The Associated Press
CLOUTIERVILLE, La. — Fire has destroyed a historic house and museum that once was the home of author Kate Chopin.
Authorities in the central Louisiana town of Cloutierville (KLOO-chee-vil) say three fire districts answered an alarm at 4 a.m. Wednesday but firefighters were unable to save the house known as the Kate Chopin House-Bayou Folk Museum.
Town founder Alexis Cloutier built it between 1805 and 1809.
Chopin wrote two novels, including “The Awakening,” and about a hundred short stories, including a collection titled “Bayou Folk.” They all were published after she left Cloutierville, where she lived in the 1880s.
Mildred LaCaze McCoy opened the house as the museum in 1965 and collected most of the artifacts displayed there.