Time for a little history lesson. The French settled in Acadia, what is now Nova Scotia, in 1604. France and England were often at war with each other, their respective flags frequently alternating above Port Royal in Acadia. Finally, in 1713, France ceded Acadia to England who tried from time to time to get the Acadians to renounce all allegiances to France, which would also mean loosing their freedom of religion. Because they refused, finally in 1755 England evicted the Acadians and placed them on transports and scattered them among English colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. Some settled along both sides of the St.John River, which seperates Canada and Maine in the most northern part of Maine. Other French had settled there having come from Quebec. This is my ancestry.
A large number of Acadians, after 10 years of hardship, reached a French colony in New Orleans by way of the Mississippi. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote "Evangeline", a tale depicting their journey. The name Acadian eventually turned to Cajun. Lafayette is the center of Acadian history, therefore I needed to visit it. I found that people speak English just like people in the St.John Valley. Its not an accent as much as an inflection. The names are also the same, like Cyr, Daigle, Thibodeau, Gilbeau, Landry, Vincent. etc. The only difference is that names in Maine that end in "eau" or "eault" end in "eaux" in Louisianna.
We saw an old colony of houses, containing furniture, tools, etc., but guess what I did......forgot my camera!
Next stop....Texas
MA!!!!!
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