In looking back over this summer, it
has been an unusual one for our area.
We endured two sad incidents which
tested the strength of our community.
In both cases the normal order of liv-
ing our lives was sent into an upheav-
al. Lots of prayers were asked for in
both incidents and level heads were
needed to prevail. We are now on the
road to recovery as we pull together
as "One Community".
The flood of 2016 will go down in
history as the worst that East Baton
Rouge and 19 other parishes have ev-
er experienced. It truly was a cata-
strophic event beyond anything any-
one could imagine. The scope and
depth of destruction was so wide
spread as it touched a very vast area
of our city. So much property lost
for so many people! Everyone you
talked to knew of someone who expe-
rienced water in their homes. It
touched family, friends, acquaintances
and businesses.
There were many heart warming sto-
ries in the news and in the newspaper.
Generous help arrived from around
the United States. Help from other
state agencies, workers from churches
in other states, and common citizens,
like the "Cajun Navy", reached out to
those who needed a hand. Not only
were rescues made but everyday needs
were met. Celtic Studio was among the
first to open their doors to house vic-
tims.
I am very proud of Tara residents as
they were also among the first to reach
out to those stranded. On Saturday,
the day after the flooding began, an
email blast was sent out with a list of
items needed for Celtic Studio. The
post was made in the morning and by
3 pm that evening four cars were filled
with donated items!
Our residents continued to reach out as
Tara joined with the churches of St.
Paul's and First Christian to feed Red
Cross workers and those in need of a
meal. Our original commitment was
for two weeks however we gave three
weeks of commitment to this effort.
My sincere thanks goes out for all
who participated. It was a leap of faith
to reach out to so many but God works
through us in many ways.
As we continue to rebuild our commu-
nity, let's keep up the generous spirit
that this area of the country is so noted
for. Let's continue to remember those
who are still dislocated and who are
still in need of help. Keep these citi-
zens in your prayers.
Tara Proud---Tara Strong
Suzanne Fiske
SECURITY ISSUES
Emergency: 911
City Police: 389-2000
Vacation Surveillance
(form listed on web site)
Email us at
Visit us on the Web at
www.taracivicassociation.org
November 2016 P ub l i shed by the Ta ra C iv i c A sso c i a t io n ~ ~ C a r i ng fo r o ur C omm un i ty
Se cu r i ty , Beau t i f i ca t ion , Re s t r i c t ion s , an d Com mu ni ca t i on s
Louisiana Strong--Recovering Together
Tara Talk News
Joesph & Amy Delaney
1147 Tara Blvd.
Philip & Amy House
1538 Tara Blvd.
Reid & Lacey Lamy
8473 Scarlett Dr.
Jimmy & Linda Morgan
8744 Cottage Ave.
David & Katherine Laxton
8740 Bayside Ave..
Kevin & Meghan Tait
1801 Beechgrove Dr..
Welcome, New Tara
Residents!
We are happy to see our
community growing
Tara Talk page 2
Wildly Wonderful Wine Walk
Property Along Old
How to Submit A Vacation
Watch
Are you planning to be out of
town for the holidays? Did you
know that you can
submit a “Vacation
Watch” for your
home? Our security patrol will
visit your home while you are
gone. They do not go inside the
home but will walk around the
house to check windows and
doors. Check out our web site
www.taracivicassociation.org and
visit the Security Page. Fill out
the form and submit. It’s as easy
as that.
So deck those halls and get in the
spirit of the season by lighting up
Tara!!
Because of your generosity, the
TCA Neighborhood Wine Walk
made a net profit of $1,821.02.
This money has been earmarked
to be deposited into the Special
Fund for Security Cameras as
promised.
