PETER W. PATOUT - BLOG

Acadiana Louisiana Iris Festival Debut

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 16:46:28 GMT

Join Us!
It’s Really Happening!
So I brought the vision. A host of volunteers are making this happen!

PHOTO: HENRY CANCIENNE
As featured in this month’s Garden & Gun Magazine

Many of you are aware of my deep appreciation for our Louisiana native Irises and my dream that someday the banks of the Bayou Teche will be shored up by our Giant Blue Iris, aka Big Blue (Iris giganticaerulea), Louisiana's official state wildflower.

Join Me!
We are celebrating the beautiful blooms progress,
and Garden & Gun Magazine has noticed.
My Best to You for a Bloom-Filled Spring!
Peter

We are marking a beautiful start with this celebration
We started planting just a couple years ago and I hope you’ll come celebrate with us and enjoy supporting this wonderful beautification effort. Native Irises shore up our waterways - slowing wetlands loss.

Beautification brings people together. Here my friends at Garden & Gun Magazine highlight Seven Native Wildflower Festivals including ours. Be sure to note the nearby native Red Irises!

My favorite Crawfish Étoufée Recipe

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:18:41 GMT

See How I Make & Get the Recipe Here!
Linked Recipe PDF
Simple, quick and incredibly delicious!
Yield: 3 servings

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Peter Patout (@peter.patout)

GARDEN & GUN FEATURES MY COUNTRY HOME

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:16:48 GMT

What an honor and thrill!
Wonderful home feature by Senior Editor CJ Lotz Diego, phenomenal images by Alison Gootee, and beautifully styled by Paige Mullens
ALL PHOTOS LINKED TO GARDEN & GUN STORY

2025 Feb-March Cover Photo by Cedric Angeles
HOMEPLACE SWEET REVIVAL

Deep in Louisiana Sugar Country, an Antiques Lover Restores His Storied Family Home

A sweet renaissance in a century-old bayou retreat

By CJ LOTZ DIEGO
February/March 2025

When Peter Patout craves a break from the bustle that rarely slows near his Bourbon Street home, he heads west from New Orleans. He drives for two hours, crossing the Atchafalaya River and cypress bayous until he reaches his family’s property thirty miles south of Lafayette, in the hamlet that is called—no joke—Patoutville, Louisiana.

Patout, who sells historic properties in Louisiana and Mississippi, steps up to the house that his grandparents built sometime around 1925, a Mediterranean Revival with a columned porch anchored in a sugarcane sea. “There’s almost always a breeze,” he says, “and the birds and crickets provide the background noise. You can smell night-blooming jasmine and butterfly ginger, along with citrus blossoms in the spring.”

To the hum and beat of planting and harvesting, the little Patoutville community thrums along in Iberia Parish, the same one where peppers grow and become Tabasco sauce, where James Lee Burke sets many of his novels, where the Blue Dog artist George Rodrigue painted, and where Bayou Teche flows. It’s also where Patout invites his many creative friends to steep in the mysteries of Cajun country.

A century ago, Ory and Agnes Patout raised six children and ran a store here. The entire sugar enterprise at one point included a doctor’s office, lumber company, cemetery, and more than one bar. To this day, sugarcane dominates the region’s harvests, and Patout’s relatives remain forces in the industry.

To a young Patout growing up in a sleek midcentury-modern house in nearby Jeanerette, the rural retreat invited romps through both nature and family lore. “I still remember delicious meals, the garden, geese in the yard, and a pigpen in the rear,” he says. “But my first recollection of my grandmother’s house was sipping café au lait and eating biscuits after attending Mass at Old St. Nicholas Catholic Church just across the street. This church was founded by my family’s French immigrant ancestor, who was buried underneath the center aisle.”

The home has never left the family, and the ghosts still pull up a seat. “When my oldest cousin, Jimmy Keller, told me he wanted me to have the house,” Patout says, “he was sitting at the kitchen table in the exact spot where my grandmother had sat, where his mother had sat, and where I now sit.” Patout took over the place, along with an acre of land, after Keller died in 2010. “Since inheriting the house, I have poured my heart into its restoration and care.” And like many country homes, this one is named for its matriarch: the Mrs. Ory Patout House.

After a family auction divvied up many of the odds and ends that had accumulated over the generations, Patout set to addressing the most pressing upkeep needs and restoring the house back to its glory days. “Everywhere there was this layer of smoke,” he says. “I think someone had smoked in there every day since the 1920s.” He chuckles, but then shudders as he recalls “the Sheetrock campaign” and the “synthetic floor with all the glue.” Patout pared those surfaces back to the original pine board walls and heart pine floors. “Fortunately,” he says, “I inherited a house with incredible integrity.” And he put oyster shells as ashtrays outside, on the porch.

