Purple, green and gold

Another reason why we wanted to come to this area of Louisiana, in addition to the geo-site, is to learn more about the Acadian culture. Today we visited St. Martinsville, also know as the Birthplace of Acadiana and made famous by the Evangeline Oak Tree that inspired Longfellow's poem. Settled in 1765, St. Martinsville is Louisiana's sixth oldest city.

Our first stop was the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site where the Visitor Center houses displays on the history, lifestyle and culture of the Creoles and Acadians that inhabited this area. Incidentally, I have been wondering why a Yankee poet, Longfellow, would write the epic poem "Evangeline", about the Acadians in Louisiana. What I learned today is that Longfellow's sister married a cotton planter and that she is the likely source of the Acadian story so evocatively told in the poem.

Inside the Visitor Center where the wall panels told the story of the French settlers to Acadia, in what is now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, their expulsion in 1755, and subsequent settlement in Louisiana. 

A cotton press from a small plantation that forms the cotton into bales that were then transported to New Orleans for shipment.

Mary provided a tour of the Olivier Plantation Home, built circa 1815 by a wealthy Creole family. The structure is an example of a simple and distinctive architectural form called a Raised Creole Cottage, which shows a mixture of Creole, Caribbean and French influences.

The dining room.

This semi-goulish article is a hair sculpture. Often, when someone died, their hair was used to fashion an art object that allowed the person to be remembered.

Mary explained that the piece at the head of the bed, that looks like a rolling pin, was used to beat the mattress every day to eliminate the lumps that formed overnight.

Mary explained that when a Live Oak tree is 100 years old it can be registered on the Live Oak Registry, but that it has to be named. This Live Oak, over 300-years-old, is named the "Gabriele" tree after Evangeline's lost love.

On the grounds of the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site is a reproduction of a small, rustic, Acadian cabin, furnished with Louisiana cypress furniture. 

Philip, the State Park employee stationed at the Acadian cabin, has Master's degrees in history, folklore and anthropology. A Cajun, we talk to him for almost an hour about the explosion and cohesive Acadian community. 

Back in the center of downtown St. Martinsville is the "Mother Church of the Acadians", Saint Martin de Tours, founded in 1765. 

The tall, semi-circular windows on each side of the church nave are reproductions of the original. I love the way the light shines through them onto the base of the pillars.

The left side altar is a replica of the Grotto of Lourdes and was constructed in the late 1870's by Pierre Martinet. Martinet, a freed slave, never visited Lourdes but constructed the shrine after studying a holy card of the site. He used bousillage, mud from the Bayou Teche and moss. Prayers and messages of thanks spanning many decades have been posted on the grotto.

This graceful, raised pulpit, called the Ambo, was necessary for the priest's voice to carry and be heard by everyone in the church during the time before electricity and public address systems.

In front of the church stands a statue of a Native American from the Attakapas Nation. The plaque reads- "Roving savage tribe who settled here prior to the French. Partly Christianized and civilized by Missionaries."

As we were leaving the campground this morning we noticed this trailer at one of the campsites. It turns out that this week-end is the height of the Mardi Gras celebration in Louisiana - and it is a big deal in this part of the state.

When we stopped to take a picture we learned that there will be a parade through the campground this Saturday, at 2:30 pm. Unfortunately we won't be here, but the campground is beginning to fill up and there will be many floats like this. The park police lead the way with their sirens on and the floats will be pulled around the park. Beads and candy will be thrown.

Some beads decorating a nearby tree. We were told that after the parade the beads are returned to the floats to be used again next year.

This guy moves up and down in this air-sculpture.

Here are the two ladies decorating the float. See all the beads on the woman's hand? She draped all of them around my neck before I left.