This is an abandoned building that the General Store owner uses for storage. But tourists love to take pictures of it.

I heard about TC Lindsey on the Jefferson Railway’s Christmas Train.
So I finally dragged Mom out to Jonesville.
It’s a pretty cool place with a bunch of old country things. A lot of which is not for sale. They do have products for sale, but everything I wanted wasn’t for sale. Oh well!
They have their own molasses and honey too, yum!

The store was the site to a bunch of films including the Evictors with Jessica Harper.

I think the store is definitely a place you need to stop if passing Waskom on I-20. Just hop on FM 134.

I drove the Farm to Market Roads from Jefferson to Mooringsport yesterday.
I wasn’t even alerted to when I was in Louisiana, but knew when I saw the yellow “CHURCH” sign I had reached my destination.

This little church has one of the most important musicians in history buried in it’s cemetery. There was no one there. 3 cars passed by during my visit. Yet, guitar picks were strewn across his grave and it was nicely maintained. I paid my respects and then moved on to Mooringsport.

I had planned on going to the Mini Museum, but despite the hours posted online and on their building they were closed. Plus, my phone didn’t have service or I would’ve called the numbers posted. That really bummed me out. So I walked down to Caddo Lake and took picture of the little downtown area.

Though Leadbelly was born in Mooringsport, he grew up in Texas on the other end of the Lake. Closer to where I live now. A couple of years ago I adapted “Goodnight Irene” into a screenplay and during my research found out how close I was to his history. One day I hope to make that film, but being able to visit his grave meant a lot to me. I’ll just have to go back again to visit the museum.

This ghost sign is painted on my favorite building in Jefferson. Located right before the train tracks on Austin St. It’s an empty historic building which I would like to turn into a speakeasy and restaurant. Any financiers?

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At the end of our street is a little road to the banks of the river. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Big Cypress.

This baptist church is at the end of a dead end street.

Maybe it’s that I watch True Blood too much or am interested in haunted places, but it doesn’t get anymore haunting than these.

Adjacent to the woods, and the bayou nearby I can only imagine what it used to be like to go to this church. The homemade “Welcome to Union BC” sign is really beautiful.

Today is my mom’s birthday.

Her name means “bee”, so I decided to make her a bee cake!

The bee’s head is a giant cake ball. Yeah.

The other night the power went out with 3 Inception sound-design like booms. It was pitch black. Your eyes wouldn’t even adjust. Once my mom got a flash light we decided to light candles and sit on the porch.

You could hear the trains chugging by. And no one was about. I walked up and down the block, but the only lights were downtown.

Sitting on the Porch in the Pitch Black as a Train passes from Kali Heitholt on Vimeo.

Until we started to hear crying in the distance. Jefferson is supposedly haunted, so I decide it was time to get the hell inside. I don’t know what it was, but it was creepy. And maybe fodder for a film.

Abandoned movie houses are amazing. Nothing will be as spectacular and mysterious to me as the Uptown Theatre near my old house in Chicago. This is the Paramount Theatre in Marshall, built in 1930.

I also watched the Great Debaters last night, which was set in Marshall in 1935. I wonder if these people documented in the film ever went to this theatre. Maybe. It’s interesting to see how our paths cross those of others and the stories that can be interwoven.

Everyday I go to Marshall to work out.
I seem to stumble upon all these interesting and beautiful buildings.
I drove by this place yesterday and came back today with my camera.
I walked up from the side not knowing what this giant emptied out building was and finding out it was a historic building.

Turns out the building succumbed to arson in January.

Here’s what it looked like originally and what it looked like just in 2008.

Sad story, but I stole some beautiful images of the building.