Near the southernmost part of Louisiana's delta country lie a series of five huge, wooded mounds, which rise up above the grassy marshlands and prairies that surround them. From 50 to 100 feet above sea level, these “islands” sit atop mammoth columns of salt that are two to three miles wide and five miles or more in depth.

Jefferson Island, one of the five, carries an air of mystery as legend has it that the infamous pirate Jean Lafitte buried his treasures under the giant live oaks that one day would surround a home and garden on the spot.

The vista leading to Rip Van Winkle Gardens is fringed with a one-and-a-half-mile avenue of live oaks, sentinels along the roadside. Ponds surrounded by cypress trees on either side of the road offer residence for the egrets and spoonbills that cross the road daily, sometimes accompanied by a thick-billed pelican that has made the island his home.

On Nov. 20, 1980 a drilling rig pierced one of the giant caverns of the diamond Crystal Salt Mine, flooding the entire mine. The vortex swallowed the lake, 65 acres of native woodland, a welcome center, a glass conservatory and a brand new house. The Joseph Jefferson mansion and land near the lake was damaged.

Today, the gardens, belonging to Mike and Louise Richard, are open to tourists every day, with daily tours of the Joseph Jefferson Mansion and Rip Van Winkle Gardens. Cafe Jefferson at Rip Van Winkle Gardens is open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. daily. Three nearby bed-and-breakfast cottages provide overnight accommodations.