unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
Cajun village located near the southern extremities of
Iberville Parish
Iberville Parish () is a parish located south of Baton Rouge in the U.S. state of Louisiana, formed in 1807. The parish seat is Plaquemine. The population was 30,241 at the 2020 census.
History
The parish is named for Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberv ...
,
Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, United States. The hamlet is primarily composed of fishermen and plant workers. A great majority of the village's population are of
Cajun
The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states.
Whi ...
descent.
History
Many of the residents trace their lineage back to Pierre Part, a town in nearby
Assumption Parish
Assumption Parish (, ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,039. Its parish seat is Napoleonville. Assumption Parish was established in 1807, as one of the original parishes of the ...
.
Cajun French
Louisiana French (Louisiana French: ''français louisianais''; ) includes the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisiana French is primarily use ...
can still be heard in most of the older residents' homes. Some have been noted to having used Cajun French as their sole language even as late as the early 2000s.
Geography
It is bordered by the
Atchafalaya Basin
The Atchafalaya Basin, or Atchafalaya Swamp (; Louisiana French: ''Atchafalaya'', ), is the largest wetland and swamp in the United States. Located in south central Louisiana, it is a combination of wetlands and river delta area where the Atch ...
on the west,
Louisiana Highway 404
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25th i ...
to the north, White Castle Canal on the east, and
Iberia Parish
Iberia Parish (, ) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 69,929; the parish seat is New Iberia.
The parish was formed in 1868 during the Reconstruction era and named for Iberia. It is p ...
to the south.
The main thoroughfare is
Louisiana Highway 75
Louisiana Highway 75 (LA 75) is a state highway located in southeastern Louisiana. It runs in a general east–west direction from a dead end in Bayou Pigeon, Louisiana, Bayou Pigeon to the junction of Louisiana Highway 22, LA 22 and ...
. There is one bridge across the Grand River near the Catholic Church. It was erected in 1957. Hwy. 75 terminates on the east bank of the Grand River in Bayou Pigeon at a location dubbed "The End of the World."
Demographics
Catholicism is the predominant faith, and the only church was St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, closed November 24, 2017. Despite the predominance of Roman Catholicism, there was a Southern Baptist congregation in the village from the 1960s to the late 1980s, known as Bayou Pigeon Baptist Church and led by Rev. George W. Ray (1912–1992).
Media
The village was also featured on the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience.
It init ...
show "
Dirty Jobs
''Dirty Jobs'' is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The sho ...
" in an episode profiling the work of a local crawfisher, and also on the
History Channel
History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...
show "
Swamp People
''Swamp People'' is an American reality television series that was first broadcast on History on August 22, 2010. The show follows the day-to-day activities of alligator hunters living in the swamps of the Atchafalaya River Basin who hunt Ameri ...
". It is also featured in
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, often abbreviated to CMT, is an American pay TV network that launched on March 5, 1983. It is currently owned by Paramount Global through the MTV Entertainment Group unit of its networks division. CMT was the first na ...