St. Martin Parish

 St. Martin is a single parish in two separate parts. Part of the Reconstruction-era creation of Iberia Parish cut St. Martin in two, due to a surveying error. But perhaps this separation is aptly poetic. For it is in St. Martin Parish that the colonial-era displacement of the Acadians (the Cajuns) from their home in Nova Scotia to Louisiana is most thoroughly commemorated. St. Martinville, a lovely town located on Bayou Teche, contains the Evangeline Oak and a statue of Evangeline— the heroine of Longfellow’s poem about the Acadian exile. But this is not a tragic place. On the contrary, St. Martin celebrates life with zest. The calendar overflows with colorful festivals. Romantic bayous brimming with fish and waterfowl beckon those nature lovers who prefer to see the world by boat. Daily life, sustained by seafood and sausages, with a Cajun and zydeco soundtrack, makes this the merriest of places.