The sunny sitting room exemplifies Patout’s relaxed approach to hosting, with upholstered chairs galore, all meant for getting cozy with the Louisiana history books scattered about, and a big map of the Bayou Teche region hung in a corner. Everywhere, he layered in family mementos and treasures from his lifetime of collecting—nineteenth-century oil portraits of his French Creole ancestors, a marble-topped buffet, and in the central room that he reconfigured into an entertaining hub, an epic dining table ringed with ladder-back and rush-seat chairs. At the table’s center, he arranges garden roses, citrus branches heavy with kumquats, or armfuls of the Louisiana irises he planted all around the property. (Not unrelated: He installed an outdoor shower hidden in a bamboo patch, a storybook spot for a post-weeding rinse.)

Four-poster Louisiana canopy beds fill the large bedrooms. Years ago, Patout uncovered a swatch of faded wallpaper in an abandoned manor house in neighboring St. Mary Parish. He sent it off to the experts at Adelphi Paper Hangings in New York, who concluded that it was an 1830s French design. The company re-created the print by hand and now sells it in four colors under the name Florence Place Foliate. Lauren Buckholtz of Baton Rouge’s Perla Paperhanging covered one of the bedrooms with the pattern in blue, and when she finished, Patout sat in a rocking chair and cried. “It had been Jimmy’s mom’s, my Aunt Evelyn’s room,” he says. “This side of the family was so modest. They were never extravagant, but she had an eye for beauty.”

Stories swirl all around Patout. The author Natalie Baszile shadowed the area’s sugarcane farmers while writing her stellar 2014 novel Queen Sugar, which became a television series produced by Oprah Winfrey. For years, Baszile shuttled between her own home in California and both of Patout’s houses. “I had never really come across someone who had that deep of a connection to the objects in their home,” Baszile says. “He’s committed to the past, but it’s not like things are frozen in amber—he lives a rich and textured life. He serves breakfast on the dishes; his guests sit in the chairs and sleep in the beds. He has been a real teacher to me in the importance of visual storytelling.”

Baszile says she’ll always remember watching golden hour on the sleeping porch that Patout transformed into a screened-in sanctuary. “I would sit in a wicker chair with the breeze rolling in over the sugarcane fields with the mill in the distance,” Baszile says. “When you think about the fact that sugarcane was one of the three crops that built this nation—sugarcane, tobacco, and cotton—you realize you’re at ground zero for the American story in all its beauty, ugliness, and complexity. Peter’s generosity of spirit allowed me to access this whole world.”

In the charmingly rustic kitchen, nothing is too delicate to use. Tomatoes ripen on the windowsill above the deep enameled sink. Counters, walls, and glass-fronted cabinets hold blue-and-white dishes, assorted ceramics, and knife-worn cutting boards. Platters might be chipped on the edges, and the skillets are cured smooth, but everything has fulfilled its purpose time and again, bearing witness to lifetimes of gatherings. Patout still makes his aunt’s recipe for kumquat preserves here. He also ages bottles of satsuma-cello liqueur from citrus picked around the property, a treat introduced to him by the food historian Poppy Tooker and beloved by his dear late friend and longtime G&Gcontributing editor Julia Reed.

In 2019, the year before her death, Reed published her final book, Julia Reed’s New Orleans: Food, Fun, and Field Trips for Letting the Good Times Roll. In it, she nodded twice to Patout. First, she threw a midday get-together in his leafy Bourbon Street courtyard, with Ramos gin fizzes arriving on silver platters before a gumbo lunch that ended with rum-pecan pie. Then she devoted an entire chapter to adventures around Patoutville. With Patout’s two properties as her examples, Reed artfully connected the New Orleans party scene to the wider history of Cajun country.

In a big photograph, Reed re-created the scene of Aioli Dinner, a painting by George Rodrigue. Patout had hauled his grandmother’s old harvest table to the backyard, draped it in white linen, and assembled Reed’s guest list of friends with wineglasses in hand and a black Labrador retriever smiling from the grass. The next pages laid out the recipe for a heaping shrimp-and-potato spread with lots of garlicky dipping sauce, which Reed dubbed the Grand Aioli. “Since pretty much everything is meant to be eaten with your hands, the platter encourages intimacy and camaraderie around the table,” she explained. “But at this particular meal, we were all good friends in the first place.”

“Peter,” Reed wrote, ending the chapter (and it’s only fitting that her spirit have the last word here, too), “with his antiques-filled houses and love of the land, honors the past and his own Louisiana history with more joie de vivre and élan than anyone I know.”

Story & Photo Link

Getting Ready for Garden & Gun With Adelphi

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 04:35:43 GMT

Dear Friends,
How exciting to have my country home featured in this New Orleans-focused issue of Garden & Gun Magazine! The Mrs. Ory Patout House in Patoutville, is located just next door to New Iberia. I had thought this charming bucolic home, which sits on the edge of sugar cane fields in the heart of Acadiana, may be of interest to World of Interiors. Years ago, my Bourbon Street home was featured in that publication.

