Lafayette, Louisiana began with Le Grand Derangement.
In the 1750s and ‘60s, thousands of French Canadians were driven out of their homes by the British during the French and Indian War. Since they came from a part of Canada known as Acadia, they were called Acadians. Over the years the name evolved into Cajun.
Today, Lafayette is the hub of Cajun culture, showcasing its music, food, and history.
Welcome to Vermilionville Historic Village
The city that is now Lafayette was founded in 1821 by Jean Mouton and was first named Vermilionville. (It was renamed Lafayette in 1884 after the Marquis de Lafayette, the French nobleman who aided George Washington in the American Revolution.)
As a native Louisianan, I have loved being able to visit Vermilionville Historic Village, a replica of that early settlement. It features seven original buildings, many accurate reconstructions, a museum, a restaurant, and more, all on 23 acres on Bayou Vermilion.
I recently got to take another tour.
The Homes of Vermilionville
The first home I visited was La Maison Coussan, House of Cultures. It was built around 1850 using cypress and insulated with bousillage — a mix of Spanish moss and mud typical of Cajun and Creole homes of that time. The technique was learned from the Native Americans who already lived there. There is an open section in the wall where you can see this mixture.
The docents in Vermilionville aren’t paid actors. They’re descendants of Acadians, Native Americans, or African Creoles.
On one visit, I met Chief John Sitting-Bear Mayeux, former chief of one of Louisiana’s oldest tribes, the Avogel. He told about his people, who had been here for almost 5,000 years when the Acadians arrived. His people hadn’t always been treated fairly by the white invaders, he said, but they welcomed the new arrivals and taught them things to help them survive the Louisiana swamplands, and contributed to the Cajun culture.
The News on Quilts
Another docent, Lynn Gery, makes quilts as they were made a century ago. She learned from her grandmother at age six. Her grandmother would have used brown cotton to make the thread. She would have stuffed the quilt with chicken, turkey, or pigeon feathers, or Spanish moss.
Gery explained that in Cajun culture quilts were more than bedding.
Families wanting to pass a message on to others would place a quilt where it could be seen from the bayou, which was the primary means of travel. A light-colored quilt would mean good news; a dark or black one would mean death or illness.
Someone passing in a pirogue would see the quilt, tie up his boat, and take it to the house to ask about the message. Whoever answered the door would tell him what they wanted to pass on. He would stop at the next house down the bayou and spread the news.
Old School Culture
L’Ecole is a reproduction of an 1890s Cajun schoolhouse. Our docent, Aleena Estes-Lejeune, told us how the government almost destroyed Cajun culture in the early 1900s. Cajun children were punished if they spoke French in school.
Maison Boucvalt, a mix of Creole and Victorian architecture, is Vermilionville’s youngest home, dating to the late 1800s. There, D’jalma Garnier, the grandson of the famous New Orleans Creole jazz fiddler and bandleader, Papa Garnier, played his fiddle for us. He explained the difference between Cajun and Zydeco music. Then he tucked his fiddle under his chin, ran his bow across it, and played a rollicking tune that made us all want to dance.
Textiles and Wood Carving
There are so many interesting homes to visit here, including the Beau Bassin house, built in 1840 by Louis Arceneauz, a Cajun rancher. It is unique as it blends Cajun, Creole, and American Greek revival styles.
The house tells about the textiles in Cajun culture. The prize artifact here is a 200-year-old Cajun loom. In Canada, women would spin flax and linen. Here they used cotton.
Lynn Gery has some quilts here, and there’s a quilting frame women used to make the quilts. Lynn told us why the frame was on ropes. “It was usually in a bedroom where it could get rolled up at night and down in the day. Quilting was a very important social gathering for women then.”
As we explored the village, we met Cliff Mire at La Maison Mouton, a reconstruction of a basic Acadian house with a detached kitchen circa 1810. Cliff is a self-taught wood carver who creates wildlife carvings and one-of-a-kind wooden mystery boxes. He can tell his story in fluent Cajun French or English.
A Church in Vermilionville
La Chapelle Des Attakapas is a reproduction of typical Catholic Churches in Vermilionville.
Catholicism was the only legal religion in Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The church is a one-story frame building with a porch across the front and a small, square, wooden steeple. Inside, the pews and walls are painted white with a simple white altar and a hardwood floor.
There’s also a blacksmith shop, boat builder’s shed, a barn, and Maison Acadienne, showcasing a traditional Acadian healer’s garden. There’s a Native American Common Ground behind the village. You’ll meet some animals that were common on farms, including donkeys, sheep, and chickens. One of the most unusual things I did there was hand-pull a raft to cross the alligator-inhabited Petit Bayou.
If you get hungry here, step into Vermilionville’s restaurant, La Cuisine de Maman. That translates to Mama’s Kitchen for good reason.
You’ll feel like you are in a Cajun mother’s kitchen with a homelike atmosphere and delicious food. I had fried shrimp with sweet potato fries and grits. The shrimp were huge, tender, and well-seasoned. The sweet potato fries were crispy outside and tender inside.
Some of our group had gumbo or etouffee.
Across from the restaurant, there’s a performance center where local musicians jam. You can take a self-guided tour or arrange ahead for a guided tour.
If You Go
Vermilionville is closed on Monday and open the rest of the week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Plan on spending two hours or more.
You can learn more about Cajun culture at Lafayette Acadian Cultural Center, part of the Jean Lafitte National Park. The museum’s free. The exhibits range from pictures to artifacts. There’s a typical Cajun home model showing different stages of construction.
Lafayette is big on festivals. The largest is Festival International de Louisiane, a five-day event held the last weekend in April. I visited during the Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, celebrating the food and music of the Cajun people, held annually the second week in October. Instead of a ribbon cutting to open the event they had a boudin cutting — boudin is a local style of sausage.
Photo credits: © Kathleen Walls
Lafayette Travel hosted my visits to Vermilionville.
Kathleen Walls blogs at American Roads and Global Highways.
