We visited Avery Island today to see the only factory that makes Tabasco brand pepper sauce and see the natural beauty of the island natural preserve.

It’s called an island because there are bayous all around it.  It’s really a salt dome in the middle of a very flat swamp area.

Just before the Civil War Ned McIlenny, a lawyer from New Orleans, married one of the Avery daughters and moved with her to the family plantation.  They were forced out during the Civil War but returned afterward.  Someone travelling through the area gave them some pepper seeds they had obtained in Mexico and these soon turned into fiery pepper plants.  The McIlennys experimented with a pepper sauce and developed the recipe that is still used today.

Between this beginning and today, the McIlenny family has run the business and have also been interested in conserving the wild beauty of the area.  They created a snowy egret preserve and planted and maintain a beautiful park area.  Here are some pictures we took today: