I'm afraid we are still on Eastern time and awake at 6AM every day. So we were off to an early start and it didn't take us long to get to New Iberia. Our plan was to tour the oldest running rice mill in LA or USA- I'm not sure. Tour book said open at 9 but first tour wasn't until 10. The general store was opened and bought some Konrico rice that comes from that mill. Decided to keep on going. Didn't look like that interesting to wait for tour.
Next stop was St. Martinville. Didn't take long to get there so still not 10 AM which is time for Acadian/African American Museum to open. Took some pictures of adjoining park that honors Longfellow and the people his poem Evangeline was based on. Apparently a judge from this town was at Harvard when Longfellow was teaching there. Told him the story and it inspired the poem. Very nice boardwalk along the bayou in the back, etc. Really very nice. It was almost 10:15 and we were about to leave when the receptionist showed up.
One half of the museum devoted to African American slave history. 46% of the free people of color settled in New Iberia and St. Martinville. Hence the importance. Before slaves were freed after the Civil War, there were 3 classes - slave, white, and free people of color. Big deal about this in New Orleans as well. There the free people were primarily the mistresses of wealthy white men who freed them. Although not a legal or religious relationship, these "marriages" were socially acceptable. In this area the freed people were primarily men with skills like blacksmith, farmers, etc. so they settled in the area after having paying off master to be freed or some other deals. They also had money to buy their relatives. Isn't that just awful???
Also learned that the word creole meant anyone born in Louisiana in any of the classes. However, the freed people of color wanted to set themselves apart from the slaves freed by the 13th amendment so they called themselves creoles. They were very resentful to be lumped in with slaves who hadn't earned the right to be freed through hard work, etc. Interesting and goes hand in hand with the book I am reading -The World That Made New Orleans.
The other half of this little museum is devoted to Acadian history. Also interesting. When they were exiled from Nova Scotia some were sent here, others to New England states, and others back to Europe. Over the years, they were reunited here from all of those places and settled here. The Spanish who ruled at the time gave them land, etc. Families were separated in Nova Scotia and they endured many other hardships but they learned to cope very well and maintain their culture although forced to speak English, etc. Picture is from a quilt in the museum that showed aspects of Acadian (now Cajuns) life. It's harvesting Spanish moss that they used for mattress stuffing and insulation in building. Later became an industry for them stuffing leather chairs, etc. Adjoining building is a memorial to these 3000 original people. Huge mural with audio as a light shines on people in the mural telling their stories of getting there. Very nice. Opposite wall is brass listing of all of these original settlers. Can do your family tree in library there, etc. So interesting that 2 groups of people who were displaced ended up in the same place and made this part of Louisiana what it is.
Then onward. Just drove through Lafayette and Alexandria. Both bigger towns. Heavy rainfall as we made our way to Monroe near the north border of LA. From the interstate seems to be a big city. We went from Catholic southern LA to northern Pentacostal along the way today. Wow. For long stretches of a great divided highway we were all alone on the road. This is the longest we have driven on this trip so far. About 5 hours after we left St. Martinville. We are in Poverty Point Reservoir State Park. Very nice rv facilities. Will look around more tomorrow and just up the road is this archeological site that sounds really interesting.
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