Support for LA 64 is provided by: Office of the Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Keep Louisiana Beautiful and the Louisiana Office of Tourism.

In this episode of LA 64, I hit the back roads of Franklin Parish in northeast Louisiana, where small towns have big claims to fame.

In Winnsboro, flags line the streets of the Stars and Stripes capital, while nearby roads lead to the hometown of country music superstar Lainey Wilson.

We'll follow the Northeast Louisiana music trail, shop at one of the last general stores and experience farm life.

From dairy cows and pecan orchards to catfish ponds and the catfish capital.

Along the way, I meet people growing a new kind of agritourism rooted in tradition and full of heart.

I'm Karen LeBlanc, a travel journalist and Louisiana native.

Join me on LA 64, a journey through all 64 parishes, exploring Louisiana's less traveled paths.

Franklin Parish is located in northeastern Louisiana, in a region known as the Mississippi Delta.

The parish was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

Our road trip begins in Winnsboro, the parish seat.

Then we head north to Swampers and on to Baskin, Gilbert, Wisner, and we end in Crowville.

Let's get going.

I drove into Winnsboro following a flag lined boulevard like a row of exclamation points, announcing the city's self-proclaimed title as the Stars and Stripes Capital This is a city that's retained its Mayberry character, where folks remain connected.

And news still travels in print from the Franklin Sun newspaper and operations since 1856, and a rural electricity co-op magazine.

Paul Price is the editor and a lifelong resident of Winnsboro.

He knows where all the characters reside.

People quietly doing things with passion and purpose in remote corners of the parish.

You'll meet them on this journey.

We're just very fortunate to have unique things here that are that, that aren't all in all parishes.

We're not as flashy as some other places.

We don't have some of the things that other folks have, but they don't have some of the things that we have.

I stroll along Main Street, one of the first in the state to earn the Louisiana main Street designation for its historic storefronts and modern day hustle.

We've been, Louisiana main Street since 1988.

So we were one of the first to join Louisiana Main Street.

I think it's important so that we don't lose, our, our history and our culture.

You know, new things are great, but old things, you know, have so much heart and so much pride, so much passion.

So I think that, you know, that makes a big difference in a community.

And it definitely does here.

Decorated storefronts, welcome window shopping and refurbished buildings breathe new energy into the social scene.

Franklin's main Street success story stems from preservationists and entrepreneurs investing in the community and culture.

At the Daily Dose Bistro.

I met up with Elbert Lawrence, a Winnsboro native who returned to his hometown to invest in its rebirth.

He purchased and restored the town's historic theater, turning it into an event center and a cafe.

This whole street, back in the day, it was really segregated.

We can barely even walk down the street.

For me to come back and buy one of the biggest building on the street is a dream come true.

I don't usually include a library on my travel itinerary, but the Franklin Parish Public Library is worth experiencing.

The Genealogy Center draws visitors from all over.

Seeking their family roots.

Arrive curious, and you'll leave with a deeper sense of where you belong.

The Genealogy Center is lovingly called Franklin Parish Roots.

It's where we house our special collection of genealogical material and historical material.

They can research their family roots if they have compiled family history records themselves, they can donate a copy here.

And we'll actually keep that copy forever and ever.

So other family members down the road can come and research as well.

The library spans three buildings, each more than 100 years old.

It's part museum, part time capsule, and a literary repository.

We have some one of a kind things like this.

Now this, we have it titled To Lucy from her loving sister Mary, and it's an 1860s compilation that she made herself of poetry and other writings.

Down Prairie Avenue, which locals simply call Main Street, the former Winnsboro Post Office Museum welcomes visitors free of charge.

At the entrance, an original New Deal Era mural sets the tone.

The building itself, it was built in 1936, and it was also part of the New Deal Era, where a lot of the municipal buildings were were built during that time.

It was a working, post office up until 1998.

This is great.

Spittoons that were in the original, post office.

You know, that was a different time when you had spittoons in the post office and the public as an amenity.

Original post office boxes, sorting slots, and an old vault provide the backdrop for changing exhibits.

On the day I visited, there was one honoring military service, with uniforms and memorabilia spanning every branch from the revolutionary War to today.

The other tells the story of local churches revealing the deep roots of faith that continue to shape this community.

Franklin Parish, for being a rural parish has a surprising number of churches.

Absolutely.

We have over 150 churches in Franklin Parish alone.

And it's just such an important part of this, of this community that, we've had.

So we've had so many people eager to share their information, their artifacts, their history with us.

Faith runs deep in Franklin Parish.

The oldest church in the parish, Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church, dates back to 1833.

