Sample Itineraries

St. Martinville

Visit the St. Martinville Tourist Information Center, 215 Evangeline Boulevard, for a friendly welcome, maps and browse through their many souvenir items available.  Group tours are available for 20 people or more.  Visit www.cityofsaintmartinville.com or call 337-394-2258 or for more information.

Directly across the street along the Bayou Teche is the ancient Evangeline Oak, where her descendants say Emmeline's boat landed at the end of her long trip from Nova Scotia. Legend has it that it was here, too, that she learned of her lover's betrothal to another. Local musicians gather daily to greet locals and tourists.

To the left of the Evangeline Oak Tree, is the St. Martinville Cultural Heritage Center, which houses the African American Museum and the Museum of the Acadian Memorial.  The museums illustrate the uprooting of people who helped found Louisiana.  It is also home to Heritage Acadian Odyssey Quilt.   

To the left of the Cultural Heritage Center is the Acadian Memorial.  The memorial honors the 3,000 Acadian exiles that found refuge in Louisiana.  View the 30-foot mural, “The Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana”, depicting their arrival after expulsion from Nova Scotia.  View the Wall of Names, which lists approximately 3000 people identified as Acadian refugees in early Louisiana records.  The courtyard in the back of the memorial houses the Eternal Flame, which symbolizes the ability of a culture to rekindle itself despite great hardship and the Deportation Cross, the first of several international sites to erect a replica of the Grand-Pre’ Deportation Cross in Nova Scotia.

Enjoy the beauty and history of this historical town square. Visit the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church, the Mother Church of the Acadians.  Established in 1765, it is one of the oldest Catholic Churches in Louisiana.   The present day church was erected in 1844.  Guided tours are available.

Learn the history behind Longfellow's epic poem Evangeline. The Evangeline Monument, on Main Street, is a statue to the side and slightly to the rear of St. Martin's Church. The production company that came here to film the movie epic donated the statue to the town in 1929. The star of that movie, Dolores del Rio, supposedly posed for the statue. This also reportedly marks the spot of the grave of the real-life Evangeline, Emmeline Labiche.

To the left of St. Martin de Tours Church, is the Le Petite Paris Museum and Gift Shop.  Upstairs houses an interpretive costume exhibit of the Oak and Pine Alley Wedding, circa1870.

Across the street from St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church is the Duchamp Opera House and Mercantile.  Explore this 19th century Opera House that has been restored to its original form and shop downstairs for antiques, gifts and regional arts.   

Also on the banks of Bayou Teche, just north of St. Martinville on Louisiana Highway 31, is the Longfellow-Evangeline State Commemorative Area.   The Olivier Plantation House on the grounds is typical of larger Acadian homes, with bricks made by hand and baked in the sun, a cypress frame and pegs (instead of nails), and bousillage construction on the upper floor. You can also see the cuisine (outdoor kitchen) and magazin (storehouse) out back.  Visitors can also tour the Visitors Center, which contains displays on the history, culture and lifestyles of both the Acadian and Creole people of the area and learn how different the lives of the Acadians and Creoles were.  An Acadian Cabin, small and rustic, is furnished with original “Louisiana Cypress” furniture.    Along the banks of Bayou Teche, visitors will find the Acadian Farmstead, an example of how a single family home would have appeared in the early 19th century.  The site includes the family home with an outdoor kitchen, slave quarters and a barn.

St. Martinville has many family-owned restaurants for your dining pleasure, along with many fine gift shops.