LSU Rural Life Museum

Meet The Watermelon 🍉

Built in the 1920s by hand, this truck helped a Lower Ninth Ward family survive the Great Depression hauling fresh produce to the French Market by day while they worked the farm by night.

When farming days were over, it became the neighborhood joyride to Pontchartrain Beach. When tires were scarce, the brothers borrowed them from neighbors just to make the trip.

Green on the outside. Red on the inside. A century of New Orleans hustle in between.

Now part of the LSU Rural Life Museum collection, donated by the Menge family in 2022. 🌿