The Henderson Mystery

Now I like a good mystery. Always have. Going back to the Hardy Boys when I was a youngster.

Not the blood and gore, “who-dunit” type of mystery, but more like the unexplained occurrence or the “Houston, we have a problem” type of mystery. Or like the one we encountered one day in Henderson, Louisiana.

Lunch was our eventual objective, but we first wanted to explore this small town (pop. 1600) near the levee of the Atchafalaya Basin. The signs were interesting, but it was the small group of buildings along the levee on the edge of town that caught our attention.

We parked along Bayou Amy,

spent a little time watching some fishermen watch their lines,

and then re-directed our attention to the buildings.

The names on the buildings described what had (possibly) been their primary use. The Ice House looked like it would still sell ice (remember the sign above that advertised their long-lasting ice).

But the Huval Syrup Mill seemed to be only a reminder of a work center of the past. A few people seemed focused on activity of some sort, but the building seemed to function as a storage area only.

Huval’s Grocery and the Blacksmith Shop had the quality of a movie set’s storefronts.

It was only the Crawfish Plant that seemed to be directed to a product identified on its sign. Fork lift vehicles motored around the buildings, but even with that activity, the purpose of some of the buildings (like the building on pillars below) was unclear.

But the message from the Crawfish Plant and the Coca Cola sign indicated it was time for lunch.

The question of the array of buildings here would have to be left undefined—is it a part of Henderson’s business district, a group of buildings re-creating functions of the past, a grouping related to our lunchtime destination (Pat’s Restaurant), or a combination of all the above.

As we headed to Pat’s, we noticed that others in the area were “freshening up” a bit before a midday meal.

But, an unsolved mystery is very frustrating.