Cajun Country: St. Martinville
In legend -- St. Martinville was the meeting place of the ill-fated lovers, Evangeline and Gabriel. In history -- it was the meeting place of exiled French aristocrats fleeing the French Revolution, and of Acadians of Nova Scotia seeking refuge after the British expulsion. It was also the meeting place of wealthy New Orleanians escaping the oppressive heat and epidemics of the city. In nature -- it is the meeting place of the swamp and the prairie.

In 1755 the British with the help of New England soldiers expelled the Acadians from Nova Scotia, dumping them along the Eastern seaboard and along the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in Louisiana. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 epic poem "Evangeline" told the story of this ethnic cleansing. In Louisiana, the story is also known through the poem's local counterpart, Acadian Reminiscences: The True Story of Evangeline, written by Judge Felix Voorhies in 1907. Prior to the arrival of the Acadians, or Cajuns, in 1764, the Bayou Teche area had already begun to be settled by the French. Click on the photos to see more details.
St. Martinville preserves its French heritage -- the visitor signs says they speak French inside. The Evangeline Oak is the primary tourist attraction and the city declared it "the most famous tree in America!"
St. Martin de Tours Roman Catholic church was established in 1765; the current building dates from 1832. The Evangeline statute, in the back of the church on a former cemetery, was donated to the city by the silent film star Delores Del Rio who played Evangeline in a 1929 movie filmed in St. Martinville!
Check out the English and French back-to-back sign about Judge Emile Edouard (Edward) Simon.

After clicking on the photo, just drag your cursor over the large English-language photo you see to look at the French-language side.

  

Based on field work by Ingolf Vogeler in March 2003; created on 21 March 2003.