Congratulations to Suzanne
Fiske and her Wine Walk com-
mittee members, Angela Deno-
va, Richela Roy, Alex Polito,
Carmen Trull, Brenda Giacone,
and Cathy St. Romain for spear-
heading another successful TCA
Activity for its residents
To paraphrase Mr. Rogers, “It
was a beautiful night in the
neighborhood”
What do you get when you put to-
gether tasty food, superb wines,
gracious hosts, a clear night and
over 90 Tara neighbors recon-
necting with old friends and wel-
coming new neighbors to our sub-
division? The answer of course,
is the TCA Neighborhood Wine
Walk Fund Raiser!
Once again, the Wine Walk was
successful, due in large part to
our Host Homes:
Reid & Lacey Lamy,
8473 Scarlett Dr.
Glen & Jennifer Steady
1709 Beechgrove Dr.
Karl & Yuki Simpson
1926 Beechgrove Dr.
Thank you for graciously sharing
your patios and assisting with the
set up and take down preparations
to serve close to 100 neighbors
delicious appetizers and desserts
which were brought to you by our
wonderful Wine Walk Sponsors;
Beausoleil ~~ Bergeron’s ~~
Café Americain ~~ Calvin’s
City Pork ~~ Drusllia’s
Gambino’s ~~ Goodwood Grill
LeBlanc’s ~~ Raising Cane’s
Portobello’s ~~ Velvet Cactus
Voodoo BBQ ~~ Zea’s
Special thanks goes to Tom Fiske
who handled the special duty of
selecting different wines to pair
with the different H’ordeuvres for
each house. We also thank Linda
Henning and Jane Ourso who
added home made goodies to our
dessert table
Tara Christmas Lighting Contest
Date: Tuesday December 13
Time: 6-9 pm
Judging starts at 6:30 pm
Prizes awarded for following categories:
Best Door, Best Children’s, Best Religious,
Best Lighting, Most Original,
Judges Choice
Cottage Plantation
“A Continuing Series”
Research on this plantation
found that Louisiana has two
different Cottage Plantations.
One is located at 10528 Cot-
tage Lane in St. Francisville
and the other was once located
along River Road. This one
burned in 1960.
Cottage Plantation,
St. Francisville:
This Cottage Plantation is lo-
cated on U.S. Highway 61, six
miles north of St. Francisville.
It stands complete as it did in
antebellum days, having in ad-
dition to the plantation home
the old school house, outside
kitchen, milk house, carriage
house, barn, slave houses and
other out buildings. The house
is furnished with much of the
original furniture. The Cottage
Plantation is located on land
secured by John Allen and Pat-
rick Holland by a Spanish land
grant in 1795, and acquired by
Judge Thomas Butler about
1810.
The cottage is completely built
of virgin cypress except for the
massive sills which were made
of various woods from the
plantation. All of the pillars on
the galleries are hand wrought,
as is the exterior and interior
woodwork. There are twelve
square rooms in the main house
and four in the wing. The
rooms in the main section of
the house open onto the gallery
through door-windows with
Tara Talk page 3
stationary shutters. Every room
is furnished with a hand carved
fireplace mantle, some of ex-
treme simplicity and others
elaborate with fluted Doric col-
umns and panels in a sunburst
design. Today the plantation is
used as a Bed & Breakfast.
There are six rooms, all with
private bath, A/C, and Direct
TV.
Cottage Plantation Ruins
Greater River Road
Destroyed by fire in 1960, the
plantation still lingers in the
memories of many who live in
the area of Baton Rouge. It
was built in 1824 by Colonel
Abner Duncan as a wedding
gift for his daughter, bride of
Frederic Conrad. The house
had 22 rooms and was consid-
ered one of the finest in this
area. In 1850, a teacher named
Holt, came to the home as a
tutor for the Conrad children
and became part of the family
and lived there until the Civil
War. The Union took over the
Cottage and removed every-
thing that could be found of
value and held the family as
prisoners. The house became a
hospital for soldiers with yel-
low fever which saved it from
being destroyed. After the sol-
diers left, Mr. Holt returned to
the house and became a recluse.
He eventually died and was
buried on the grounds. It has
been rumored and documented
that his ghost occupied the
home until the fire.
