Located in the Heart of Lafayette, Vermilionville is home to the history of the Acadiana region.
Situated off the Bank of the Bayou Vermilion in the Heart of Lafayette, Vermilionville provides a place for history, music, food, cultural exchange and much more.
Vermilionville opened in 1990 celebrating 30 years this year. It represents the Acadiana’s region of unique history, culture and folk life.
Brady McKeller, Director of Museum Operations at Vermilionville, said, “We focus on those elements for the Acadians, Creoles of people of African descent, and the Native American people that were in this area first and uniquely sort of how all of those different cultures came together and overlapped and sort of shared different aspects of their languages or traditions or food ways that sort of all build up our very unique styles of music and food and dance and celebration that we have here today.”
Vermilionville offers daily tours to guests from all over the country. A restaurant to dine at, a boat launch for kayaking and conoeing, along with staff artisans on site for a more in-depth look at how life was like in the early 17 and 1800’s.
“Primarily, we get visitors from France, Canada, and other Francophone countries, but also from Germany, from Australia, from China, Japan so we really get guests coming from all over to come and see what we’re all about here in Acadiana,” explained McKeller.
A unique touch… Vermilionville’s gift shop represents the history of craftsmanship from local artisans including knitters, wood crafters, and jewelry makers to name a few.
“Brown cotton is something that is very unique to our region as well,” added McKeller. “This would’ve been a crop that was very commonly grown here. White cotton is not indigenous to this area, and so before it got here, brown cotton was always the go to.”
Another touch… you can walk through Vermilionville’s Village depicting lifestyles from 1760 to 1890.
McKeller said, “We’ve got about 15 buildings here on site spread out over 23 different acres, and every building is a historical building dating some of them all the way back to 1760 or they’re exact replicas made off of blueprints and plots that would’ve been available during the time period that we represent here at Vermilionville.”