Vermillionville - August 21, 2010

Vermillionville in Lafayette is a living history museum all about the Cajun/Creole culture. The Parish created a village of antique structures that would have been found in the 1800's, by finding wooden structures from the surrounding parishes that had survived the elements. A few of the structures were reproductions, such as the church. Because there is no rock found locally, most things were built from cypress wood. Our very rainy weather and frequent hurricanes prevent many very old structures from surviving. The buildings were insulated with a mixture of mud and often pine needles.

We had lunch at the La Cuisine de Maman where they served a buffet with bbq chicken leg quarters and very tender ribs. We could see (and smell...mmm) the smoke pit just behind the building as we approached. For sides we had southern favorites such as green salad from the bar (Bedstemor and Bedstefar were not used to having salad first before the meal, as we do) a bowl of sausage gumbo,dirty rice, cornbread dressing, sweet potato fries, green beans, and biscuits with Steen's cane syrup for sopping up! A choice of Peach cobbler OR bread pudding( Benny's favorite) ended the meal. Bedstemor and Bedstefar opted to try the local Abita Beer






We took a tour of the watershed exhibit, which Loryn and I had experienced at the Lafayette Children's museum many years ago. Loryn really liked the part where you could make local animal's footprints in the clay.

At the old school house, a 80+ year old fiddle player welcomed the Danish couple and a young couple from China. He had a hard time believing a Dane would be living in Hathaway, though! The Acadian flags were displayed and the chalkboard listed the 1921 law that stated that NO FRENCH was allowed to be spoken at Louisiana schools. Then after that law had pretty much killed the French language for the young people in the state, CODIFIL was started in 1968 to make sure the language did not die.
The fiddler did not play much, he was much more interested in talking. He told us of the Danish -Cajun band that came to visit Lafayette every year to play Cajun music, and told us how wonderful the Danish people are! (I already knew that!)



The chapel, Le Chapelle Des Attakapas, is a reproduction of several Catholic churches. Catholicism was the only religion allowed before 1803, and continues to be the primary religion in the southern part of the state. Bedstemor was interested in the lady making Rosaries from the seed of a Job's tear plant. The church was going to be the site of a wedding later that evening. Like many of the buildings, they had installed air conditioning, which was needed on this VERY hot day.



Photos from Vermillionville

We toured a boat house, and blacksmith shop. They had a hand pulled ferry across the bayou, that Loryn was very excited to pull Bedstefar and Dad across all by herself.



There was also a Palmetto Palm hut that was like those the Native Americans of the Houmas tribe would have built around 1840. I was amazed at how much cooler it was once I stepped inside. We thought the mud built oven was interesting.




The interiors of the Acadian style homes were furnished as they would have been in their day. Several people were on hand to answer questions and create handmade items. One creole woman was making corn husk dolls and another made pine needle baskets.
We saw looms and spinning wheels and quilting racks, used to create clothing and quilts for the families to use. One of the fancy houses built by a German mercantile owner even had indoor plumbing!







As we exited, the welcome center was holding a Cajun Jam session, where
local musicians got together to play the traditional Cajun music.




As usual, when dinner time came, I had to choose a place for us to go, so in keeping with the Cajun theme, we went to Randol's, where a Cajun band plays every evening. Loryn and I wanted lobster and the Danes wanted steak! We listened to the band and The Superbowl Champs, the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS were playing on the TV.