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St. Martinville is located in extreme south Louisiana, in the heart of Cajun Country, and situated roughly between New Iberia and Lafayette. It is the parish seat of St. Martin Parish and has a population of about 7,000 residents.
It is located on the banks of the historic Bayou Teche, and the home of Longfellow-Evangeline State Park. In St. Martinville is the Evangeline Oak made famous in Longfellow's poem.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 epic poem Evangeline made people around the world more aware of the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and their subsequent arrival in Louisiana.
Before Europeans and Africans settled along Bayou Teche in present-day St. Martinville, Native Americans had long hunted in this area, including the Attakapas and the Chitimacha. Long before roads, Bayou Teche was a 100 mile long highway, and later was an important factor in the development of St. Martinville. In the mid-1750s, Louisiana's French rulers made land available in the Attakapas District for the raising of cattle to supply meat for New Orleans.
St. Martinville is also the home to the Acadian Memorial, and the historic St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church. The St. Martinville Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Cypremort Point State Park, located to the south of St. Martinville, is a favorite spot for birding enthusiasts and eco-tourists. This 185-acre park offers access to the Gulf of Mexico, along with a man-made beach, fishing, sailing, windsurfing, and other water sports.
Nearby towns include Breaux Bridge, Henderson, Butte La Rose, Cade, Delcambre, Delacroix, and Loreauville, as shown on the map below.
Shown below are historic postcards from the Alexandria Postcard Collection.
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