Creole Community

The term “Creole” comes from a Spanish word meaning “born of the New World.” It was a label to sort colonials and their culture from that of native Europeans. The ensuing mix of cultures and races in the New World made them unique - it made them Creole.

By the 1780s, such a Creole community began on the Red River. A place of rich alluvial lands, covered with dense hardwood forests, it was already being transformed into a series of plantations by the eighteenth century. Families with mixed French, Spanish, Indian, and African roots were building homes, a church, and families - a true Creole way of life. The island trapped between Cane River Lake and Bayou Brevelle, was named for a French trader and his Caddo Indian wife.

Dr. H.F. Gregory
Louisiana Regional Folklife Program, Region 2: Louisiana Division of the Arts and Northwestern State University.

For more information on the Cane River Creole Community visit CaneRiverHeritage.org

Header photo by Sonny Carter, courtesy of the Cane River National Heritage Area