Friday, April 11, 2014

Lafayette: The Campus Swamp



Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana

The University of Louisiana - Lafayette campus is compact and pretty.  Live oaks drape the main promenade, St. Mary's Street. Bright flowers leaven the seriousness of red brick buildings. Much-loved Girard Park anchors a corner of the campus.

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana



You'd never know that in the heart of the campus lies a petite swamp. With alligators, turtles, cypresses and Spanish moss, an array of fishes, and fat squirrels. It's surrounded by an attractive black metal fence to protect residents both within and without the habitat.

 
Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana


 People visit and feed bread to the fish and turtles.


Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana


The "swamp" is more technically Cypress Lake. If one really wants to get technical, I'd propose it was more a large pond than a lake, but historically, the swamp-lake-pond originated as a depression caused by two-stepping buffalo who liked to party in the cypress grove. The depression, which later filled with water, was here before UL was.

Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana


If you look closely at the photo above, you can see turtles sunning themselves on a log. .... or is it a log?


Cypress Lake, UL campus, Lafayette, Louisiana



2 comments:

Geoff Reed said...

Nice photos, especially the second one. I also like the iris in the foreground of another. My favorite flower.

Mzuri said...

Thanks - and good eye on the iris - I knew it was there, but wasn't sure it would be picked up by a visitor. Irises are awfully, pretty, aren't they? Siberian irises are especially beautiful, I think.