Another Sunny Day in Cajun Country

Today was another beautiful day.
We had a leisurely breakfast at camp before we went to Lafayette to visit the Jean Lafitte Acadian Cultural Center.  We saw a short file about the history of how the Acadians came to Louisiana.  In the early 1755 the British took control of Acadia, renamed it Nova Scotia and exiled the French people to wherever they could find refuge.  Nearly 10,000 people were exiled and nearly 1/2 died without finding a permanent home.  It was a very interesting exhibit run by the National Park Service.

We then went to Vermilionville, a heritage and folklife museum showing the culture of Cajuns, Creoles, and Native Americans.  The village contains 19 buildings, seven of which are restored original homes.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around and inside the buildings.  We got back to camp around 3:00.  We have decided to stay here another day and head back to Illinois on Saturday.  We will have to make the trip in two days instead of the three days it took us to get down here.  

The trees are beginning to bloom out.  The Palmetto Palms are everywhere down here.

I love the Spanish-draped trees in Louisiana.

Vermilionville - a Cajun/Creole Heritage Park.  Vermilionville later became Layfayette.

The church.  The Acadians were Catholic and continued to make the church an important part of their culture when they came to Louisiana.

Barn at the village.  Notice the shingles at the peak of the roof.  It was built that way to help rain run off the roof.

Armand Broussard Came from Acadia (Nova Scotia) with some of the earliest French people exiled from that country.  At the age of 56 he fought with the Americans at the Battle of New Orleans in 1814.

This house was built in 1790 and is still standing today.

This floor is original to the house when it was built in 1790.   That is one durable floor!

These two men were in the schoolhouse playing Cajun music.  They were very interesting to talk to.  I love to hear the Cajun dialect spoken.  The man with the accordion said that there is not much written music for what he plays.  You have to play by ear.  A note on the blackboard said that students were not allowed to speak French.  It was a Louisiana state law until the 1960's that they could not speak French on school property.