Country Roads Magazine

08/19/2025

Last year, Chef Derek Emerson found himself in totally new territory. He’d purchased an old building on Highway 49 in the unincorporated community of Pocahontas, Mississippi, just across the highway from the Pocahontas Mounds, an archaeological site from the Plaquemine culture dating back to 1300 AD. The mounds are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and were once used for religious ceremonies and as a political seat for the regional chiefdom. In honor of the site’s spiritual and historical significance, the Emersons named their new restaurant Sacred Ground.

Read about it at countryroadsmag.com

Story by Susan Marquez. Photos courtesy of the Sacred Ground BBQ team.

08/19/2025

The drive to La Maison de L’Église feels like so many Sunday trips to church, pot-hole freckled roads winding between crawfish ponds. Then, there it is: nestled near the main road, looking as if it’s ready to welcome the congregation.

But upon closer inspection, there’s a dissonance about it all: a blush pink door and matching shutters, finishes that lean slightly more cottage than cathedral. Inside, sunlight filters through stained glass, but instead of playing on pews, it illuminates an eclectic arrangement of antique furniture and stunningly modern finishes.

Read on at countryroadsmag.com

Story by Shanna Beck Perkins. Photos by Paul Kieu.

08/14/2025

"In a world dominated by millennial gray, flat-screen TVs, and fleeting trends, Andrew LaMar Hopkins, an artist and antiquarian, is a defiant exception. His rooms, like his renowned paintings, don’t whisper; they serenade. Rich, detailed, and immersive, his interiors feel as though they’ve slipped from a more grand and beautiful time.

Step inside one of Hopkins’s spaces—whether it be his 1830s Royal Street apartment, his Savannah pied-à-terre, or even a borrowed Airbnb in the Marais in Paris—and you’re transported not just to another era, but to a wholly different way of seeing. In Hopkins’s world, every object holds lineage, every brushstroke carries archival weight, and beauty is inseparable from history. It’s a continuous thread, stitched by a master conjurer: part historian, part designer, part visionary Creole storyteller."

Read on at countryroadsmag.com

Story by Cayman Clevenger. Art by Andrew LaMar Hopkins.

08/14/2025

08/14/2025

"This summer, a Mississippi home designed by a man dubbed by the American Institute of Architects “the greatest American architect of all time” hit the market at $2.5 million, listed by Crescent Sotheby’s International Realty New Orleans. The Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian-style masterpiece, called Fountainhead, is located in the heart of Jackson. "

Learn more at countryroadsmag.com

Story by Susan Marquez. Photos courtesy of Crescent Sotheby's International Realty, by Douglas Adams.

08/12/2025

Of landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman's numerous projects, one of her most celebrated is that of Longue Vue House and Gardens in New Orleans, originally home to philanthropists Edgar and Edith Stern. Here, Shipman designed not only the lush, expansive gardens across the estate’s eight acres, but also the interior of the sprawling, Classical Revival style house.

Read the story by Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun at countryroadsmag.com
https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/house-home/lady-ellen-biddle-shipman-landscapes/

Archival photos courtesy of Longue Vue House and Gardens. Others by Molly McNeal.

08/09/2025

"If I am so lucky, I return to the porch alone at dusk. It is then that the oppressed summer gardens wake up and begin their dance with night. I like to sit and watch the last sunlight, luminous sherbet colors brushing over perennial blooms all while basking in the intro chorus of sound that has blanketed the space.

This brings me to moon gardens—a feast for night pollinators and a dramatic sensory experience for their human guests."

There's a full moon tonight, so we're shining a light on Jess Cole's tips on gardening for the evening hours. Learn more at countryroadsmag.com

08/07/2025

What’s more decadent than a French macaron and a romance novel? (I’d say “indulging in both in a bubble bath” but you simply can’t do that in public, and this is a restaurant column.) In July, Lafayette’s long beloved Bonne Vie Macarons officially opened the doors to its indulgent new venture: Bonne Vie Macarons & Book Club & Co. Catering especially to romance readers and sweet tooths, and settled comfortably into the local shopping hub of the Saints Streets, the space has already established itself as a favorite Acadiana confection.

shopbonneviemacarons.com.

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

08/06/2025

Find authentic Sicilian dishes made with love and a little Creole influence in Lacombe

08/06/2025

New Orleans restaurateur Edgar “Dook” Chase IV—grandson of Louisiana legend Leah Chase and executive chef of his family’s legacy restaurant, Dooky Chase’s—has been getting a lot of screentime as of late.

In July, he joined actress and show host Octavia Spencer as expert judge of the Food Network’s new show Family Recipe Showdown, which brings three teams of Southern home cooks to compete with their best renditions of their grandma’s recipes, all for a $10,000 prize. The show was filmed at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, and over the course of the competition Chase will be joined by guest judges the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Chastain, Danielle Brooks, Tim Gunn, and more. Episodes air on Thursday nights at 8 pm, and can be streamed on HBO Max.

But Chase has been working on a project even closer to home, as well. In production since June and set to premiere in Spring 2025, WYES’s new series will put the spotlight on Chase himself, as he travels around Greater New Orleans visiting the city’s most important centers of culinary culture. The show, titled "Dook Chase: A Chef’s Journey", will feature destinations like Angelo Brocato’s, Dakar NOLA, Commander’s Palace, D**g Phuong Bakery, and more.

Story by Jordan LaHaye Fontenot. Photo courtesy of WYES.

08/04/2025

Louisiana’s favorite sandwich is getting an Acadiana spotlight with Lafayette Travel’s recent launch of the Po-Boy Trail. A foolproof guide to navigating the Cajun community’s rich and diverse poboy scene, the self-guided trail on the Lafayette Travel website features more than seventy restaurants across the region. And while the shrimp-piled-high classics are sure to be found, so are variations on the theme: find po-boy adjacent bánh mìs and Cubanos on the list as well. Most sandwiches though, are tied together by fresh French bread, baked daily by local bakeries like LeJeune’s, Langlinais, and Poupart’s. Explore for yourself at lafayettetravel.com.

08/01/2025

What does Southern Design—informed by the weight of history as much as the culture, climate, and custom of the region—insist upon today? This is a question we ask in our Deep South Design issue, one that surveys the fields of architecture and fashion to reveal a multiplicity of answers. What we’ve discovered is that two truths can exist simultaneously in this landscape: the restoration of a West Feliciana plantation can be both an act of reckoning and healing; Longue Vue House & Gardens in New Orleans can architecturally represent the exquisite, ornate classicism of its era, while today acting as an accessible space for all to enjoy the beauty of historic design; and a Baton Rouge architecture studio can turn its gaze to the past, restoring monuments to our region’s history, while also exploring innovative modern design in brand new builds around the state. There are other stories that cling to the intertwining of two definitive, often conflicting truths—of an escape that was once a place of prayer transformed into a trendy getaway, or a legendary boutique resplendent in bygone whimsy that is making it big on TikTok. Still others urge readers to step onto the New York Fashion Week runway and climb the stairs of African House in Natchitoches. We hope the paradoxes, complexities, and aesthetics of these anecdotes will entice you, make you look closer. After all, that’s always been our style.

-The Editors

Find the digital issue at countryroadsmag.com

On the cover: “John James Audubon Floats by a Beautiful Creole Free Woman of Color” by Andrew LaMar Hopkins