Garden & Gun's senior editor CJ Lotz Diego knew of me as a dear friend to Julia Reed (my deceased incredible writer and tastemaker friend). Over time, CJ and I developed a rapport where I would send her cultural highlights to explore and consider for their publication. She also visited my French Quarter home.

Last Spring, I introduced her to the New Iberia area. She attended the Books Along the Teche Festival to interview James Lee Burke, viewed native Louisiana Irises blooming at City Park (a project I've happily helped spearhead), and of course, I took her to my remarkable family home (pictured below) which she found intriguing and then wanted to feature. What an honor!

Contact me for Whole House Extended Rentals of the Mrs. Ory Patout Home

Once the photo shoot timing was discussed, I moved into high gear to add more lustre, which included wallpapering my deceased Aunt Evelyn's former bedroom.
There's quite a story about this historic wall paper and the installation process!

Introducing Florence Place Foliate
Gone But Not Lost
Recreating Classic Wallpaper with Adelphi...
Magical process brought historic paper to life
Twenty years ago, I wandered into an abandoned deteriorated home in St. Mary Parish, Florence Place, which has since succumbed to the elements. In a stairwell closet, I found a piece of remarkably intact, though damaged, beautiful wallpaper.

I later showed the sample to dear friends and top interior designers William Brockschmidt and Courtney Coleman of Brockschmidt & Coleman. They connected me with Steve Larson an owner of Adelphi Paperhangings. Bill and Courtney also expressed an interest in using the paper if reproduced.

To my amazement, Adelphi recreated this original French wall paper from the 1830's. When I gave my permission to proceed in making the hand-carved blocks, it was with the understanding that Adelphi could sell the design to others - thus keeping the design alive for future generations. Courtney and Bill also developed some additional colorways of Florence Place Foliate that have been used in prestigious interiors globally!

SEE ADELPHI'S PROCESS - VIDEO BELOW

Founded in 1999, Adelphi Paper Hangings is a small, artisanal producer of historically accurate block printed wallpapers for museums and historic institutions, as well as for period designers and those involved in contemporary design projects.

Adelphi papers represent the highest level of craftsmanship - and it isn’t cheap. Further, few tradespersons have the expertise to hang their works. It was quite an ordeal to find the right installer and one committed to making the trek to Patoutville for a multi-day installation.

After making numerous calls and countless inquiries to find a qualified installer, I was at a complete loss! Seemingly on-cue, I got a call from a good friend and client, who recently left her high power commercial real estate career.

THE COURTING BEGAN
Luring Lauren to Patoutville
I already knew Lauren Burns Buckholtz to have a great eye and to be meticulous. I was thrilled to learn she'd recently completed a special program in Vermont to learn how to hang wall paper professionally. She also apprenticed thereafter with a master of the trade....She reached out to make me aware of her career change and her new company Perla Paperhanging .

Lauren is a perfectionist. In fact at first she said, Hey I can't hang this....this paper is for a senior paper hanger. She said she tried to break up with me over this very expensive delicate paper. She was very concerned about doing the perfect job and she went on and on to the extent I had to tell her I didn’t want perfection, and after that she seemed to calm down.

Explaining her concerns Lauren said, "Peter wanted it done in historic overlap. He asked me to do because that’s they way it was done - which takes extra skill. I lined the wall with acid-free lining paper a day before even putting his paper on top of it to preserve the wallpaper and to prevent it from fading. The lining gave a better surface and locked in the seams which was especially needed with historic overlap technique, Lauren said.

Beautiful sunsets in Patoutville as the paper was being installed

Further she added, I spent a month researching for this project. I talked to Adelphi and they recommended I speak to the White House paper installer, and then I talked with 20 people in a guild.

Lauren arrived on the first day and her car was filled with paper hanging equipment and materials. As she was unloading.... "Now Peter, I’m not able to talk to you during this time." I was there one night and felt confident she was a great choice for the job. She stayed five days and made this room incredible.

And after the job was complete, I brought an old family rocker into the room and just sat in the space for awhile and teared up.

My Aunt Evelyn was uncharacteristically elegant for the area. She had great style and would have loved the beauty this special wall paper added, and the fuss in making her bedroom exceptional.
* * * * *

ANOTHER TEARY MOMENT: Seeing this Sign

In December, I had gone to pay my respects in Greenville, MS on the passing of Julia Reed's father, Clarke Reed. He was a huge influence in her life and I loved him, her mom and her extended family too. Later, I saw this sign and thought again about how my dear friend Julia had elevated my life in so many ways. The sign mentions her writing for the New York Times, Vogue and Garden & Gun. She included me in these publications because she believed in me. Poignant!

Highlighting Our Time Together
from my Blog
A Few Photos, Articles & Recipes...

