Monday, April 2, 2012

JIMMIE DAVIS STATE PARK - CHATHAM, LA

We left Lake Bisinteau around 10:00 this morning.  Drove around to find the beach.  Well, there really wasn't one.  Just a grassy slope into the lake.





We left and headed for Gibsland to visit the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum, the ambush site near Mt. Lebanon, and Driskill Mountain before going to our next campground.



L.J. "Boots" Hinton, runs the museum.  He is the son of Ted Hinton who was one of the 6 police officers who ambushed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934.

Standing:  Prentis Oakley (who fired the first shots), Ted Hinton, Bob Alcorn, and Manny Gault,
Kneeling:  Frank Hamer, and Henderson Jordan.

The museum contained many photos, newspaper clippings, one of Bonnie's hats found in the death car, blown up posters of the Barrow gang, photos and history of the police officers who killed Bonnie and Clyde, and a 30 minute DVD video to watch.  I purchased the book written by Ted Hinton and Boots signed it for me.  Then we rode a few miles down the road to the Historical Marker.

It's hard to tell how big it is in these photos but it is about 4 feet tall. 

It's got bullet holes and graffitti on it but it stands.  It's actually across the highway from where the couple was killed.

The exact location would be right before my coach on the right.

The police hid and waited in the bushes on the right.

I placed a tiny daisy flower pot at the site.

Ambush site taken in 1934.

Ambush site taken in 2012.

The death car in a museum in Nevada.

The death car - taken right after shooting.  Bonnie had 53 bullets that hit her and Clyde had 51.  Very sad.


We left and drove about 30 miles to our next stop.  Driskill Mountain is the highest natural summit in Louisiana with an elevation of 535 feet above sea level.  Although the word mountain is in its name, Driskill Mountain is actually a tall hill.  Its elevation is well below the level considered to be a mountain.

Driskill Mountain is a landform created by the erosion of unlithified Paleogene sediment.  Its summit consists of nonmarine quartz sands. These sands overlie shallow marine and coastal clays, silts, and sands of the Cook Mountain Formation, which form the bulk of Driskill Mountain.

I thought there would be an overlook or something but there was a church at the top of the hill and that was all - so I didn't stop. 

Driskill Mountain is located behind the Mount Zion Independent Presbyterian Church.  A short hike takes you to the modest summit area, marked by a stone cairn and a marker containing a metal box with a sign-in register.




NOW ON TO JIMMIE DAVIS STATE PARK

We arrived at Jimmie Davis State Park around 2:00 this afternoon.  Just as I was checking in the clouds rolled in, it got real dark real fast, the wind picked up and I knew what was coming.  I got into my site and it started to pour.  I hooked up electric but ran inside before I could get water hooked up.  It rained hard for some time then the sun came out for just a little while before dark.

The view from my front door.  The lake is behind those campers.

Nice fishing  pier.

Xi wanted to follow that little Dachshund but they were in a hurry.

Yes, Momi... I read the sign.

Back to our campsite.

Tomorrow we'll walk around the campground and look for the beach area.

Cooked a sausage Jambalaya tonight.  I was starved.  Didn't have any lunch.  Going to bed early... tired.






7 comments:

  1. History is always more exciting and comes to life in a special way when you can meet a living descendant of an event. Nice that you got an autograph from Boots. I bet that was an interesting visit. Your campsite tonight looks great - very pretty and spacious.

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    1. Hi Donna K... Yes, my visit with Boots was indeed interesting. He is a very colorful character and knowledgeable about many things, and loves to talk. Although his father was one of the officers who shot Bonnie and Clyde, he is very sympathetic towards the young couple who died as violently as they lived. He claimed that the 6 officers broke the law to capture Bonnie and Clyde that day but it was justified.

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  2. Interesting & beautiful place to visit. I'm glad you made it there. Thanks for today's post.

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  3. This is pretty but I think the man who set up bonnie parker and clyde barrows is mean and curel he helped them when they got shoot he was so nice to them........and then got them killed.

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  4. Is there a reason in the world why they had to shoot bonnie 53 times and clyde 51times john dillenger was worse than boonie and clyde

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    1. I agree that it was "over kill" and that all those shots were not required to do what they set out to do. It indicates to me that they feared the couple just that much and wanted to make sure that they didn't survive to come after them. Very sad.

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