Its roots anchored in the earliest days of this community.

And then there's True Light Baptist Church, widely known for its annual Winnsboro Easter Rock ensemble performance, a powerful expression of the African American ring shout tradition.

Step inside First United Methodist Church, and the story shifts to light.

Stained glass windows cast colorful prisms across the pews, each one telling a story.

Biblical scenes illuminated for the generations who have gathered here.

The Northeast Louisiana music trail runs through Franklin Parish, paying homage to several musical greats.

Winnsboro holds the first marker on the trail.

It honors Winnsboro native Fred Carter Jr.

He became a very well known session player in Nashville, played on so many records.

He's also has very talented children, and his daughter, Deana Carter also did very well and continues to do well in country music.

So it's in the family.

What is it about Franklin Parish that breeds such musical greats?

I think it's upbringing, the roots, back to basics.

And we just have a lot of talent here.

it's just unbelievable when you look at it.

How much talent is from Franklin Parish and how well they've done nationally and internationally.

Heading north, I arrive in Baskin, a small farming community of around 200 with a big claim to fame as the hometown of country music superstar Lainey Wilson.

I'm driving along a stretch of highway 425, now officially designated as the Lainey Wilson Highway.

Just outside Town Hall, Lainey Wilson's marker on the Northeast Louisiana music trail pays tribute to her roots.

I met up with the Mayor of Baskin, one of the youngest ever elected in Louisiana.

How old are you?

I have to ask.

I'm 27.

When I was elected to be the mayor of the village.

Baskin, I was 24.

So you are, like, wise beyond your years.

This is a big job.

Wise is a big word.

But, yeah, it is a big job.

Life in Baskin is very unique.

You think about the slow life, and that's really what Baskin is about.

It's a it's a farming community.

Lots of agriculture, corn agriculture, cows milk, bees and honey and and the pecan orchard.

It's just a very slow living, unique life.

And everybody in Baskin knows everybody, and they look out for everybody.

Did you know Lainey growing up?

I did know Lainey.

I worked with her dad.

Her grandmother was my principal, and her mom was one of my teachers.

Franklin Parish sits along the Mississippi Delta's rich agricultural corridor, where generations of farming have been shaped by the fertile soil left behind by the river.

That same land that once sustain crops is now cultivating something new and emerging wave of agritourism that invites you to experience farm life.

I pull up to the Baskin Pecan orchard as Farmer Donna Remides is sorting a truckload of pecans.

She harvested from 1700 trees on the 640 acre grove.

The pecans pour out of the truck bed onto a grate that separates out the sticks and debris before entering the conveyor belt for more sorting, including the last step, which we do by hand.

Donna teaches me how to spot the pecans with cracked shells or intact holes and toss them.

You got to be quick to keep up.

The sorted pecans tumble into a massive bag bound for market so heavy it takes a forklift to carry it to the scale for weighing.

I want you to take a step back and tell me how much this bag weighs.

Okay.

I'm going to split the difference.

I'm going to say around 1700.

Okay.

You got 1700.

All right.

With this goal there on that floor jack.

And we put away this thing.

All right, let's do it.

See how close you are.

Okay.

I was close.

Total weight 1,694 pounds of pecans.

Ready to ship.

Donna sells are pecans in a seasonal store open to the public, and she ships worldwide.

Shelves are stocked with candied, spiced, chocolate covered and raw pecans.

All these 17,000 trees.

I call them my babies.

It is gorgeous.

Peaceful and delicious.

That's right.

That's the way it's supposed to be.

That's how life should be.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am.

A few miles away.

It's milking time at Delta Dairy in Baskin and I arrive just in time for a lesson.

As 500 cows enter the stalls for their twice daily milking sessions.

Karen, you want to milk a cow?

I do.

All right.

Okay.

This is what you're going to do.

Are you right handed?

I am right handed.

Okay, so what are you going to do, probably, hold it.

Kind of hold this under you.

Put your right hand under there.

Yep.

Like that.

Like that?

Yep.

Okay.

I'll turn the switch on.

Okay.

Okay.

So now these are your front ones.

Okay.

These are my front ones.

Yep.

Okay.

Yep.

Okay.

How am I doing so far?

Perfect.

My job is done.

You're done.

And so when this cow is done milking, It'll just.

Yes.

There's a there's a flow meter that senses the milk flow.

As soon as she's done the vacuum will stop and it'll retract and come off the cow.

Ted Miller and his family run a pasture based dairy farm that supplies milk the old fashioned way.

They welcome visitors by appointment, offering a behind the scenes look at a working dairy where heritage and innovation meet.

Cows graze freely across the open pasture, just as they always have.

