Horseshoe Drive House (THEN)

Uncle Antony and Big Boy in front of the stables

Annis on her wedding day in front the large mirrors

Annis and Jeff on the Horseshoe Drive stairway, leaving for their honeymoon

Genevieve Walker in front of the stables

Genevieve Walker riding in front of the barn. The dairy was just to the left of the barn.

Horseshoe Drive house from the air

Below are pictures of Martha Annis Walker's childhood home on Horseshoe Drive in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, now placed on the National Register of Historical Places, known as the "Morgan Walker House."

Memories recorded from Neal Horn, Annis' youngest son: "I remember that we loved to slide down the banister on the stairs and Mama would always tell us about somebody who fell over the banister on the second floor and landed on that couch that was right under it. The other story she would tell is how Uncle Edgar told her to stick her head between the bars of the stair rail and she got her head stuck. They had to get one of the big black men that worked for PawPaw to cut the banister in one place, then pull the space open so she could get out.

The house had a very distinctive smell--especially the kitchen and the butler's pantry. I also remember the maroon carpet that was all in the downstairs and those curtains with the horse scenes on them in the room where the TV was. I remember that sometimes we would go up into the attic and look around. There was that fake horse tail up there and a lot of Christmas decorations including that white church that lit up on the inside.

There was a rose garden in the middle of the circle drive that was shaped like a heart that Mama said PawPaw had planted for Grandmother. There was a goldfish pond that was in the yard that was mostly algae and no goldfish anymore and we used to catch the minnows with strainers from the kitchen in it. There were also all of those orange trees and a pomegranate tree in the yard. I thought is was so fun to eat those pomegranates. There was also the house behind the big house where the Hickmans lived. I could never understand a word Mr. Hickman said--probably because he always had that huge chew in his mouth. We would sometimes go play in the stables back there or the old abandoned dairy, but there were always wasp nests in the stables. We also used to go play in that huge red barn. The upper floor was full of pigeons. I remember going to the office back there too. By then only Daddy's office was there, and Lois was the secretary. I remember there was a fake orange tree in the front room and a gumball machine that took pennies. Once when Mama went out of town before I was in school and I had to go there every day with Daddy. It was not fun and I'm sure Lois got sick of me. We also loved to go play in that bamboo patch that was past the oak trees. The bayou that was in front of the house was usually dry, except when it would rain really hard, and then we would go catch crawfish out there."