Lake Fausse Pointe State Park occupies a 6,000-acre site in the Atchafalaya Basin. The area surrounding the park was formerly the home site of the Chitimacha Indians. From the middle 1700s, the region was dominated by French and Acadian farmers and trappers, although the Spanish were in control of the land from 1763 until 1802.

It was during this period that a major influx of Spaniards emigrated to the New Iberia area, contributing to the cultural diversity of this section of Louisiana.

Fishing, boating and canoeing opportunities abound. A boat launch gives visitors easy access to the labyrinth of waterways that winds through the Basin. Overnight visitors can "rough it" in the campground or stay in lake-front cabins. A visitor center complex features a boat dock with rentals; and three hiking trails and a canoe trail offer a "up close" view of the area plant and wildlife, as well.

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park, at the edge of a beautiful water wilderness, is also a perfect point from which to explore the natural and cultural heritage of South Louisiana. Combine your wilderness adventure with a tour of nearby historic areas such as the city of St. Martinville and Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site. A stay at Lake Fausse Pointe State Park will be remembered as an introduction to the remarkable diversity of South Louisiana.

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park

Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site explores the cultural interplay among the diverse peoples along the famed Bayou Teche. Acadians and Creoles, Indians and Africans, Frenchmen and Spaniards, slaves and free people of color-all contributed to the historical tradition of cultural diversity in the Teche region. French became the predominant language, and it remains very strong in the region today.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 epic poem Evangeline made people around the world more aware of the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and their subsequent arrival in Louisiana. In this area, the story was also made popular by a local novel based on Longfellow's poem, Acadian Reminiscences: The True Story of Evangeline, written by Judge Felix Voorhies in 1907.

Once part of the hunting grounds of the Attakapas Indians, this site became part of a royal French land grant first used as a vacherie, or cattle ranch. The first Acadians to settle in Louisiana established themselves here, on the banks of Bayous Teche and Tortue, on the edges of this vacherie.

When the grant was sold and subdivided, this section was developed as an indigo plantation. In the early 1800s, Pierre Olivier Duclozel de Vezin, a wealthy Creole, acquired this property to raise cotton, cattle, and eventually, sugarcane. He built the Maison Olivier, the circa 1815 plantation house which is the central feature of Longfellow-Evangeline SHS. His son, Charles, made improvements to the home in the 1840s. The structure is an excellent example of a Raised Creole Cottage, a simple and distinctive architectural form which shows a mixture of Creole, Caribbean, and French influences.

A reproduction Acadian Farmstead is situated along the bank of Bayou Teche. The Farmstead is an example of how a typical single-family farm would have appeared around 1800. The site includes the family home with an outdoor kitchen and bread oven, slave quarters and a barn. In the pasture located adjacent to the barn, there are cattle typical of those raised by the Creoles and Acadians at that time.

In 1934, the property became the first park of the Louisiana State Parks system. In 1974, Maison Olivier was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site

Begun in 1819 and completed in 1826, Fort Pike was named for the explorer and soldier General Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813) whose name is also attached to Pike's Peak in the Rocky Mountains. Fort Pike is the first of the Third System fortifications, a group of brick and masonry structures built between 1816 and 1867. The fort was designed to withstand attack from land or sea.

Although the United States survived the War of 1812, the British destruction of our nation's capital and their attack on New Orleans emphasized the weakness of our country's defense. To prevent a foreign invasion from occurring again, President James Monroe ordered the placement of an extensive coastal defense system. These new fortifications, together with existing ones, stretched along the entire Atlantic and Gulf coasts and protected strategic ports and rivers such as New Orleans and the Mississippi. Forts Pike and Macomb (also called Fort Wood) were two of six new masonry forts built in coastal Louisiana at this time. Together with Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River and Fort Livingston on Barataria Bay, these fortifications protected New Orleans from a seaborne invasion.

The original armament of Fort Pike consisted of 32-pounder and 24-pounder cannons; the exact number of each type is unknown. At various times the fort held other types of cannons. The wartime garrison was approximately 400 men; in peacetime it varied between one and 80 soldiers.

Fort Pike's role in the military affairs of the United States prior to the Civil War varied considerably. During the Seminole Wars in the 1830s, Fort Pike served as a staging area for many troops en route to Florida, and also as a collection point for hundreds of Seminole prisoners and their black slaves who were being transported to Oklahoma. Cannons were removed from some of the casemates to convert them to cells. At one point in this conflict, only 66 soldiers guarded 253 Indian and black prisoners.

Similarly, during the Mexican War in the 1840s, Fort Pike was a stopover for soldiers bound for Texas and Mexico. In between these wars, Fort Pike was largely abandoned and left in the care of a single ordnance sergeant.

In 1861, the silence of Fort Pike was broken. Before the actual start of the Civil War, the Louisiana militia captured the fort. Confederates held it until the Union forces took New Orleans in 1862, whereupon the Confederates evacuated Fort Pike. Union forces then reoccupied the fort, using it as a base for raids along the Gulf coast and Lake Pontchartrain area and as a protective outpost for New Orleans. The Union also used Fort Pike as a training center, where former slaves were taught to use heavy artillery. These troops became part of the United States Colored Troops, who played an important role in the outcome of many battles, including the siege at Port Hudson. Yet, in spite of all this activity, not a single cannonball was ever fired in battle from Fort Pike.

Fort Pike was again left to the care of an ordnance sergeant from 1871 until it was officially abandoned in 1890. In 1972 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary designation for significant historic sites.

Fort Pike State Historic Site

Between Grand Isle and Cameron, Cypremort Point is one of the very few locations near the Gulf of Mexico that can be reached by car. A half-mile stretch of a man-made beach provides a delightful area for relaxing, picnicking and enjoying the water. It also affords an opportunity for fishing, crabbing, water skiing, windsurfing and, of course, sailing.

