Barry Ancelet on Places to Get to Grips with Acadian History
Places to Get to Grips with Acadian History
FLOYD'S RECORD SHOP, Ville Platte
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One of the major players in the development of contemporary Cajun music, zydeco and swamp pop.
FRED'S LOUNGE, Mamou
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Long a mecca for Cajun musicians, music lovers and many of the cultural activists, such as Paul Tate, Revon Reed , Dewey Balfa, and Ralph Rinzler, who influenced the so-called Cajun music renaissance beginning in the 1960s.
OPELOUSAS
A former trading post, where one can still see in the architecture the range and fusion of cultures representing Cajuns, French Creoles, black Creoles, Spaniards, and Anglo-Americans; home of the likes of Paul Prudhomme, Clifton Chenier, and Jim Bowie.
PIERRE PART
An experience in how the early Acadians negotiated a place for themselves on the edge of the vast Atchafalaya Basin, making use of its wetland resources and eventually crossing it westward to reach the lower Bayou Teche, and where they learned to pick moss, run trot lines, catch crawfish, build boats, and cut cypress trees for lumber.
ST. GABRIEL CATHOLIC CHURCH, St. Gabriel
Alleged to be the first church built by the newly arrived Acadians, who were settling along the Mississippi in places not yet claimed by the French Creole planters. Some of the houses in town are excellent examples of early Acadian vernacular architecture.
THE ACADIAN MUSEUM, Erath
A collection of memorabilia from various facets of Acadian culture and history, including the influence of Vermilion Parish native sons, such as Dudley LeBlanc and D. L. Menard., and the home of the Living Legends, which honors prominent figures in Acadian history.
About Barry...
Barry Jean Ancelet is the Granger & Debaillon/BORSF Endowed Professor of Francophone Studies and Folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He has given many papers and published numerous articles and books on various aspects of Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole cultures and languages. He has also contributed to numerous documentary films and radio programs on Louisiana French culture, and CDs featuring Cajun music and Creole. He serves as director of Lafayette’s annual Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, and hosted the “Rendez-vous des Cadiens,” a weekly live radio show from the Liberty Theater in Eunice, Louisiana, for twenty-four years.