We crossed to the Atchafalaya ( pronounced "UN-CHA-fuh-lie-uh , an American Indian word meaning "long river") National Heritage Area. The Atchafalaya River splits off from the Mississippi River near Simmesport, LA. on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, is the flowing lifeline of the nation's largest river swamp. The basin is 20 miles in width and 150 miles in length, covering 595,000 acres. The basin is home to some of Louisiana's signature wildlife - alligators, roseate spoonbills, water moccasins and craw fish, to name a few. Interstate 10 crosses the basin on elevated pillars on a continuous 18.2 mile bridge. It wasn't long and we were in our RV Park in Duson, La. We went to dinner that night at one of our favorite places to eat, called Shucks.... they have GREAT Cajun food... John was in heaven!
Wednesday, June 5, we took a day off from our traveling and decided to head to the town of
St. Martinville. St. Martinville was settled in 1765, and incorporated in 1817. It is the sixth
oldest city in Louisiana. Situated between the Bayou Teche and Highway 31. St. Martinville is the Birthplace of Acadiana and made famous for the Evangeline Oak Tree that inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Evangeline, published in 1847. The statue of Evangeline is in the courtyard of Saint Martin of Tour Catholic Church.
Research shows that Longfellow was inspired to write Evangeline after conversations with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Rev. H.L. Connolly, a friend of Hawthorn's. Connolly told Longfellow the tale heard from a parishioner of a betrothed couple separated by the exile of the Acadian's from the region of Nova Scotia. After "Evangeline's" publication, Connolly identified his parishioner as Mrs. George Mordaunt Haliburton, A French-Canadian woman who told the tale from Acadian oral tradition. This source for the poem is documented in the diaries and correspondence of Longfellow, Hawthorne and Connolly.
In Evangeline, a betrothed Acadian couple, Evangeline and Gabriel, are separated when forced out of their homeland. Evangeline's long and meandering search for Gabriel brings her to the Atchafalaya Basin, where at one point, the lover's boats unwittingly glide past one another. Arriving in the area of the present day St. Martinville, Evangeline is reunited with Gabriel's father, only to learn of Gabriel's recent departure. After following his trail for many years, Evangeline finally despairs of ever finding her fiance. She enters a convent and devotes the rest of her life to charitable service. In a Philadelphia hospital, she unexpectedly meets Gabriel on his deathbed, and ends her quest of many years with thanks to God for having seen him one last time.
Tomorrow we head west again.
That is all for today, although it is still very HOT here with the temperatures hovering around 100. Thanks to those that sent us notes after the first entry for the 2010 RV travel season.
Until later,
Candy and Johnny on the road again.
