Bradshaw
A cadre of cultural leaders from across south Louisiana and beyond will gather at the Rayne Civic Center on September 25 to explore the origins and influence of the roadway called the Old Spanish Trail (OST) that linked our Main Streets before an Interstate isolated most of them. The notice of the annual meeting caused me to wonder about several questions: How did it get its name? How old is it? And how Spanish is it? It seems nobody knows for sure.
Highways had names before they had numbers, and the Old Spanish Trail was one of the best-known of them. It followed the Gulf coast from St. Augustine, Florida, and came into Louisiana at Slidell. From there it continued through New Orleans to Morgan City, then up the Teche to Berwick, Patterson, Centerville, Franklin, Baldwin, Jeanerette, and New Iberia. It began a westerly trek at Broussard, going through Lafayette, Scott, Rayne, Crowley, Mermentau, Jennings, Welsh, Iowa, Lake Charles, Sulphur, and Vinton. After it crossed into Texas at Orange it stretched across the sunbaked Southwest.
