Le Vieux Village Opelousas LA

After our delicious lunch at Mama’s Fried Chicken, we headed to Le Vieux Village Opelousas LA for a look back into the town’s history.

Opelousas is one of Louisiana’s oldest cities. It’s quite a cultural gumbo that is rich with ethnic diversity.

Centuries ago, Native Americans, specifically the Opelousa Indians, inhabited the area, hence the name. They were a small group that was part of the historic Attakapa Tribe.

At one time the area was governed by both French and Spanish governments. In the early 1700s, French settlers began arriving. Many of whom brought enslaved Africans along with them. The French were followed by German colonists, and Spanish settlers arrived in the 1770s. Through the end of the 18th century Irish, Italian, Scottish and immigrants from other countries arrived in the area.

The French speaking Acadians, began arriving in early 1765, and were the most culturally influential. They had been exiled from Canada by the British. These diverse groups were known as Créoles, a word derived from the Spanish word criollo, which means a child born in the colony. The Créoles were the descendants of the early French and Spanish colonists of Louisiana.

Le Vieux Village Opelousas LA, was established in 1988 by bringing together a collection of historic buildings from the town and areas surrounding it in St. Landry Parish. The buildings here date as far back as the 1700s and some are as recent as the mid 1900s.

One of the buildings that we had hoped to tour, the Louisiana Orphan Train Museum, was unfortunately closed. It is completely run by volunteers and sadly the day we went, there were no volunteers available. But the history of the Orphan Train is quite moving.

The Orphan Train Movement began nationally in 1854. Between 1873 and 1929 the Orphan Train movement relocated about two to four thousand children from over crowded orphanages in the Northeast by bringing the to French speaking communities in southern Louisiana. This effort was coordinated mostly by the Catholic Church along with the New York Foundling Hospital. These train riding children were brought to the area and placed with families for adoption or indentured service.

Overall the movement transported over 200,000 orphans all across America to move them from the crowded orphanages and streets of New York to  New Orleans, Morgan City, Lafayette, Alexandria, Mansura and Opelousas. The hope was that they would provide them a better life. And in many cases that was true, the children were welcomed into loving families and found wonderful opportunities. But sadly, a good number of those children faced immense hardships. They were basically treated as free farm labor or as domestic help.

After wandering the grounds of Le Vieux Village Opelousas LA, Steve and I went to the Visitors Center. We were greeted warmly and garnered information about this charming little village. And, of course, we purchased a magnet for our collection.

We look forward to returning next year to explore more of Louisiana’s rich history!