[Ted Davisson]

Greetings From New Orleans ,
Its been a rather unusual day for me to say the least . It all started after I had completed a job assignment this morning and culmenated for me when I made an unexpected stop to see a few old friends on the Delta Queen , while she was laying at the Oak Alley Plantation . On my way home from Plaquemine , and taking the River Road , I noticed a large bell in a recently mowed lawn , in another small town known simply as White Castle . Well , to make a long story short , I " rounded up " and returned to the suspicious looking bell and to my surprise , inscripted on it , near the top was simply ; 1890 Kaye & Company Louisville . In the adjoining picture you can also see that it is mounted on a fairly new but rusted steel stand that simply had TEXAS PLANTATION . Is it safe to assume that it may have come down the river on a steamer for the Texas Plantation or for that matter could it had been made explicitly for some old and forgotton river boat and through the years found a home at the Texas Plantation ? I had never heard of Kaye & Company Louisville but evidently they were in the Bell making business long ago . Now , what also got my radar up was that while on the Delta Queen , I made it a point of inspecting the Queen's bell and sure enough , it too had the inscription Kaye & Company but lacked a date and also the word Louisville . Can anyone lend a bit more information about Kaye & Company and their history in the bell making business ? Regardless , it made for an interesting day to make these two similar discoveries but despite the bell business the best part of the day was to see my friends on the DQ and to conjure up a few old memories of our life and times on that boat .
Smoothe Sailing !
Ted