Acadian Village (park)
The Acadian Village is a private cultural park located in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Acadian Village is located on the 32 acres (130,000 m2) of LARC (Lafayette Association for Retarded Citizens). In the early 1970s, officials with the facility were looking for an opportunity to improve tourism in Lafayette, Louisiana. However, the idea was to serve a dual purpose: to generate revenue for the facility and to serve as an employment opportunity for those persons with developmental disabilities that were fully capable of working. Dr. Norman Heard, Bob Lowe and Glen Conrad are credited with the idea, which soon after became a reality. Of course, the visionary team wanted to use authentic homes. Most of the homes that are on the Village grounds had long been abandoned and were being used for hay storage or just not used at all. Families were immediately contacted, and the negotiations began. In some cases, grants were used for the purchase and movement, and in some cases the houses were free - only the cost of moving them was incurred.
In order to recreate a typical 1800s Cajun village, the design team would have to transform 10 acres (40,000 m2) of farmland into a shaded-lived in community with a waterway running through it. The massive undertaking of reconstruction, dredging of bayous and such was accomplished through local carpenters, businessmen, civic organizations and community volunteers. Even the U.S. Army Reservists of the Lafayette area pitched in by building an information center. The end result was a moment captured in time. Perhaps the 1978 Village Director Mrs. Marti Gutierrez said it best in a Times Picayune special section “The old ways are worth keeping alive, worth handing down, worth remembering.”
Seven of the 11 buildings are authentic homes of the 19th century donated by the families whose ancestors once occupied them. All homes show the passing of time and are remarkable examples of the ingenuity of the early Acadian homebuilders, complete with wooden pegs, mud walls, hand-hewn cypress timbers and high-peaked roofs. Each was moved piece by piece and carefully restored.
Today, the Acadian Village has served as the backdrop for many Cajun festivals, weddings, special events, corporate functions, Noel Acadien auVillage (Christmas Lighting Program) and the best example around of 19th-century Cajun lifestyle.
The "Art Gallery" as it is known today, was once the private home of Dr. Hypolite Salles, the first resident dentist in Lafayette, Louisiana. If the name sounds famililar, he also owned the "Doctor's Museum," located next door to the Art Gallery in Acadian Village. Just as it is set up today, is the way the good doctor practiced in the late 1890s.
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