Where Cajuns Come From.

The Cultural Center hit it just right for us as it explained the origin and history of the Acadian – Acadjian- Cajun people. They actually arrived in Acadia from France in 1604, 16 years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed further south. In the 1750’s they were forcibly removed from the land, exiled and transported to other colonies by the British in a political move that looked very much like the clearing of the crofters in Scotland and similar actions in Ireland. The area was then renamed Novia Scotia (New Scotland) by the British. Several thousands fled, or otherwise made their way to the old French Colonies on the Gulf of Mexico and a community was set up in Louisiana, separate from the New Orleans French Colonialists. In 1790 the Slave revolt in Haitti meant that some 10,000 French/black refugees fled across the gulf to Louisiana and provided the Creole influence. So there were really three different French influences all jumbled in together in the bayou areas round the lower part of the Mississippi.

You Nice people of Eunice.

Thursday, the weather has returned to sunny skies, although the temperature has dropped to the sixties and thirties at night. It now feels like the crisp autumn days back home that tell us winter is around the corner. In this case high pressure build over The Rockies and forces a cold North wind to sweep down from Canada and the Great Lakes across the Mississippi plains, right down to the Gulf of Mexico (where we are).

As it was a nice sunny day we decided to return to Eunice to see the things missed on Saturday. As we drove down we took a couple of pictures of the extensive rice fields we drove through. Many of them were still flooded for the rice in them, others were dry and bare, but with the little levees between the fields.

In Eunice we visited the Jean Lafitte Acadian Plains Cultural Center, which is a National Park. It is one of six locations which make up the park, some of them are just buildings, like this one, others are land areas which reflect the geography. There is a big bayou park near Westwego, where we camped, outside of New Orleans. There is also a park at the site of the battle between the English and Americans, which is the story of the song made so famous by Lonnie Donnegan, (UK) and Mac Wiseman (USA), The Battle of New Orleans. This battle was fought as part of the little known war between the Americans and the British in 1812-1815, where the English 10,000 troops came second to General Andy (later to be President) Jacksons 1500 assortment army, mostly militia men. It also included the famous Pirate Jean Laffite, who is a big name round Louisiana, hence the name of the National Park.