Photo here & below by Paul Costello for Julia Reed's New Orleans:
Food, Fun, and Field Trips for Letting the Good Times Roll

CELEBRATING MY DEAR FRIEND: Julia Reed & Me

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 21:38:39 GMT

-HIGH JINKS & HURRAHS -
The Search for a Desk...
BEHIND THE SCENES UNPUBLISHED PHOTOS
AND HER PROPOSED COOKBOOK TITLE....
NOT JULIA REED'S MORMON COOKBOOK
(WITH APOLOGIES TO THE MORMONS)
Written September 2020
My Stories as Presented by Lee Anne Garner

She celebrated
life
like no one
else
I’ve ever known.

❤️

The loss I feel
for
Julia Reed’s
passing
is enormous,
and
my heart
will be heavy
for some time.

Photo by Paul Costello
That’s my New Orleans courtyard on the front cover, part of a Gumbo Lunch Chapter shoot...except the 2nd cover was a re-shoot! See it farther below.

I’m also filled with an enormous sense of gratitude....Our time together was filled with lively conversations and exciting experiences - all boozy and delicious.
Julia Reed validated me and put me on the map. She wrote about me and recommended me to others. She liked my stories, and style. She liked my antiques and how I lived with them, my interest in early Louisiana furnishings, and my passion for art, cooking and entertaining, gardening and history.

It was heady stuff being her friend starting way back in the early 90's-ish. It must have been by 1994.

She introduced me to her incredible network of talented friends and I was featured in Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, etc...and she helped me to reach a pinnacle.

There is no higher honor than being featured in the World of Interiors.

At Julia's behest, her then boyfriend Peter Woloszykski, took and sent photos of my Bourbon Street home to the legendary editor, Minn Hogg.

Minn Hogg then asked Julia to write the article.

The eight page spread also captured the magic of our relationship - photos at left from story. (April 1996 - see at end of this note.)

What great times we shared.

And it all happened in what seemed like an instant. We became dear friends. She walked into my antique store on Royal Street in the French Quarter. She fell in love with and bought some esoteric prints of bugs. After all, who buys pictures of bugs?
I did and she did!

Party Julia gave at her parents Greenville, MS home for British Vogue Editor Vicki & Frank Woods-Walker. At left: Kelly Tandy, Angèle Parlange, Mish Tworkowski, Julia, Vicki Woods, Julia's distant cousin Clarke, her father Clarke Reed, Frank Woods-Walker, and me.
I then realized that Julia lived nearby in one of my favorite Creole townhouses. She invited me there for a drink. I closed the shop right then and went right over, and the laughs and good times had been ceaseless.

Beyond her literary skills, Julia was a world-class tastemaker and had an extraordinary talent for bringing interesting people together.

New Orleans Pop-Up Shop Party (with Royalty!):
India Hicks, Julia and me.

She invited me to a book-signing party at her home for Sister Helen Prejean’s, Dead Man Walking.

You know you’re in good company when the lump crabmeat flows served in the biggest silver punch bowl you could imagine. I’d never seen before or after such an extravagant presentation of Crabmeat Maison!

Side note: A delightful essay
THE CRABMEAT CAUCUS
a celebratory cause indeed
Julia's Crabmeat obsession (Jon's word) was an outward "manifestation of the best, most important things of life—the things that elevate us and fill us not only with food but with affection and even purpose.... Jon Meacham

My New Orleans dining room and courtyard featured in Julia Reed's South, Photos by Paul CostelloAmong the most memorable of our high jinks and crazy forays is the story of Julia’s desire for a desk…this is also known as the time when Julia made a wrong turn and we ended up in a flooded ditch!

FINDING A DESK FOR JULIA
There was that time when....
Julia had just moved to another great apartment in a historic building just a few blocks from me on Bourbon Street. She mentioned the need for a table that could serve as her desk. I had such a thing in my family’s barn in Patoutville. So, we measured the space.

We were already close friends, as I don’t ordinarily lend a good piece of furniture.

It was a long Louisiana cypress refractory table of sentimental value from the Old St. Joseph Convent in Charenton where my grandmother went to school.

Julia's then apartment bldg. at left. She lived in the rear.

So on THAT day, we headed upriver to Metairie to pick up a rental van to make the Patoutville trek for the table. By the time we left the French Quarter and arrived at the rental place in a strip mall, the skies had opened up and a deluge of biblical proportions was underway (Julia often related incidents in a biblical manner - the hurricanes, mosquitoes, floods etc…….).

We were in Julia’s car at a stoplight and like a normal person, she took a right turn into what we thought was the entrance. It wasn’t.

The floodwater had filled the ditch and it was level with the road. Julia’s car plummeted at a 45 degree angle into the ditch.

For a split second, I thought we could drown. The water outside was at eye level and it was already seeping into the car. It was all surreal as I reached for the door handle. While it seemed like forever, it was probably just a few seconds that had passed. We sprung ourselves from the car and soaking wet, we climbed the ditch embankment. We were unscathed and looked around and immediately started laughing, and laughing!