But when it's time to gather the herd, Ted calls them in on his cell phone by using a GPS tracking app linked to a collar around each cows neck.

Our operation would more resemble the way milks produced in New Zealand.

In a in a pasture based environment.

Our cows, simply go out, harvest to feed themselves, come back, we make them and they go back out again.

So it's a very, ecologically friendly way to produce milk, along with, with, with some economic advantage for us.

We sense that, that that people really have a, have a genuine longing to know where their food came from.

They, they, they, they want to acquire that locally when possible.

And we would we would love to develop the ability to market some of our product locally to folks here in Franklin Parish and the surrounding area.

From Baskin, I continue north to the village of Swampers, following the promise of a place locals swear by.

A legendary one stop shop for everything you might need, and a few things you didn't know you were looking for.

There's not too many general stores still open for business in Louisiana.

So when I find one, I gotta stop and shop.

Welcome to Swampers, Louisiana, home of Donnell's General Store.

And I would venture to say it's probably one of the main attractions in these parts.

Dewey Donnell is the third generation to run the family owned general store with his siblings.

His grandfather built the first general store in 1934 by the river next to the ferry and Swamper.

This store, this building here has been here since 1946.

It still has the original paint on the ceiling.

My grandfather put there when they built it.

It is a dying breed.

The general stores have died out because people first of all, we don't have as many people living in the country as we used to.

And second, people are so mobile, they go to town in the shop and in the bigger supermarkets.

And, it's hard for the little locals to compete with that.

We keep this store open.

My brother, my sister and myself, because it's part of us, and part of Swampers.

It█s part of the community, and we all just hate to see it go.

Dewey tells me you can find just about anything here from groceries to guns.

And for years, this place was more than a store.

It was the community post office.

I got to ask, where do the name Swampers come from?

My grandfather named it Swampers.

They made him postmaster in 1939.

And, he named it Swampers because you said it benefited the people of the swamp.

And the name stuck and name stuck.

Here we are in Swampers.

Yes.

The only place you can go to Google Earth and type in Swampers.

And it takes you right on top of Donnell█s General Store.

Oh.

You're a landmark.

Yes.

A mural greets me as I arrive in Crowville.

Bold, colorful and full of meaning.

It's a public art project brought to life by local schoolchildren who chose the themes and the colors.

You can feel what matters here: education, the arts, community.

That spirit is nurtured by friends of Crowville, a grassroots force that serves as both a cultural and community catalyst.

A lot of the programs that we do are to enhance their ability to understand what life is about and how, not just to find something to do, but find something to do that they love.

And I'll just have to tell you a story.

We have about 6 or 8 different agencies that we partner with, and one that we partner with is the Northeast Louisiana Children's Museum out of Monroe.

A simple drive through town reveals a passion for public art, visible on murals and sculptures in this tight knit community.

And then there's this iconic signpost pointing to cities worldwide in every direction.

That evening, I head to Greer's in Crowville for dinner, a local favorite where that catfish is lightly breaded just enough to let its natural flavor come through.

The family recipes are made from scratch, including its popular slaw, tartar sauce and pies.

It was originally opened as Greer's in 1988 by my aunt, Betty Greer, she was here 32 years and decided she was ready to go home for a while.

So she sold it to me and my husband.

Just keep it in the family.

I worked here in high school, so, I was already kind of familiar with it, and, you know, just to be a part of something in the community.

And it's a great source for maybe me to be able to give back to my community, too.

Jennifer buys her fresh catfish down the road from Haring Catfish Processing Plant in Wisner.

It's where I'm headed next.

Straight to the source of the company that gives Franklin Parish its claim to fame as the Catfish Capital.

How many catfish are cultivated here in Franklin Parish?

Oh, each farmer can do about a close to 1 million pounds.

880,000 to 1 million pounds on their farm.

So we have about, 6 to 8 million pounds right here on our parish.

Haring Catfish is the town's largest employer.

The family owned operation has been in business since 1982.

Founded by Hannah's grandfather, Pete Haring, They processed 16 million pounds a year, averaging 80 to 100,000 pounds of catfish a day.

Hannah walks me through the process.

It's a kind of choreography, all working in sync to carry this fish from the pond to the plate.

At the final stage, the villages are frozen, packaged and prepared for shipping in boxes that proudly proclaim born and raised in the USA.

Haring Catfish Certified Louisiana.

The legacy of catfish here in Franklin Parish is not necessarily because the climate or the topography was conducive, it's because, one man came here and just said, hey, I shall cultivate catfish.

Right.

You know, my dream always was for it to continue and go.

