Lafayette, Louisiana City Guide
For over 20 years, Pamela Lanier's Lafayette, Louisiana Travel Guide has been your connection to Lafayette's tourism community with invaluable details on local attractions, restaurants, shopping, museums, history, outdoor recreation and more.
Lafayette History
 Lafayette’s earliest inhabitants were the Attakapas Indians, a Southeastern culture of Native Americans. Little is known about these people, but similar to many of the other native tribes, the colonization of their territory by Europeans decimated the population and forced them to dissipate westward. Trappers and smugglers were the first European settlers to arrive here prior to 1765 however, their numbers were few. The “Cajuns” who live in Lafayette and South Louisiana, are descendants of French speaking Canadians who once lived in the French colony of Acadia, today known as Nova Scotia, Canada. Their refusal to pledge allegiance to Britain, which also required that they renounce their Catholic traditions, resulted in their expulsion from their homes, forcing them to disperse with only the clothes on their backs. Their struggle to survive is at the center of their history. In the year 1784, the King of Spain, to settle in South Louisiana, gave those that managed to make it to the eastern seaboard of the United States. However, they were once again met with hostility, this time from the French aristocracy in New Orleans. Eager to live by their own beliefs and customs, they headed west from New Orleans into the bayous, where Lafayette was established. The innate struggle for survival has kept the Cajun culture alive and thriving. Today more than ever, Lafayette bed and breakfast visitors can enjoy the dialect, spicy cuisine, and rich, vibrant music. The location of Lafayette’s bed and breakfast inns, create a one of a kind experience. At LanierBB.com you will find bed and breakfast accommodations that will enhance the Cajun culture, and allow the distinct charm of Lafayette to come alive. Find a bed and breakfast most fitting to your needs at LanierBB.com. |