Then to my dismay, I saw one of my favorite flip flops floating away down the ditch. A good pair of flip flops is a hard find. “Let it go!” Julia yelled. “Let it go!”

So dripping wet, we walked in to the car rental office and could see the young female attendant’s eyes peering over the tall counter which nearly obfuscated our view. It was like a defense wall separating us. She was in no hurry to help - on the phone and probably talking to her boyfriend.

And what Julia said next, I’ll never forget.
In fact, it was well worth the loss of the flip flops….the price for admission.
“Get off that fucking phone,” Julia roared. Julia didn’t suffer fools. This was a typical response you’d expect from her. In Julia’s hands profanity could be poetry. She had a talent for cussing.

We asked for a towing company, were handed the yellow pages and offered no further help. We called Rudy’s Wrecking Service, located near the French Quarter, which was convenient for us to get back home.

After we cleaned ourselves off from the ditchwater, we had a nice dinner: an upbeat moment, a victory over the flood of biblical proportions, surviving the day’s dilemma. This just happened to also coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Mary Jo Kopechne’s death with the Chappaquiddick incident… adding another profound layer to our misadventure to which we have toasted many times....

The photos - What we didn’t know was that some Icelandic tourists were handling their car rental. Fascinated by our dilemma, they took the accompanied photos and sent this nice note. “At last here are the photos I promised you" … It’s unbelievable that these people would follow through and send these photos. Julia and I were touched by their generosity!

THE FINAL IRONY ABOUT JULIA'S DESK....
was fitting...Laura Plantation gains a table for awhile
And the final irony of this story was that once we eventually got the refractory table from Patoutville into Julia’s apartment, the damn thing didn’t fit.
It just didn’t fit!
We are experts, and we measured, and we were wrong (notice I’m not saying I was wrong). Over a strong cocktail, we processed the situation.

First, I had a little nervous breakdown.
I didn’t want it to go back to the barn in Patoutville;
I had hoped to give it a new life.

Shortly after, I called my friends at Laura Plantation and offered it for them to use.

-----
Laura Plantation
was the first along River Road to incorporate enslaved people of color into their tour and went to great lengths to research and document the complete history. I highly recommend their tour experience.
----

They were ecstatic! It became part of a pantry display.
Sadly a few years later, part of Laura Plantation burned along with the table.
Thankfully the Marmillions were able to restore this fascinating Creole housed move forward with the tours of Laura Plantation.

SO MANY ADVENTURES ALONG THE WAY...

SILENCING JEFFREY STEINGARTEN
There was that time when....

Beyond cussing, Julia also had this incredible ability to stay any aggressor with her calm, gentille southern tone. She didn’t have to raise her voice.

He's a disciple of unaltered French cuisine...This is my attempt to say something nice about him...because I didn't like him and not even Julia's mom (the nicest person ever) liked him.

So When Vogue Food Critic Jeffrey Steingarten flunked an FY Julia's way, she looked up and said, “EXCUSE ME!” and she shut that asinine man down.

This happened over the course of a two-day Acadiana Boudin tour that was two days too long that I'd helped her to arrange. He enjoyed the boudin and cracklins and took a liking to the seafood & chicken pies from Victor's Cafeteria in New Iberia. It's my understanding that he still occasionally has them shipped up to NYC.

Overall, the trip mostly failed to impress him. Steingarten's disdain included my favorite French Bread from LeJeune’s Bakery in my hometown, Jeanerette, since

1884! It’s made in the Creole/Cajun style with a crisp exterior, light and airy center, and is sold warm from the 100 year-old oven.

Pro-tip: always buy 2 loaves as one might be eaten in the car.

William Guion's Evangeline Oak photo. I call your attention to his blog The 100 Oaks Project.
Steingarten also failed to appreciate the region’s ancient moss-covered live oaks questioning their real name until I trotted out the genus and species, Quercus virginiana, of these phenomenal trees which impress everyone. Indeed it was a beautiful moment when Julia silenced Jeffrey Steingarten.

ENTERPRISE SUGAR MILL
Julia loved visiting my family home in Patoutville and touring the Sugar Mill next door. She also roped in a few writers along the way to experience the
Bayou Teche country.

At Left:
Julia, Chief Sugar Mill Engineer Wilson LeBlanc, and me.

LITERARY SALONS AND OTHER SHENANIGANS

From her New Orleans Pop-Up & Literary Salon Party: Legendary ad man Peter Rogers (think what becomes a legend most - the iconic ad series and much more), Julia and me. On right: Paul Costello photographer extraordinaire, Julia and me. My dining room below.

from the Reed Smythe online store:
“DREGS”
BY PAUL COSTELLO
Photographer Paul Costello’s brilliant editorial and commercial work has taken him and his camera all over the world, but we are grateful that he and his family decided to settle in a fabulous house in New Orleans, where they have lived for almost a decade. Since then, Paul has shot three of Julia’s books...