A boat launch just outside the park's entrance is only a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and fishermen can venture out to fish in the Gulf or Vermilion Bay. Catches of flounder and redfish are not uncommon in the area. For those interested in fishing from the shore, a 100-foot fishing pier is situated on the Bay. Overnight visitors also have access to adjacent boat docks and a fish cleaning station.

In addition to excellent sailing and swimming facilities, the 185-acre park also holds a special attraction for nature enthusiasts. Located in the heart of a Louisiana marsh, the site contains an abundance of wildlife. The quiet observer may happen upon nutria, muskrat, alligator or a number of bird species native to the state. Deer, black bear, rabbits, opossum and red fox also make their home in this area, so stay aware of your surroundings and you may discover more of the natural charm of Cypremort Point.

Cypremort Point State Park

As a distributary of the Mississippi River and a route to the heartland of Louisiana through the Atchafalaya Basin, Bayou Plaquemine was used as a navigable artery centuries before the age of European exploration. From the early 1700s, Bayou Plaquemine served as a commercial transport route, promoting settlement and economic prosperity in southwest and northern Louisiana via the Atchafalaya, Red and other rivers.

The Plaquemine Lock was designed by Colonel George W. Goethals (1858-1928), the assistant to the chief engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Goethals later gained distinction as chairman and chief engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission for the design and construction of the Panama Canal.

When completed in 1909, the lock was significant for having the highest freshwater lift of any lock in the world – 51 feet – and a unique engineering design that used a gravity flow principle. The gates were later modernized by the installation of hydraulic pumps. The lock served its purpose well by providing a shortcut from the Mississippi River into Louisiana's interior. By 1925, Bayou Plaquemine had become the northern terminus of the Intracoastal Canal system.

Increased river traffic during and after World War II put a severe strain on the lock's capacity and demand increased for a larger lock at Port Allen. In 1961, a larger set of locks began operating at Port Allen and the Plaquemine Lock was closed after 52 years of service. Thirteen years after closing the lock, the Corps of Engineers supervised the construction of the present levee across the mouth of Bayou Plaquemine at the Mississippi River, giving the historic old structure greater stability and providing flood protection, while closing off access to the Mississippi River through Bayou Plaquemine.

In 1972 the Plaquemine Lock structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary designation for significant historic sites. In addition to the lock, the area includes the Gary James Hebert Memorial Lockhouse, which serves as a museum and visitors center. Hebert worked to prevent the destruction of the lock by the Corps of Engineers and campaigned to have the area preserved as a historic site. Facilities also include a stylized adaptation of the Lockmaster's house which provides open-air pavilion space to display various water craft used when the lock was operational.

Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site

Located on the Vermilion River, Palmetto Island State Park offers a real south Louisiana outdoors experience. A boat launch provides access to the river for fishing and boating, while the interior lagoons allow canoers and kayakers an up-close look at the native plant and animal life.

Overnight guests can stay in one of six vacation cabins, each sleeping up to 8 people comfortably. The cabins, nestled among the trees and foliage, are outfitted with a full kitchen and bathroom, fireplaces for those chilly winter evenings and a screened-in porch for listening to the crickets and frogs sing out their evening melodies. 96 campsites are available for RV camping (20 sites include an extra tent camping pad), for those who like to get a little closer to nature.

The visitor center complex will definitely be a "must do" for the day-use visitor, with a water playground and bathhouse. A multi-purpose room can be rented for meetings, family gatherings, weddings and many other events. The ever-present palmetto plants, for which the park is named, are echoed in many of the architectural elements around the park; so pack a picnic and have a scavenger hunt for them all! 

Palmetto Island State Park

When New Orleans fell to Federal troops in late April 1862, Confederate control of the Mississippi was in jeopardy. The Confederate army had already fortified the river bluffs at Vicksburg, Mississippi, but it needed another series of river batteries below the mouth of the Red River. The Red River was the primary route for the shipment of supplies from Texas to the heartland of the Confederacy.

The bluffs near the small town of Port Hudson represented a perfect site for the river batteries. These bluffs were the first high ground upstream from Baton Rouge and overlooked a severe bend in the river. This bend presented an additional obstacle for Union warships.

The siege of Port Hudson began on May 23, 1863. Roughly 30,000 Union troops, under the command of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, were pitted against 6,800 Confederates, under the command of Major General Franklin Gardner. The ensuing battles constituted some of the bloodiest and most severe fighting in the entire Civil War.

As the siege continued, the Confederates nearly exhausted their ammunition and were reduced to eating mules, horses and rats. When word reached Gardner that Vicksburg had surrendered, he realized that his situation was hopeless and nothing could be gained by continuing the defense of Port Hudson. Surrender terms were negotiated, and on July 9, 1863, after 48 days and thousands of casualties, the Union army entered Port Hudson. The siege became the longest in American military history.

Prior to one of the most intense attacks by the Union soldiers, on May 27, a bold experiment was decided upon. Two African-American regiments were chosen to participate in the fight. The First and Third Louisiana Native Guards proved their worth by pressing an attack against a well-fortified Confederate position. After the siege, the garrison at Port Hudson became a recruiting center for African-American troops.

In 1974, the Port Hudson battlefield was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. It joined a select group of properties which have been recognized for their importance in American History. Port Hudson State Historic Site hosts several living history events, including the Battle of Port Hudson re-enactment held annually during the last full weekend of March. Visitors can watch authentically costumed interpreters demonstrate Civil War weapons and equipment.

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park Maps

St Martinville, LA

Lake Fausse Pointe State Park Description

Download files (2):

Nearby
Parks

State Parks near Lake Fausse Pointe State Park