Crime Blotter: Reported offenses in the Tri-parishes
November 28, 2012
Gumbo’s Greatest Hits revealed
December 3, 2012
In 1948, filmmaker Robert Flaherty was searching for a small boat for “The Louisiana Story,” a piece he was doing for Standard Oil Company. He finally found Bayou Pierre Part resident Ebdon Allemon, a Cajun craftsman, whom he persuaded to build a pirogue.
“The Louisiana Story” was Flaherty’s final film. But it sparked a 14-minute black-and-white flick, captured by Arnold Eagle, of Allemon crafting a pirogue from start to finish – intended as a tribute to Flaherty.
Houma’s Southdown Plantation, with the help of Allemon’s descendants, is hosting “Pirogue Maker,” a collection of the tools the craftsman used to carve the narrow canoes from a single tree trunk. The exhibit runs Dec. 18 through May 2013.
Meanwhile, “The Pirogue Maker” can be viewed online at www.folkstreams.net.
Southdown Plantation is located at 1208 Museum Drive. For more information, call (985) 851-0154.
Fishing from his Bayou Pierre Part dock, Ebdon Alleman watches his neighbor move his house barge in this 1946 photo.
