BY HEATHER MILLER
THE DAILY IBERIAN
Published/Last Modified on Sunday, December 26, 2010 6:07 AM CST
FRANKLIN — Point to any of the hundreds of artifacts, antiques or opulent chandeliers in the Grevemberg House Museum, and curator Craig Landry will give you a history lesson like no other you’ll hear in the Teche Area.
Very few other than Landry are able to tell visitors that the elegant piano in the living room of the Grevemberg House belonged to Murphy Foster Sr., a former Louisiana governor in the late 1800s and grandfather of former Louisiana Gov. Mike Foster of Franklin.
For more than 30 years, the Franklin native and resident has been the keeper of the historic antebellum home that was slated for demolition in 1963, saved and eventually transformed into a museum operated and funded by the St. Mary Chapter of the Louisiana Landmarks Society.
Anecdotes like the Foster piano and how it came to rest at Grevemberg are a plenty when visitors from all over the world enter the historic home on the grounds of City Park, all thanks to Landry’s passion for keeping its rich history alive.
Looking at Foster’s piano, Landry also can tell visitors that a Russian concert pianist sat at the piano in recent years, just months before her debut at Carnegie Hall.
Whether he’s giving tours of the two-story home to travelers from Australia and Europe or setting up the museum for wedding receptions and bridal showers that often take place there, Landry is a walking history book with the pages stored “in his head.”
“The Grevemberg House could not go on without him there,” said St. Mary Landmark Society member Pam Heffner. “He is so knowledgeable and knows so much about every article, every piece of furniture, its value, and where it came from; we couldn’t exist without him. That’s a fact. It’s just all in his head.”
In addition to the wealth of knowledge he offers to visitors of the historic museum, Landry can offer a wide variety of tidbits about many of the 490 houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Landry said he believes Franklin’s abundance of grandiose historic homes is in part because the town was settled by Anglo Saxons from the East Coast, rather than the Acadians who came from poverty and founded the other parts of Acadiana.
“They were more worldly,” he said. “They settled here and they knew more about other types of architecture and style.”
The longtime curator admits he had no real interest in local history or the deep roots of the Grevemberg House before his mother began working at the museum decades ago as a second job.
His mother was older at the time, he said, so he would often help her out by cleaning the historic home.
“Then a year later, I took her job,” he said with a smile.
Decades later, local history and even genealogy have become a daily part of Landry’s life and something he finds crucial to maintain.
He can even tell you about historic homes that no longer exist in Franklin, including the two homes that once stood on either side of the Grevemberg House. Both were destroyed by fire, he said.
“What’s amazing about my job is the history, knowing that this has been here for more than 150 years and it’s going to be here, hopefully, for another few hundred years,” Landry said.
If you know someone who lives in the Teche Area who would make an interesting weekend profile, please submit his or her name for consideration. Call 365-6773, ext. 3022 or ext. 3024, or send an e-mail to dailyiberian@cox.net, subject line Weekend Profile.
Copyright © 2010 The Daily Iberian
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