Estorge-Norton House

The Bayou Teche Scenic Byway

by grandmaR

There are little signs with red antique cars on them all over Louisiana marking Scenic Byways. The New Iberia website says:

"The Bayou Teche Scenic Byway follows a meandering moss-draped, oak tree-lined course through lush vegetation into the geographical heart of Acadiana. Following closely along the banks of the region’s most popular waterway, this picturesque route provides a firsthand glimpse of Cajun culture. Thousands of years ago, the present course of the Bayou Teche was the main channel of the Mississippi River, so you’ll also get a unique geological perspective of how the rich agricultural lands on this route were formed."

The Louisiana Byways website has the following suggestions for 'things to do' in the two parishes (counties) along this byway.

St. Martin Parish

* Mardi Gras. February. Throughout the Parish
* Cypress Sawmill Festival. Mid-March. Patterson
* Tri-City Fireman's Fair. Mother's Day weekend. Morgan City
* Festival Sur la Teche. Fourth weekend in May. Franklin
* Le Festival du Poisson Arme (Garfish Festival). May. Franklin
* July Fourth Festivities. July Fourth. Throughout the parish
* Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival. Labor Day weekend. Morgan City
* Christmas Activities. December. Throughout the parish
* Delta Tau Christmas Bazaar and Arts & Crafts Sale. First weekend in December. Morgan City

Iberia Parish

* Live Oak Gardens. New Iberia
* Tabasco Country Store & Visitor Center. Avery Island
* Konriko Company Store. New Iberia
* Airboat Tours, Inc. Marshfield Boat Landing, near Loreauville
* World Championship Gumbo Cookoff. October. New Iberia
* Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival & Fair. September. New Iberia
* Jeanerette Old Country Fair. September. Jeanerette

Bayou Teche in New Iberia

by grandmaR

Teche Country is off the beaten path and is a little wild with its lush vegetation and hauntingly beautiful moss-draped oaks.

Following the scenic route that meanders alongside the Bayou Teche, a stream that twists and turns for 125 miles through the semi-tropical land of southern Louisiana, is a journey into the geographical heart of Acadiana.

This end of the timeline shows Louisiana becoming a state in 1912, and the flooding of the Mississippi in 1927 when the levees were breached. This caused the Teche to rise 20.7 feet and flooded the downtown.

Once described as the "most richly storied of the interior waters, and the most opulent," this body of water was the center of a booming cypress industry in the early 1900s. The traveler can get a firsthand glimpse of giant oaks with 150-foot reach, trailing moss sometimes a yard below the branches, along the brown-watered stream.

The opulent Greek Revival mansions scattered here and there along it appeared on the landscape as a result of the "sugar money" derived from the area’s most abundant crop, sugarcane.

If the traveler stops in the small villages and towns that have built up along the bayou, she or he can hear the authentic and uncorrupted dialect of the Acadian people.

I was afraid to cross the bridge to the other side because of traffic.