Paul Christiansen
At the Louisiana State Arboretum in Evangeline Parish.
Beneath the mid-morning sun on the first day of spring break, we piled the family into the car and headed out of the city to Louisiana’s countryside, passing through Lafayette and steering northwest to Evangeline Parish. Named for Longfellow’s famous heroine, Evangeline is a land of crawfish ponds, rice fields, and wide-open pastures. It’s a haven for hunting and fishing, a veritable resort for nesting egrets and Roseate Spoonbills, and within its borders lie some of the state’s largest and most scenic parks.
Early French and Spanish settlers used this prairie land for grazing cattle, and while there are significantly more homes on the horizon now, it’s not hard to picture the scene that greeted these European homesteaders. The parish seat, Ville Platte, sits west of I-49 and is famous for its smoked meats and Swamp Pop music. Meaning “flat town,” Ville Platte is the point where the land levels off below the hillier landscape to the north.
Chicot State Park
We spent two blissful days exploring this area, starting with the 6,400-acre Chicot State Park. The park’s centerpiece is man-made Lake Chicot, with its picture-perfect cypress and tupelo trees rising above the dark, still waters. Long and skinny, the stocked lake nurtures record-breaking Largemouth Bass, crappie, and Bluegill, and on any given day, fishermen gently rock in their boats waiting patiently to catch the big one. Our boys set up camp on the North Landing’s fishing pier and tried out new lures while lizards scurried around searching for patches of sunlight on the railings.
We then drove the scenic road along the lake’s western edge to the South Landing, passing cyclists on their way back to the campground and children investigating the kids’ hiking trail, illuminated by strings of lights in the trees. We stopped to view the stilted cabins hovering over the water before circling back to the park’s main hiking trail, a twenty-mile loop that rings the entire lake and is a favorite of mountain bikers. On our particular Monday, though, we were the only visitors in sight. Grabbing our water bottles, we plunged into the bottomland hardwood forest that hugs the banks of the lake. Our dog, overjoyed to be in the woods, set a vigorous pace, and we jogged along to keep up, rewarded every so often with glimpses of the glistening lake.
Paul Christiansen
Azaleas blossoming in the Louisiana State Arboretum in Evangeline Parish.
In addition to the North and South Landings, the state park has a less developed East Landing. All three sections offer a boat launch and dock, and boats can be rented at the South Landing. For those who take to the water, the park offers an eight-mile canoe trail. With nearly 200 campsites, fifteen cabins, and two lodges, it’s also one of the best places to stay overnight in Evangeline Parish.
Another option, which is the route we took, is to find a friend with a camp in the area. On the way to the camp, we pulled in to Teet’s Food Store in Ville Platte and browsed their extensive smoked meats section before picking up several for dinner.
Louisiana State Arboretum
The next morning, we splurged on sweet treats from Mikey’s Donut King before returning to Chicot State Park, this time taking the spur road to the Louisiana State Arboretum. Dating back to 1961, the Arboretum was the first of its kind established in the South. From the parking lot, we crossed a bridge leading to the Visitor’s Center, a small nature center tucked into the woods and surrounded by native plantings. After viewing the interactive exhibits, we picked up a trail map and headed into the forest. Caterpillars and red-tailed skinks were abundant, as were snakes sunning themselves on logs.
Paul Christiansen
Great Egrets at PJF Farms rookery in Evangeline Parish.
At more than 600 acres, the Arboretum encompasses varied landscapes along its five trails, and you can find nearly every type of Louisiana native tree and plant. The Bald Cypress Trail led us to boardwalks along the edge of Chicot Lake, while the PawPaw Loop Trail wound its way up a hill through an area ripe with pawpaw trees. Along the Walker Branch Trail, another boardwalk carried us across a swamp where croaking frogs serenaded our journey. Along each trail, signs identified the area’s vegetation, from the red-and-white Christmas lichen to sycamores, maples, beeches, and more. At the far end of the Arboretum stood the Caroline Dorman lodge, named in honor of the naturalist who first suggested the idea of an Arboretum. Many of the original plantings here came from Dorman’s home, Briarwood, in northern Louisiana. A second, free entrance to the Arboretum stands right beside the Caroline Dorman Lodge.
PJF Farm & Lodge
We left the Arboretum right after lunch to make our tour time at PJF Farm. Although the entrance is a twenty-minute drive away, PJF Farm is actually adjacent to Chicot State Park and only separated by railroad tracks. Family-owned and operated, the land is home to rice crops and crawfish farms and is a conservation and recreation area with four lakes and the second largest rookery in the state. Access to the property is by membership or day-pass, and the site offers several options for experiences—including hunting and fishing memberships, kayaking tours, and annual and day-passes for photography. You can also experience PJF by staying overnight in one of the on-site cabins or the lodge. Upon arrival for our scheduled tour, we were greeted by owner Anita Fontenot.
Fontenot’s father, Percy, acquired the property that she runs today with her son and daughter. The family told us the story of how Percy grew up poor but was a great entrepreneur. He started off selling flying squirrels and frogs as a teenager and later ran a chicken hatchery and general merchandise store with his wife. Along the way, Percy transitioned into banking and finance, and in 1960, he began owner-financing small parcels of land from the sheriff of Evangeline Parish until he’d eventually amassed around 4,000 acres.
Fontenot’s son, Doug Frugé II, manages the 1,600 acres dominated by rice fields and crawfish farms. He drove us around the property, explaining how once the rice is harvested, the fields will be flooded in order to bring the crawfish in..
Paul Christiansen
A Roseate Spoonbill at the PJF Farms rookery in Evangeline Parish
“Rice and crawfish are big staples,” explained Fontenot. “They sustain us enough to pour back into conservation. We then restore the land, and people come from all over the country and world to visit. We’d like to make this a destination.”
Fontenot has big plans for the future, including remodeling the Visitor’s Center, adding equestrian activities, and developing more trails. But for now, one of the biggest tourist draws is the bird rookery. “As a young girl, I’d ride back here with my dad and see the birds,” said Fontenot. “My dad would say, ‘These birds are going to be big someday.’” Today, photographers travel from all over to visit the site, which has thousands of nesting wading bird species, including Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Great Cormorants, Anhingas, and Roseate Spoonbills.
When Frugé stopped the truck to let us view the rookery, we were amazed by the noise and activity throughout the cypress trees. The entire area was a flurry of white plumage as egrets busily built their nests. Pockets of pink revealed Roseate Spoonbills clamoring for space, while giant alligators waited silently in the water, watching the activity above.
“It’s a paradise in disguise, where you can rest, retreat, and restore,” said Fontenot. “It’s a place of solitude, where you can come enjoy the outdoors.”
Her words seemed to sum up not only PJF Farms, but Chicot State Park and the Arboretum, too. The three highlight all that is special about Evangeline Parish, which we found to be a recreational oasis hidden in the center of the state.
