Today we set off for Vermillionville which is actually what Lafayette was originally called. This is a Living History Museum and a physical representation of an early Arcadian settlement. It is a mix of original structures from 1765 to 1890 as well as reproduction homes to represent the different styles. They have very helpfully created a walk through the complex that takes you in some houses and past others, each of them has an information board outside which is mostly shaded by Oaks and Cyprus trees which they used to build the house, it even has a part of the Vermillion Bayou running through it which apparently has ‘gators’ in it although we didn’t see any. A number of the buildings also have people in them either providing the history of the house or demonstrating a craft that would have been practiced at the time. We spoke to a lady that was spinning cotton, which she was very good at, but as she said she wasn’t very good at actually weaving it and she didn’t know how to use the loom. We also spoke to a guy who was making little books, these would have been used as guest books in the houses so that any visitor could write in it before leaving. We walked round all of the buildings until we got to the chapel which was built in the style of Catholic Churches at Pointe Coupee (1760) and St Martinville (1773). Catholicism was the only legal religion in Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Priests visited very infrequently so the Acadians celebrated ‘la messe blanche’ or a prayer service conducted by payment. Slaves were expected to practice the religion of their masters. Freemen of colour were economically independent and engaged in many trades so worshipped in the same churches used by whites. Slaves sat in small pews on the side aisles. At the back of the church was a field with a donkey and three sheep, we had purchased some food when we arrived so we fed the donkey for a while then continued round to the Vermillion Bayou. It has an old rope ferry that allows you to cross but unfortunately you can’t pull it from the other side so Chris walked round to get it while I stood and played with donkey a bit more! We crossed on the ferry then went into the remaining houses before heading out and into town for some lunch. We parked by Parc Sans Souci where there are letters spelling out Lafayette, it is also where the 9/11 monument is, it has 2 beams from the World Trade centre which represent the towers, the base is the shape of the pentagon and a section of the base corresponding to where the plane hit is distressed, with limestone from the exterior of the Pentagon and it is said that the earth is from the crash site of Flight 93. It is actually a really nice monument. Considering this was a French and Spanish region and right up until the 1st World War they still spoke, the French town is very plain and doesn’t have a French feel at all. We had some lunch then walked to Alexander Mouton House which was originally owned by Jean Mouton who founded the town of Vermillionville. Originally it was the location of his families Maison Dimanche or Sunday House as they lived out at the Plantation house but came into town every Sunday to go to Church, they would stop at the house and clean up the children, and one would assume themselves as well as it was probably quite a dusty drive in, then they would go to Church and return to the plantation. One of the son’s became a Senator and Louisiana’s eleventh Governor at which time the main house was built, originally half the size it is now and subsequent owners expanded it to the size it is today. We watched a video on what we would see in the house then went for a walk round. The house was saved from demolition in the 60’s and was purchased by 25 ladies of the town who subsequently renovated it and opened it as a museum. Probably the strangest thing about the house was the staircase, they built it at an angle so that it looked like it had a bend in it, I would have thought if they were that worried they would have just built a curve! From there we then walked up to the transportation centre or rather tried to but couldn’t find it, it should have been where there was a statue of Rosa Parks, but we did manage to find a number of the Murals that are around Lafayette, there are actually eight of them but we couldn’t find a couple, some are said to date from the 1940s which is when they started decorating the streets with murals. We then returned to the car and joined the rush hour traffic back to the hotel, it is probably the most traffic we have seen all holiday!