And then maybe my three kids would like to be in this industry, but, I mean, you know, they.

We have 5000 acres row crop.

We've got 1100 acres of catfish farms.

We got this big processing plant.

So, you know, we do a lot of different things to keep going.

It's feeding time at Haring Catfish as a truck rolls along the water's edge, sending pellets flying across the surface, triggering a catfish feeding frenzy.

Haring stocks, its ponds with fingerlings year round, giving the community reason to celebrate at the annual South Franklin Catfish Festival, held the first weekend in May.

Why celebrate catfish?

Well, just, catfish been a real big part of this community because you, a lot of employees, a lot of workforce is in the catfish industry.

So you have catfish farmers.

And then we got the plant and also the ponds, and they, and then the meal also for catfish feed and everything.

So this has been a really big industry down here to, to support our community.

I met up with the Mayor of Wisner at Town Hall, where two catfish statues stand guard at the entrance, hinting at the high regard the community holds for this humble fish.

What do you like about living here?

The slow, the slow pace, you know, I mean, it's little things, like, we still allow you to drive golf carts around town if you want to, because there's not a lot of great advantages to living in a small town.

You know, you don't have access to what big cities have, but the life of being able to use a golf cart, and to, to get around which we let them people still do that because that's just fun.

They wanted to see what small town life is like, just it's just a few blocks off the highway in any direction.

Just just drive through and see.

The town also sits along the Northeast Louisiana music trail with a marker in honor of Gene King, a legendary guitarist, singer, and songwriter, whose roots run deep here.

Nearby, a mosaic of individual works by local residents, known as Rooted in Franklin Parish, reflects a shared commitment to revitalization through creativity, a spirit that helped Wisner earn its designation as an arts and cultural district.

I've lived here for over 40 years.

And so it's my heart, it's my home.

And we find roots here.

And so when you find yourself rooted somewhere, you go, you know, we don't have all the conveniences of larger towns.

So we're rooted here and we want to promote our little town and everything it does have to offer.

So we wanted it to be a parish wide cultural, artistic and, endeavor.

I follow the Northeast Louisiana music trail to the village of Gilbert, where a marker honors John Brown, Sr., a drummer who shared the stage with country music legends Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton.

Another points to a different kind of legacy the childhood home of Claire Lees Chennault, the general who led the famed Flying Tigers in World War II Even the welcome sign carries his name In jigger, the Northeast Louisiana music trail pays tribute to Al “Puddler” Harris, a pianist who once played on the legendary Louisiana Hayride show in Shreveport.

As I traveled throughout Louisiana, I'm always curious about what takes hold of a person's imagination, so deeply it becomes devotion.

Out here at Kincaid Farms in Fort Necessity, that calling is clear.

Farmer Greg Kincaid says rust is his favorite color and his front yard exudes it.

At first glance, you might think you've stumbled onto a junkyard.

Rows of old tractors and farm equipment, weathered and worn, but then a dinosaur sculpture made from repurposed farm equipment comes into view.

And suddenly you're asked to decide, well, is this junk or is it art?

I'm calling it what it feels like, a sculpture garden.

I'll just, enjoy working with the metal and I don't like throwing things away.

I don't, don't like things going to scrap because once they're gone, they're gone.

And, if it can be used for something else and people enjoy looking at it, I just like doing it.

His front yard is filled with old farm equipment, and the backyard is a stockpile of projects waiting for new life.

He could paint and polish them, make them new again.

But Greg says he prefers to leave each piece in its natural state, letting that age worn patina tell its own story.

There's a beauty to this.

You said your favorite color is rust.

That's right.

I can see that.

Okay.

So a lot of people enjoy it.

And like I say, some people that's just junk.

Well, to me it's art.

Okay.

Well thank you.

While exploring Franklin Parish.

I stayed at the Jackson Street Guest House, a place that pulls you straight into the region's past.

Built in the early 1900s, the home still carries that sense of old Louisiana prosperity.

Today, it's been thoughtfully restored by Paul Price and his wife Linda, who reopened it as a guest house.

Here's my takeaway from my time in Franklin Parish.

You don't visit for the spectacle.

You come for something rooted in real.

From famous names who don't forget where they came from.

To the fields and orchards connecting us to the food we eat and the murals that spark joy and civic pride.

This rural parish, with its claims to fame as the Stars and Stripes Capital and the Catfish Capital, reminds you that identity comes from community and the main attraction is the people who live it every day.

Support for LA 64 is provided by: Office of the Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Keep Louisiana Beautiful and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, and by the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, the St.

Landry Parish Tourist Commission, Northwestern State University, and by the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.