Indian Bayou (french: Bayou Indien) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Vermilion Parish Vermilion Parish (french: Paroisse de Vermillion) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, created in 1844. The parish seat is Abbeville. Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern ...

in southwestern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, United States. It is part of the Abbeville micropolitan statistical area (μSA). It is located approximately seven miles south of Rayne, eight miles north of

Kaplan Kaplan may refer to: Places * Kapłań, Poland * Kaplan, Louisiana, U.S. * Kaplan Medical Center, a hospital in Rehovot, Israel * Kaplan Street, in Tel Aviv, Israel * Mount Kaplan, Antarctica * Kaplan Arena, at the College of William & Mary in W ...

, and fourteen miles southwest of

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

. The area acquired its name from the

bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

that forms a portion of the northern border of Vermilion Parish with

and

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...

parishes. Indian Bayou consists of mainly farmland and homes with the exception of a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

church, a volunteer fire department, an elementary school, and a few locally owned businesses. Most residents travel to the nearby cities of Crowley or

for employment or shopping. At one time, Indian Bayou School served children from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Despite the protests of students and local residents, the Vermilion Parish School Board voted to close the high school in 1991, consolidating with nearby North Vermilion High School. Currently, Indian Bayou Elementary School offers Pre-K through the fifth grade. Indian Bayou is located at 30.1260374 -92.2426278 along Louisiana Highway 700. Other notable highways passing through the area are Louisiana Hwy 92 and Louisiana Hwy 35.

Notable people

*Thomas G. Latour, Sr. (1936–2012), a physician/psychiatrist who served as president of the board of Vermilion Healthcare Center, raised

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

and

American Quarter Horse The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at s ...

race horses at his farm in Indian Bayou.

References

External links

Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission

Vermilion Historical Society
Acadiana Unincorporated communities in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Louisiana {{Louisiana-geo-stub