Duson brothers were pioneer builders C. C. (Curley) Duson and his brother, William W. Duson, would likely be remembered in Acadiana even if they hadn't been colorful characters. They founded four towns--Crowley, Iota, Eunice, and Mamo...
Perry provided river crossing The act that created Vermilion Parish in 1844 said the parish seat should be located on the west side of the Vermilion River, no more than one-half mile from a place called Perry's Bridge, today th...
Louisiana Story a movie classic "Louisiana Story," filmed in south Louisiana in 1946 and 1947 may be the most poetic industrial film ever made. Helen van Dongen, who was film editor for the movie, called it a "ballet of the roug...
Handicapping Field Day
The first athletic contests at Southwest Louisiana Industrial Institute (UL Lafayette today) were annual Field Days begun in 1904, in which SLII and area high schools competed in track and field ...
A birthday in St. Landry
The St. Landry Parish town of Washington was settled in 1720 and claims to be the second oldest settled place in Louisiana, behind Natchitoches, which was established in 1714 and is said to be the ...
Who's offended by 'c' word?
There's a minor flap going on because a local singer uses the "c" word to describe himself and his friends in the lyrics to one of his songs and the former head of CODOFIL doesn't like it.
I'm n...
Happy Fats heard nationwide
Louisiana French music began to get a wide national audience in the 1970s after masters of the craft like Bois Sec Ardoin and Canray Fontenot, the Balfa Brothers, Nathan Abshire, and others were in...
How many 'original' colonies?
Revisionist historians have been telling us since the Revolution that American history began in the 13 "original" Atlantic colonies and that hardy, English-speaking pioneers pushing across the moun...
De Flaugeac a man for all seasons
Jean Lafitte was probably the most famous French speaker at the Battle of New Orleans, fought 197 years ago today. But there were some others — mostly former Napoleonic soldiers — who fought well a...
Olympian names in Acadiana
A boy would likely be laughed out of the first grade today -- or certainly need a nickname -- if he was named the same as his great-grandpa, but it was once the fashion for Acadian families to give...
'Little red church' has long history
The "little red church," on Hwy. 182 between Opelousas and Sunset has no pastor and no Sunday services but still has a large congregation that meets once each year.
It's history dates to the years...
Gray gloves changed a custom
War leaves lasting legacies, sometimes in places and ways that we least expect. That was the story behind the headline in October 1951 about a wedding in Vermilion Parish involving a World War II v...