Louisiana Marathon
Weekend--Sunday Jan. 15,
2017 Registration is now open for the
yearly Louisiana Marathon
Weekend event which occurs
annually here in January. The
full marathon race (26 miles)
passes through our subdivision.
Each year Tara volunteers to
host a water station which is set
up on the corner of LaSalle and
Roseneath. If you have volun-
teered in the past, you know how
much fun this community event
is and how much the runners ap-
preciate all the volunteers. Vol-
unteers hand out water, power
aid and energy gel-packs.
In order to sign up for this event
it is very simple. Google Louisi-
ana Marathon. Choose Louisi-
ana Marathon Weekend. Once
on this page, look for the naviga-
tional button VOLUNTEER.
This will take you to the next
page where you will see a Red
Button that says VOLUNTEER
NOW. You will want to look for
our GROUP-- TARA CIVIC
ASSOCIATION. At that point
you will just fill in the form and submit it. Our Group PASS-
WORD IS TARA! This event is
very enjoyable and because so
many runners attend, we really
need lots of volunteer! Hope to
see all those who have volun-
teered in the past and some new
faces as well.
We are on the Web
www.taracivicassociation.org
Tara Civic Association
1554 Tara Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
As you know all of the gardening
work done on the Boulevard is
done by volunteers. We receive
many compliments as our entrances
are always beautiful!
We are now moving into the win-
ter months with the planting of the
pansies. Who doesn't love the look
they provide. However, in order to
keep pansies blooming with nice
showy flowers, they need to be
"dead headed". This is not that de-
manding but does take commitment
and a hour or two of time. Last fall
we had a few people volunteer to
help out but we definitely need
more volunteers. The beds will
need to be maintained until April.
Keeping these plants “dead head-
ed” is a must!
Yard of the Month
Thanks to the following residents for
making Tara Beautiful!
Winners for yard of the month are:
September Lee & Ginger Comeaux
Wakefield Dr.
October Robert & Tillie Lee
Cottage Ave.
November Jacque & Arlyn Saucier
Beechgrove Dr.
Winners were awarded a gift certifi-
cate from LA. Nursery whom we
continue to thank for their support
and generosity.
The Green Thumb Group
You are invited to join in and help keep our
entrances beautiful!
I would like to set up a schedule
where by each person would only
need to give one week a month to
help out with this project. The dead
heading does not need to be done
everyday just a few times a week.
It would be especially fun if at least
two volunteers would work togeth-
er. Conversation always makes the
job faster and easier!
Please consider joining to help es-
tablish this group. After the season,
we will celebrate with a small ap-
preciation get together to say
thanks. Give Suzanne Fiske a call
at 924-3454 or email her at
Make taking care of our entrances simple for all!
Tara Civic Association Sponsors
A & W Plumbing
www.awplumbingbr.com
Benny’s Car Wash
www.bennyscarwash.com
Bocage Market
www.calvinsbocage.com
City Pawn Shop
(225) 926-7296
C.C Chimney Sweep
www.cchimney.com
Cajun Electric
www.cajunelectricbr.com
The Dowden Group
www.thedowdengroup.com
Hammond Aire Auto Spa
(225) 928-7046
House of Jamba
(225) 926-0979
Jason Hitto, D.D.S.
www.batonrougedentistry.com
Kelly Williams Reality Red Stick Partners
www.justlistedinbatonrouge.com
LeBlanc’s Frais Marche Drusilla Village
www.leblancsfoodstores.com/stores/drusilla.aspx
Our Lady of Mercy Church
www.olomchurch.com | www.olomschool.org (School)
Pearson’s Luggage, Gifts & Travel
www.pearsonsluggage.com
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
www.stlukesbr.org | www.sledsbr.org (School)
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
www.stpaulbr.com
Treads & Care
www.treadsancare.com
Valic Financial Advisors Inc.
Williams Accounting Services
www.williamsacct.com