C O U R S E Y • H A R R E L L S F E R R Y • M I L L E R V I L L E • O L D J E F F E R S O N • PA R K V I E W • S H E N A N D O A H • T I G E R B E N D • W H I T E O A K
THE SOUTHEAST
ADVOCATE T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, J a n u a ry 22, 2025
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‘THIS IS A SPECIAL PLACE.’
Lafayette’s Sola Violins owner continues to champion city I had lots of questions when I first met Anya Burgess almost two decades ago. Besides how to pronounce her maiden name of Schonegge, I asked, “What’s a luthier?” Burgess explained that a luthier makes and repairs stringed Herman instruments, like Fuselier violins or guitars. Second, did she really go to college to learn this? Burgess proudly proclaimed her degree from Bowdoin College in Maine and completion of a twoyear violin-making program at Indiana University. What’s the difference between a fiddle and a violin? Nothing, said Burgess, just the style of music played on the instrument. Did Burgess, a Boston native, really want to set up shop in the Cajun and Creole country of southwest Louisiana? That’s where musicians literally play second fiddle to accordionists who wear crowns, win Grammys and have romance résumés that fuel crawfish boil gossip.
STAFF FILE PHOTOS BY JAVIER GALLEGOS
TOP LEFT: Musician Cliff Patrick, left, teaches Jonah Webster different chord positions as they play their acoustic guitars together at Belli in Spanish Town in April 2024. TOP RIGHT: Spanish Town Mardi Gras parades through town in February 2024. BOTTOM LEFT: Doc L’Herisson digs up a rock while breaking ground on his Spanish Town garden as his cat, Honey Bunch, sunbathes next to him in March 2024. BOTTOM RIGHT: Spanish Town resident Francis Shore smiles while telling a story on his porch with his dog, Jet, in November 2024.
SPANISH TOWN
THROUGH THE YEARS
How did Baton Rouge’s oldest neighborhood come to be? BY SERENA PUANG
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP
Anya Burgess is a violin maker, restorer, player and owner of Sola Violins in Lafayette.
But Burgess recently reminded me that the fiddle came before the accordion in Acadian/Cajun music. Yet, on her first day in Louisiana in 2000, Burgess knew she was in the right place when she turned on the radio. “They were speaking French,” Burgess said. “I was just blown away about how cool that was. I had no idea people spoke French outside of Canada. I grew up in Boston, took some French. But nobody talked about Louisiana. I didn’t have to get used to Cajun music or zydeco. I immediately just loved it.” Burgess is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Sola
ä See VIOLINS, page 2G
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Staff writer
hat is the essence of Spanish Town? Is it the cute houses? The Spanish Town Parade? Maybe flamingos? Spanish Town is the oldest neighborhood in Baton Rouge, laid out in 1805 before the city was the state’s capital. These days, it’s known for its eccentric nature and its Mardi Gras parade, which is the biggest in the city, but the Spanish Town of today was not inevitable. It’s the product of people who have invested in the community, stayed and worked to improve it over the years. The neighborhood was first settled by people “who didn’t want Darryl Gissel, a real estate agent and former civic board association leader, to be American,” said Lawrence looks through a personal collection of photos of Spanish Town properties “Doc” L’Herisson, longtime resident and a board member for the taken over the years. Mardi Gras parade. They were garrison in the 1810. It was a Civil mostly people from the Canary Is- neighborhood on the river. War battle ground — one of the only lands who lived under Spanish rule. urban battles of the war. They were encouraged to settle in Evolutions of Spanish Town After that, it was a majority Black the area to defend Fort San Carlos, Since the 1800s, the neighborhood which was owned by the Spanish has seen many iterations. It was ä See SPANISH TOWN, page 2G and once located just west of the designated as an American military
Is there a meteorite crater in St. Helena Parish? Paul Heinrich, retired associate researcher with the Louisiana Geological Survey at LSU, discovered citronelle formations in the fractures in the clayey, or clay-like, sands exposed in the ditch bordering La. 37. PROVIDED PHOTO BY PAUL HEINRICH
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
It measures a mile in diameter, and a highway runs through it. But the occasional drivers cutting through St. Helena Parish along La. 37 wouldn’t know they are passing through a meteorite’s crash site. No sign announces it. No history marker tells the story of how it fell to earth a few miles outside of Greensburg more
than 10,000 years ago, though geologist Paul Heinrich now believes the crater may be even older. However, Lee Miller was more curious about the existence of the crater than its exact age. “I’ve heard that there may be a crater in the area where I live,” the Clinton resident said. “But is it true? And if it is, where is it?” It’s true. Miller could easily find the crater by driving a few miles into St. Helena Parish
from his East Feliciana Parish home — that is, if he knows where to look. Where to look is the missing piece of the puzzle. Heinrich was a research associate with the Louisiana Geological Survey at LSU when he pinpointed the exact spot in 2023. He even provided a landmark as a guide. “A volunteer fire station stands along the road where the crater
ä See CURIOUS, page 2G