Winnfield, Louisiana, is known as the "Birthplace of Three Governors." The Longs, Huey and Earl, were from here, as well as, their friend, Oscar Kelly (O. K.) Allen. Anyone who grows up here is constantly bombarded with sites and stories about their history.
Today the Courthouse Square northwest corner on Main Street is devoted to a statue of Huey Long surrounded by attractive benches and landscaping. The statue was originally located at an antebellum home outside of the city. But when the home was destroyed by fire, the statue was moved "to town" rather than be left "alone" in the woods.
For all of my life, Maple Street has been home to the Earl K. Long Park which has an attractive lawn area around an impressive statue of Earl Long "waving" at you as you drive by. The rear of the park has a grand stand area used for weddings, Easter sunrise services and concerts. Just a few years ago, I found out that Earl Long is actually buried under his statue at the park. This was slightly disturbing to me since the statue is regularly "decorated" with toilet paper, especially around high school graduation and Halloween. And sometimes when you drive by, you laugh because someone has placed a beer can in Earl's uplifted hand.
O. K. Allen is buried behind the old high school on South St. John Street. The large tombstone is very imposing, but the area is not well tended, and sometimes looks "creepy" with the old stone barely visible through the weeds and faded flowers. I had several classes in the building nearest the grave site and found it odd to daily walk near what should have been a place of respect to go with a group of boisterous young people to science or home economics.
Older persons would frequently share tales of their experiences with the Longs. Most of these persons are deceased now and gone with them are their very entertaining memories.
A favorite story from my old neighborhood was "Eatin' rats with Huey." Apparently Huey Long never slept and when he wasn't working, often spent nights visiting friends (or making new ones). Every now and then he would end up on what is now Whisenant Road and drink the night away with the fellows there. One night when they were drunk, they also decided they were hungry. There was no food, so they decided to shoot some rats. Not sure how to cook the rats, they just skinned them and boiled them. I got the impression from the tellers of this tale that boiled rat is not very tasty. However, they thought that attempting to eat rat with the governor was quite a treat!
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