He also has found time to turn his lens toward some gorgeous landscapes and still lives, which we are thrilled to offer here.

(See more of Paul's works)

Julia was always up for an adventure near or far (I once met up with her in Bath, England)! I loved having her near me in the French Quarter and was a trusted lieutenant for her many causes. My answer to her anytime she called was “anything you want.” I knew it would be a damn good time.

Each year, I enjoyed bringing new blood to the Delta Hot Tamale Festival in Greenville once she became involved. She attracted a slew of literary and culinary talent annually.

The concluding event - sandbar parties on the Mississippi River were indeed phenomenal experiences.

Believe photo above was 2018 Delta Hot Tamale Festival - from the Reed Smythe Pop-Up Shop.

ANOTHER COOKBOOK COMES TO LIFE
There was that time when...
THE FINAL HURRAH
An email from Julia
On Wednesday, September 19, 2018, 9:06:06 AM CDT, Julia Reed wrote:
Dearest Peter,
I see that you have your hands full in Natchez right about now. But can I ask an enormous favor?? The designers of the New Orleans cookbook I'm doing mocked up a great cover from our gumbo dinner shoot in your courtyard of me coming out of the back house holding two bottles of wine. The idiot who runs Rizzoli loves the image but says I can't be holding wine. I reminded him that the freaking book is called "Julia Reed's New Orleans" not "Julia Reed's Mormon Cookbook"... he is ... holding firm. So we have to stage the same table but now I have to be carrying a pot or something.
Love you love you. xxx

The final cover

Julia Reed's New Orleans:
Food, Fun, and Field Trips for Letting the Good Times Roll

All photos courtesy:
Paul Costello Photography

Photos from a Gumbo lunch chapter. Julia's classic Seafood Gumbo is below along with a Rum Pecan Pie. That's my kitchen stove and though it's something of a relic, countless memorable meals have been created in that galley-sized kitchen.

Most days begin with a strong cup of chicory coffee made in the French drip pot sitting there on the stove. Of course, they're sweetened with natural cane sugar from my family's mill in Patoutville and it makes me think of my heritage.

PATOUTVILLE SHINES
I particularly appreciate Julia's love for my family's South Louisiana home. And as she started thinking about her forays over the years with me in Cajun country (we've shared many great adventures!), she decided to include a chapter at my country house in Patoutville set amongst the sugar cane background.

She penned this sweet note to Patoutville:
There's no bad time to visit Patoutville, but it is especially beautiful in summer and early fall, when the sugarcane is wait-high in the fields. In late fall and winter, the trucks full of cut cane form miles-long lines at
the mill and there's twenty-four hours-a-day drama as great
clouds of smoke fill the sky.

ANCIENT OAKS AT BAYSIDE PLANTATION
My cousin's nearby Bayside Plantation was another destination in this chapter. As a realtor specializing in historic properties, I represented the sale of Bayside. Click the link above for more images and details.

SHE WAS A CHARMER!
There was that time when...
after giving her a tour of Bayside Plantation by it's owner Bobby Roane, the last in situ sugar planter in south Louisiana,
he told Julia
"If you play your cards right, all of this could be yours"...

Without missing a beat, Julia replied,
"The price is too high."
We all laughed.

There's been more than a few giggles over Julia's deft response to the 70+ year-old making a pass.
Bayside Photos by
Paul Costello

AIOLI DINNER:
The culmination of the South Louisiana photo shoot
was this fabulous meal celebrated with dear friends.

I love that Julia was inspired by Bayou Tech country artist George Rodrigue's Aioli Supper Club (at left) and chose to recreate that celebration in her book. It's based on old Creole Gourmet Society traditions ... another homage to the rich culture of South Louisiana.

Among the most cherished compliments
I've known, shared here from Julia:

She's first referring to George Rodrigue and her vision to recreate the Aioli Dinner from his famed painting:

"I think the artist would have approved of our gathering under the live oaks. He so respected the traditions of his ancestors, and Peter, with his antiques-filled houses and love of the land, honors the past and his own Louisiana history with more joie de vivre and élan than anyone I know."

Standing at left: Sara Ruffins Costello, Miles Guidry, Gregory DeKeyzer, Julia, Claiborne Davis, Angèle Parlange, Phillip Sterling, Janice DeKeyzer. Seated: Alex Darsey, me, and Stephen Stirling.

The aftermath! Following the photoshoot, the real Aioli Dinner at my Patoutville home. It was a splendid celebration!

Photo provided by Angèle Parlange
Most recently, Julia had taken to living near her parents in her beloved Greenville, where she built her dream delta home. It was far closer than New Orleans to Vanderbilt where she was getting her cancer treatments.

