Country Roads Magazine

10/29/2025

In 1869, Joseph Dupuy opened an oyster house in Abbeville, shelling the delicacies out at five cents a dozen. More than 150 years later, the place is still known to serve some of the best bivalves in the region against a backdrop of local zydeco and blues. Earlier this summer, Dupuy’s—now run by Jody and Tonya Hebert—was one of fifty historic small restaurants nationwide selected to receive a $50,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express. The funds will go toward renovations and infrastructure support, ensuring that America holds on to its historic eateries, which have managed to feed communities for generations.

dupuys.com.

10/29/2025

When it was Managing Editor Jordan's turn to assign the weekly Monday morning icebreaker to the Country Roads team, she (in true writer's fashion) tasked each person to present their six-word memoir.

"Seeing how much about yourself you can cram into six words is an interesting exercise," writes Publisher James Fox-Smith in his monthly "Reflections" column. "If the exercise revealed anything, it’s that finding the right words matters. Words are how we transmit knowledge and learn, how we make sense of the world, how we represent ourselves to those beyond earshot, and how our messy, complicated selves will be remembered after we are gone—if we are remembered at all.."

So, Country Roads would like a word (or six) with you, dear reader! Visit our tent at the Louisiana Book Festival in downtown Baton Rouge this Saturday, November 1, and share your own six-word memoir for a chance to win a copy of CR's "Film & Literature" cover painting signed by artist Matt Dawson.

10/27/2025

Steeped in family struggle and lore, today Overton Estates in Greensburg, Louisiana encompasses more than three hundred acres of land. A new generation is poised to transform the property into a site that honors its history while re-envisioning its future.

Read the story by Jacqueline DeRobertis-Braun at countryroadsmag.com

Photos by Molly C. McNeal

10/27/2025

Three nutrition researchers at Baton Rouge’s LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center weigh in on hot-button health fads—and what they might mean for your health and your lifestyle.

Sponsored by Pennington Biomedical Research Center

LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center Scientists weigh in on three of America’s latest health and nutrition trends

10/27/2025

This frisson associated with the Frenchtown Bridge has been a badly kept secret in Central, Louisiana for decades. Most people have a similar story: “I went out one night with some friends in high school; we’d heard the bridge is haunted. I didn’t see anything, but there was definitely something … creepy about it.”

Read the story by Camille Doucet at countryroadsmag.com

10/24/2025

At Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University's Open House, taking place tomorrow, October 25, aspiring students are invited to join a tour of the campus, where faculty members will share information about over twenty undergraduate and graduate program offerings, FranU's mission, and more.

Register: https://apply.franu.edu/register/openhouse25

Sponsored by Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University

10/24/2025

The word between the shelves is: Baton Rouge is getting a speakeasy. In September, owners of the vintage décor mecca Circa 1857 announced a glamorous addition to their sprawling treasureland off Government Street. By the end of the year, the antique dealers plan to open an elevated cocktail bar, styled with all the eclecticism and elegance of their showroom. Expect vintage glassware, a lounge, and craft cocktails offered most evenings—with hours briefly overlapping the shop’s, offering a tantalizing browsing experience accessorized by aperitifs. circa1857br.com.

10/23/2025

Did you know that Duck Dynasty's Robertson family are born-and-raised Monroe natives? The famous family have a brand-new series, and a museum to visit, too.

Visitors to Ouachita Parish will find themselves immersed in the same Southern community that the Robertsons still call home to this day. You might grab a coffee at Corner Coffee & Provisions, where Jase once requested “the strongest thing they got.” You can cool down at Debbie’s Snowballs, compete in a donut-eating contest at Haskell’s Donuts (try beating Uncle Si’s record of thirty-two), or learn about the origins of the jackalope at McGough’s Taxidermy.

Read the story below to plan your Duck Dynasty tour of Monroe-West Monroe.

Sponsored by Discover Monroe-West Monroe

Plan a Duck Dynasty-inspired getaway to Monroe-West Monroe

10/23/2025

For more than a century, the Witch of Yazoo's grave has been the subject of countless ghost stories, the centerpiece of many a teenage dare. To this day, pilgrims make their way to the cemetery to pay their respects, or perhaps to ponder the tale that has captured the imaginations of an entire town and beyond.

Susan Marquez tells the story at countryroadsmag.com

Photos courtesy of Madisyn Cummins, of Visit Yazoo

10/22/2025

"I believe books will forever be the absolute best resource when it comes to acquiring plant knowledge, but I know better than to stand proudly upon my soapbox," writes Jess Cole. "Our modern Internet Age has its positives, too. When you know where to look, and who to trust, the web offers excellent resources to place in your toolbox that are perhaps less cumbersome than a canvas tote of hardcovers (many of you are likely reading this very story online as we speak)."

Find the Gardener's Digital Toolkit at countryroadsmag.com

Story by Jess Cole. Photo by Beth Kleinpeter.

10/22/2025

Ridgeland wears the holiday season well. When fall turns the central Mississippi foliage vibrant colors and Christmas decorations wink on around town, this walkable, bikeable, destination just north of Jackson puts the “festive” in “festivities” while hosting all manner of merry celebrations.

Sponsored by Explore Ridgeland

A magical mid-Mississippi round-up

10/21/2025

The communities along the Bayou Teche vibrate with a frequency of mystery. Their legends and lore are as much a part of the landscape as the Spanish moss and magnolias.

There is a particular tale that was whispered from one Catholic schoolgirl to the next, echoing through the halls of Mount Carmel Academy, for generations. The mystery lay beneath the floorboards upon which they walked, where a secret passageway was rumored to stretch all the way beneath the bayou itself.

Pictured here: In New Iberia artist Paul Schnexnayder's, "The Seven Glorious Mysteries and Theories Surrounding the Underground Tunnel at Mt. Carmel Academy," he depicts the tunnel traveling beneath the Bayou Teche, from legend to legend: as a refuge for the nuns to engage in "illicit" activities like drinking or gambling, a place to hide away Mount Carmel's pregnant students, or where people might have been held captive for any reason. Other lore poses it as an escape route for the enslaved, Jean Lafitte's private passageway, a place of Satanic worship, or a route connecting the sisters to the priests of St. Peter's Catholic Church.

Read "The Teche Tunnel" by Shanna Beck Perkins at countryroadsmag.com to learn the lore.