Avery Island is still there, of course, and the McIlenney family still owns some of it. The rest they donated to the feds to establish a bird sanctuary that is today covered with hordes of flocks of Snowy Egrits. I do not recall seeing many ducks, but the white plumed Egrits were everywhere. Also green and yellow banded, baby alligators that are about a foot and a half long. They hiss at you as you pass them on the foot trail that meanders threw the jungle. I missed my M-14. They menacingly raising their long noses and opening their mouths while hissing loudly exposing what appeared to be razor sharp teeth. They are full of bluster and make short jerky charges. They act as if they want to start at a toe and eat up to your knee. I jumped back and walked carefully around them and went on my way, but the little gaters were none too pleased.
They could call Avery Island, Mosquito Island, and it would be properly named. Old oak trees with long globs of Spanish Moss hanging down and jungle all about. Very hot and humid, and as close to some South East Asian jungles that I visited at the behest of Uncle Sam years ago that I have seen in this country. Blindingly white Snowy Egrits abound!
When you drive to the island, (it is a long, lonely trek, from New Orleans.) you first come upon the Tobasco Sauce plant, which is still owned and run by the MclIenny family. They started making Tobasco sauce right after the Civil War when they stored it in old cologne bottles. They shared the stuff with people who clammered from more so the family went into the business. We were told that it is the most universally eaten food on the planet! The little red peppers they use to make it are indigenous and unique to that spot, but today most are grown in Chili. They age the spicey sauce like wine which is all brewed on site. They pour it into wine barrels which are stood on end. The lid is covered with about three inches of pure white salt. It ages for three years. The salinity is such that bacteria cannot survive so there is no spoilage. There is a store there where you can buy a half gallon jug of Tobasco Sauce. I did just so I could brag about having the biggest bottle of Tobasco Sauce in town. We got'er down in about a year. I like hot sauce.
From the parking lot of the factory, which is housed in a large multicolored red and orange brick building that stands all buy its lonesome, in the middle of what must be a ten acre grassy plot of land, you drive directly on to Avery Island. (During storms the locals use the factory as a sanctuary.) After you pass over the little stone bridge that you saw in the movie, you find yourself on the Island proper. There is a park ranger's home. Towering trees and heavy brush. Swamps gallore with islands here and there. I think the admission was free, but you can make a donation. It is worth the drive from New Orleans because every time you put a dollup of Tobasco Sauce on your scrambled eggs you can tell the story. I doubt very much that you can hunt ducks there anymore. Who eats Snowy Egrits anyway?
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11-04-2012, 07:04 PM
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