And while I knew (she had informed me that she was ill), she didn’t talk about it or look it for quite sometime. She was brave.

A 2019 Christmas note included many of the photos shared in this note. I'm so thankful for our memories especially for the baptism by ditchwater images!

While I was able to sip with Julia at the 2019 Hot Tamale Festival, it was in a larger setting which didn't allow for just us to visit.

THE FINAL NEWS
I was in Patoutville, when I noticed my phone lighting up with texts and calls from her inner circle of friends. I knew instantly what that meant and suppered sadly. Without asking, a dear friend made me a cocktail, one Julia would certainly have approved, with the Satsumacello from Patoutville satsumas that she loved.

The act of being graciously served softened the tremendous blow. Talking to friends helps too.

Through the sadness of her loss, I especially appreciate Julia's profound final two Garden & Gun columns.
Photo by Paul Costello

With precision, she examines the larger issues gripping our country, and I appreciate where Julia lands...distilling life to its essence.
From August, "We are in the midst of a national wake grieving for lives lost and dreams deferred." Julia reminds us of how cooking can help us heal in these difficult times.

And In her final effort, "You share a few tales of woe with your fellow men, and your own seem to fade. Cold gin, camaraderie—hope!—win the day."

Cheers to you Julia,
My dear friend, you are missed!

With much love,
Peter

P.S. I would be remiss not to include Jon Meacham's eloquent Garden & Gun and other special tributes, a bit more on Julia's final dream realized...and that World of Interiors feature she wrote summing up our beautiful friendship.

In Memoriam: Julia Evans Reed, 1960–2020A tribute to the long-time Garden & Gun columnist and contributing editor

By: Jon Meacham

Julia also realized her dream recently for an independent bookstore in her hometown Greenville, MS, fittingly called Brown Water Books. It's in the second oldest downtown building which she renovated.

Brown Water Books is a labor of love and builds upon the inspired home goods business Julia developed
with her equally precious friend
Keith Smythe Meacham.

REED SMYTHE & COMPANY
Collaborates with artists and artisans across the south and beyond to create beautiful, unexpected pieces for
house and garden...

Read about Brown Water Books

You might also appreciate these beautiful tributes

Both from The New York Times:

5 Standout Recipes From Julia Reed, an Irreverent Voice of the South.
The journalist, who died last week at 59, mixed sophistication and down-home pleasures in her cooking.

By Kim Severson

Julia Reed, Chronicler of Politics, Food and the South, Dies at 59
In Ms. Reed’s writing for Newsweek, Vogue and other publications, her canvas included the follies of the powerful and the pleasures of Southern food.

By Penelope Green

Photo by Paul Costello

Julia Reed, a celebrated author with strong New Orleans ties, dies of cancer, By John Pope

* * * * *

Closing the Deal - Beyond Marketing

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 14:28:00 GMT

Perspective from Sale & Purchase of Canemount
Tracy Talbot is an incredibly skilled negotiator and helped guide the Talbot Historic Team to keep buyer and seller aligned. Thank goodness for her calm too!
Aide de Camp, John Welch, was also invaluable in bringing this deal to fruitition. He provided exceptional administrative support to both buyer and seller.

A few thoughts from Tracy....
CLOSING THE DEAL…BEYOND MARKETING

You and I already know Peter's stunning marketing captures global attention. But beyond the historic property research, transcendent photos and digital prowess, Talbot Historic Properties excels in the art of negotiation.

This is way beyond pretty pictures. The period between contract and closing is what sellers need to be mindful of when selecting a listing agent, because we’re good at that.

Photo from Canemount Owner

We navigate complex deals with finesse, balancing diverse interests to achieve optimal outcomes for both buyers and sellers. Our deep-rooted knowledge, extensive network and strategic approach ensure seamless transactions. When transactions are not so seamless, we still get it done!

Photos from Canemount area. We delved deep into the history and culture.

We foster enduring relationships with clients, inspiring us to go the extra mile. While Peter worked with the buyers, I throughly enjoyed supporting Canemount's owners. Their Midwestern practicality combined with Southern warmth created a harmonious partnership. Our mutual trust allowed us to brainstorm, overcome challenges, and make informed decisions together.

Better than yelp, Peter will find the best roofer and the most obscure and delicious orange cake. He lives our culture! Have you ever had his satsuma old fashioned?

Post closing Peter does not dissappear. Through his incredible generosity, he is inclusive to new property owners. If you fall in love with a home, you can count on him to share his fascinating community. I have experienced this personally!

You bet we'll get our feet wet! Peter explores Mississippi River above Natchez.
So, count on us to continue dazzling you with Peter’s phenomenal historic property marketing, AND to close the deal.
Choose Talbot Historic Properties to turn your real estate dreams into reality.

Back in New Orleans, another Mardi Gras festivity beckons.

