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