Denny Culbert
Francophone heritage is celebrated all year long at Vermilionville. This hands-on, interactive historical interpretive site devotes itself to celebrating and presenting the unique culture of Acadiana. Vermilionville offers information and programming on Acadian, Creole, and Native American culture and history of the area, and explores the different ways the overarching “Frenchness” of the area has shaped the lives of its past and present residents. Here, you can have a truly immersive French-language experience, with French-speaking guides and staff available at each stage of your visit (but they do speak English, too, so if it’s been too long since high school French, you can still learn!) Perhaps the greatest measurement of the thoroughness of Vermilionville’s French experience is that most of their visitors from abroad are from French-speaking areas like France, Belgium, and Quebec; it’s so French it attracts people from France, eager to learn about the area’s history as a place where Francophone cultures adapted to a new place.
Vermilionville also offers a full calendar of events, including cultural days devoted to Acadian, Creole, and Native American heritage, Christmas and Mardi Gras celebrations that incorporate traditional holiday practices, a summer camp, film series, and more. Weekly, you can enjoy music in French at the Saturday Cajun Jam from 1 pm to 3 pm and at the Sunday Bal du Dimanche dance, which alternates between Cajun and Zydeco music, from 1 pm to 4 pm—and there’s yoga in French Tuesdays at 5:30 pm. If your roots go deep into the soil of South Louisiana, come to Vermilionville to learn more about how they lived and to hear their language kept alive in a changing world. If you’re a newer transplant, it’s a great way to learn more about the people who populated and created this unmistakable, unforgettable corner of the world. To plan a visit or for more information, visit vermilionville.org or call (337) 233-4077.
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