And don't be surprised if you have some fun along the way!
We do!
~Tracy

Talbot historic Properties Represents Buyer & Seller of $1.6 Million Listing

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 13:06:57 GMT

ANOTHER CHAPTER BEGINS FOR CANEMOUNT

HISTORIC
CANEMOUNT PLANTATION INN SOLD!
Forty Miles North of Natchez | Lorman, MS
On the National Historic Register - 1851

See Press News!

7 HISTORIC BUILDINGS, 15 BEDROOMS, 13 FULL BATHS
4 HALF BATHS, 40+/- ACRES, ABOUT 14,500 LIVING SQFT
INCREDIBLE SETTING SURROUNDED BY 3,500 ACRE
CANEMOUNT WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA
and HOME TO TROPHY DEER

I'm excited to announce the successful sale of historic Canemount Plantation Inn! This intricate transaction involved multiple buildings, diverse potential uses, and it's set in a remarkably beautiful area.

What was immediately clear to the buyer (and anyone else that toured Canemount), it's beautifully restored AND meticulously maintained.

From the timeless elegance of the main house Italianate architecture, the gorgeous grounds, to the many charming out buildings, all speak to the owners' deep love and care for this historic estate.

I also greatly appreciate the owners intense dedication to preserving history through their efforts to document the home.

The complex negotiations that brought this deal to fruition were expertly handled by my broker, Tracy Talbot, who represented the seller, and myself, who guided the buyer through the intensive process.

Throughout this listing, I had the privilege of introducing several prospective buyers to this extraordinary property. Interestingly, it was the former owners themselves who referred me to the couple who ultimately purchased Canemount. After researching my services, the new buyers were also drawn to my historic property marketing.

I'm honored that both the buyer and seller entrusted Talbot Historic Properties with this significant transaction. Tracy and I worked diligently to help both parties achieve their goals.

The new owners, hailing from the New Orleans area, had been searching for years for a property that could serve as both their personal residence and a thriving bed and breakfast, event space, and retreat center appealing to both corporate and spiritually-based audiences.

I have to believe Canemount checks all the boxes. It's a remarkable property and I'm so glad it remains in committed caring hands.

realizing client dreams...buyers & sellers

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:07:07 GMT

A Plantation Ownership Changes:
Enjoy this story from a recent newsletter.
To see more images & news, click this link.

I have a passion for saving historic homes, and with more calls than ever to list or to represent buyers, I am excited for what the future holds!

Uniquely Qualified to Assist You
Over decades, I've developed an extensive knowledge of Louisiana and Mississippi historic homes. I've studied historic architecture, delved deeply into the history of these homes, and know many owners!

Thus, I have cultivated a network of historic home owners and interested buyers.

I'm also knowledgable of top restorers who share my passion to preserve: these are top architects, landscape architects, designers, skilled craftspersons...

Historic homes are better built than new construction, often priced fairly, and offer a magic that just can't be replicated.

About this incredible home pictured, you may be wondering....I'm also thrilled to announce a recent plantation ownership change!

BAGATELLE PLANTATION | SUNSHINE LA | Circa 1841
Off-Market Property Gains New Owner Committed to Care
My broker Tracy Talbot and I successfully represented both the buyer and seller.

Knowledge & Timing are Everything!
Bagatelle Plantation's sale happened because I seized upon the opportunity to connect a buyer client with a seller client.
I have known the owners for many years and they couldn't have been more conscientious to the lush garden's upkeep, developed by known landscape designer Steele Burden, and to the care of this fine neoclassical family home.

And My Client?
How could he possibly resist Bagatelle's charms?

Please be in touch. I would be delighted to assist you!

It's Carnival Time! AND MORE NEWs

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 19:19:56 GMT

HISTORIC PROPERTY & CULTURAL NEWS
H O O R A Y !
O N E S O L D! | TWO! UNDER CONTRACT!
SO MUCH GOOD NEWS!
PORCH DREAMS REALIZED
MUSEUM QUALITY ROOMS
FABULOUS PARADE PARTY SIPS & NIBBLES
KING CAKE CHRONICLE RETURNS
FEATURING BEST KING CAKES EVAH!
LOUISIANA SAKE & MORE!

Image from Brennan's

SAVE THE DATE!
LSU Rural Life Museum Symposium:
300 Years of Louisiana's German Coast, March 5
Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, March 23-27
Iris Day, Longue Vue, March 29
Society for Louisiana Irises Annual Convention, Lafayette, April 6-8
Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, New Iberia, April 6-9
ICAA Grand Coteau Tour, April 9
Southern Garden History Society, Mt. Vernon, April 22-24
Natchez International Crepe Myrtle Festival, July 8-10!

it's here! SEE MY latest NEWS!

Mon, 13 Dec 2021 19:14:06 GMT

PLEASE NOTE THE NEWSLETTERS LISTED ON THE RIGHT BOTTOM SIDE OF THIS PAGE!

You'll find historic property and cultural news stories for the region!