The Acadian Museum, located in the heart of Cajun country in Erath, Louisiana, commemorates and honors the Acadian heritage and Cajun people of Louisiana.

The Acadian Museum contains three rooms: the Erath Room, the Acadian Room, and the Prairie Bayou Cajun Room. Located next door to the museum is Le Café du Musée.

I. ERATH ROOM:
The history of the town of Erath is depicted in a photographic series with captions.

II. ACADIAN ROOM:
This room contains objects relating to Acadian history from 1603 to the present. The focal point is the Canadian Parks poster, "Acadia - The Odyssey of a People," which demonstrates the deportation of the Acadians.

Below is an outline of the room's contents. A guide is available for visitors in the Acadian Room.

The Founding of Acadia - 1604

1. "Landwash:" Photograph of the Nova Scotian shoreline by Maurice Crosby of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

2. "New France:" 1719 map of North America by Seutter, donated by Gerard Johnson of Halifax.

3. Photographs of the Historic Site of Port Royal, the first Acadian settlement in North America.

4. "The Habitation" at Port Royal, Champlain's 1604 settlement in what is now Nova Scotia, is portrayed in the handmade replica by Wilfred Doucette (the model is on table under the Plexiglas).

5. Original 1760 navigational map used by mariners to reach the port at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

6. Pottery owned by Iberville, the founder of Louisiana.

7. Shoe buckle and pipe stem from Thibodeau Village, circa 1690.

8. Stone from Georges Island, Acadian prison camp.

The Deportation of the Acadians - 1755

9. Charles "Woodchuck" Bernard, a native of Dieppe, New Brunswick, Canada, devoted over 600 hours to this woodcarving (reproducing the painting by Claude Picard shown nearby) depicting the tragic scene of the Acadians awaiting their deportation in 1755 at Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.

10. Reproductions of Claude Picard’s six historic paintings of the Acadian Odyssey, commissioned by Parks Canada for the Grand Pre Historical Park, which hang in the church at the park.

11. Print of the original painting "The Dispersion of the Acadians, 1755" by Henry Beau. This print had been donated by St. Joseph's College in New Brunswick to Dudley J. LeBlanc (deceased), local Acadian businessman, historian and politician, whose family donated it to the Acadian Museum in 1992. (Note: There is an exhibit on Dudley J. LeBlanc in the Prairie Bayou Cajun Room, on the left as you enter.)

12. 1755 map of the Petitcoudiac River Region (the area now known as Moncton, New Brunswick) showing the home sites of the Acadian families who avoided deportation and fought against the British. These Acadians, under the leadership of Joseph "Beausoleil" Broussard, later chartered a ship at Halifax in 1764 and arrived in Louisiana in 1765, the first Acadian families to settle on Spanish land grants in the prairie bayou region of “Attakapas Territory” (now south central Louisiana).

13. The Acadian family names of the 18th century.

The Re-birth of Acadia -1764

14. Rare photograph of the unveiling of the historic statue "Evangeline" at Grand Pre National Historic Park, Grand Pre, Nova Scotia on July 29, 1920.

15. "The Saga of Beausoleil' Broussard," the leader of the Acadian resistance. Today, the Broussards comprise the largest family of Acadian French origin in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.

16. Cotton Acadian flag purchased in 1930 for the 175th anniversary of "Le Grand Derangement" by Oliver Doucet of Woodvale, Nova Scotia.

17. Photographs of the World Acadian Reunions.

18. The Acadians in France and their museums, Le Musée de Falaise and Le Musée Acadien de Belle-Ile-en-Mer. These museums have been "twinned" with the Acadian Museum of Erath.

19. The Queen's Royal Proclamation of 2003.

(Note: As you exit the Acadian Room and enter into the Prairie Bayou Cajun Room, please note that the frame of the doorway is a replica of the entrance to "The Habitation" at Port Royal. This replica was designed by Wilfred Doucette and constructed by Iry Melancon and Henry L. Perrin in 1992.)

III. PRAIRIE BAYOU CAJUN ROOM:

The Prairie Bayou Cajun Room contains artifacts and theme exhibits depicting the Acadians' settlement on the prairies, marshes and bayous of Vermilion Parish and their transformation to the Cajuns of today.

The Acadian Museum strives to preserve a culture and heritage that has endured for almost 400 years. The unique Cajun/Creole culture, ("Cajun" being the anglicized pronunciation of the French pronunciation of the word "Acadian") like the native American Indian culture, is the only one that developed in North America.

LE CAFÉ DU MUSÉE

Located next door to the Acadian Museum, Le Café du Musée opens daily at 5:00 p.m.

The café opens daily at 5:00 p.m. where many locals meet and speak French. The café hosts the popular "Living Legends" program. Please check the schedule or call the café because the programs are set on an irregular basis, but usually coinciding with the Cajun music jam sessions. Jam sessions are held every other Saturday from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, call 337-937-0012. Free Cajun suppers are held every Monday night. The traditional Cajun meals are donated by someone in the local community. Supper is served at approximately 8:00 p.m. during the summer and at 7:00 p.m. in the winter.