Word from the Curator

Bonjour,

Finally after 6 months of scorching weather, Fall has arrived with a welcoming gust! With the unwarranted blast of two monstrous Hurricanes, this is a refreshing and calming change.

September and October, 1755, the first Acadians were deported from their homes in Acadie, present day Nova Scotia. They were forced to leave, not associated with a Hurricane catastrophe, but because of the worst “blast of power” commanded by the English government against a nation of Acadian people! The English wanted the best piece of real estate in the world, the fertile land engineered by the Acadians, for the English Planters to prosper, as the Acadians had for over a hundred years!

Fall, 2005, ironic as it seems, we witnessed a deportation of Louisiana people differently yet in many ways similar! Many Acadian / Cajuns had a sense of “deja vu” as they watched, in shock, this incident so much like the event of the deported Acadians 250 years ago!

The New Orleaneans were scattered across the nation just as the Acadians were sent across the world! Stranded, homeless, penniless, desperate, hungry, thirsty, separated from family, fearful of the unknown, they sat waiting in shelters across the United States. Some may return to their homeland, as some Acadians did; yet many, after much suffering and searching for another “New Orleans”, will begin a new life in other cities, and states.

With these lovely fall days upon us, it is time to get out and enjoy day visits to museums and historic cities in this locale. Parents, teachers, locals, tourist there could be no better time than today to learn more about the suffering our ancestors experienced. The Acadian Memorial and the St. Martinville Cultural Heritage Center can educate children about the history and tell the true stories of the original settlers, the African and Acadian nation of people, in St. Martinville. Since both cultures settled here (Africans) 1750s and (Acadians) 1764s+ with a comparable Diaspora, take the opportunity to spend time contemplating and remembering the plight of thousands of people who suffered much like our neighbors in the New Orleans vicinity and neighboring southwest parishes. It can be very healing for families!

The tourist industry has suffered since these storms and most of the tourist destinations along the gulf coast have declined! Louisiana boasts of tourism as the second largest industry in our state and we need the Acadiana citizens to help keep it that way!