watched flashlights go on and off and heard answers to their spoken questions. 

Fan of "True Blood?" This house is in the opening credits.

              “We think that downtown Shreveport has many things that go bump in the night,” said festival director Liz Swaine.

            As for Elvis sightings, the Municipal Auditorium was closed for renovations. Since the festival drew good crowds for its first time out the gate, festival organizers are hopeful they will offer the event next summer, but using the Auditorium as home base.

            Maybe then we can be sure if Elvis truly left the building.

A fire hydrant Clifford the Big Red Dog would love

            They say everything is bigger in Texas and a trip to Beaumont would assure anyone that this Dalmatian-styled fire hydrant fits the bill. Actually, it’s the third largest hydrant in the world — largest, of course, in Texas — but the largest working fire hydrant ever! We’d really love to see this baby in action!

             The fire hydrant sits in front of the Fire Museum of Texas, located in the city’s 1927 working Central Fire Station at 400 Walnut Street in downtown Beaumont. The museum is filled with vintage fire engines and equipment and memorabilia dating back to the late 1600s. Items include the 1909 Aerial ladder truck, the 1856 Howe Hand Drawn Pumper, the 1931 Light Truck used for search and rescue in the 1937 New London School Explosion and the Gamewell Call Box Alarm System used to call in fires before there were telephones.

            There is a fire engine for play as well, so kids can dress up in firemen clothes and sound the alarms, and an international collection of fire patches with a handy index so you can look up your town or state

            The Fire Museum of Texas is open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is free! And don’t forget the gift shop.

Goats on the Roof?

             In the South there have been some creative ways of enticing people off the road and into establishments. Think “See Rock City” emblazoned on bright red barns.

            But Goats on the Roof?

             In Tiger, Georgia, you can’t help but pull over for this attraction. Several goats are indeed on the roof — or roofs, all of which are attached by swinging bridges. Why? Heck, why not?

            Here’s how it works. You purchase goat food from the gift shop or Big Billy’s Café and Sweet Treats. Place the goat food into one of the many cups attached to a pully that leads up to a roof. Some of the pulleys are simple and some require some work, such as the bicycle, that moves the can of food up to the goat as you pedal.

            As you can imagine, the goats on the roof look down with glee once they hear those pulleys moving. They practically eat the cup when it finally arrives. 

             As crazy as it seems, the attraction’s a lot of fun. Kids love to ride the bicycle that moves the cup of food and witness the goats going crazy once the food arrives. And in addition to the goats, kids can mine for “gems” in a faux mining station or enjoy really awesome fudge inside the café (OMG, the red velvet cake!). There’s a picnic area, and food is available in the café and store.

             Before you pick up the phone to call PETA, the owners assured us the goats are well cared for and aren’t starving, despite their eager show on the roof — hey, that’s what goats do, eat everything! The goats rotate out so their stay on the roof is temporary and they have lovely goat quarters up there.

            Looking for a unique wedding site? Goats on the Roof is available for all kinds of special events.

Blog now honoring South's weird and unusual places

Dear Readers,

            I travel the South as a travel writer and am constantly amazed at the unusual and weird things we do.  I’ve decided to change my blog from a general travelogue to one that spotlights the weird and crazy places within the Southern United States.

            First up is the cemetery outside St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Rayne, Louisiana. B.L. Rayne brought the Louisiana Western Railroad to the prairie west of Lafayette, but frogs brought it fame. The Weill brothers of France — remember the French love frog legs — saw a future in the region’s bullfrogs and began exporting them to restaurants throughout the country.

            When you visit the quaint town of Rayne, there are frog murals everywhere, many created by the award-winning Acadiana mural artist Robert Dafford. In the fall is the annual Frog Festival. It’s no wonder Rayne calls itself the “Frog Capital of the World.”

            But back to that cemetery. The graves at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church are buried in a north-south direction instead of east to west, a traditional formation made for the departed to greet the rising sun, a symbol of Christ’s resurrection. No one knows for sure whether the grave organizers were having a joke on the town or if the mistake was unintentional, but St. Joseph’s Cemetery is a rarity. In addition to frogs, Rayne is famous for its unusual cemetery mentioned in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”