Pecan Island () is an

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 ...

with a population of about 300 located in

Vermilion Parish, Louisiana Vermilion Parish () 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 Acadiana. At the 2020 U.S ...

, United States. It is located directly under the southern peak of White Lake and two ridges comprise the island, which are actually

chenier A chenier or chénier is a sandy or shelly beach ridge that is part of a strand plain, called a “chenier plain,” consisting of cheniers separated by intervening mud-flat deposits with marsh and swamp vegetation. Cheniers are typically one to ...

s or "ridges of high ground" in the coast marsh. There is minimal land in the region, with the island being "an old Gulf beach, composed of crushed shells and sand". Pecan Island is located in the prairie-marsh region of southern Louisiana, approximately ten miles from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. The town is inhabited largely by persons 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 ...

ancestry, and has a Catholic Mission church, Sacred Heart, a Baptist church and a Methodist church. Since Hurricane Rita occurred only one store exists, which sells fuel, groceries and, hunting supplies. Common family names in the area include Veazey, Bourque, Stelly, Guidry, Choate, Winch, Broussard, Morgan, Dyson, White, Lege, Harrington, Lee, and Miller. The town had been previously ravaged by

Hurricane Audrey Hurricane Audrey was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, killing at least 416 people as it devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957. Along with Hurricane Alex (2010), Hurricane Alex in 2010 Atlantic hurricane season ...

in 1957. Pecan Island is part of the

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Hurricane Rita

Most residents evacuated under the threat of

Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico, tying with Hurricane Milton in 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, 2024, as well as being the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the ...

, which obliterated most of the homes there and forced the closure of the community's school - Pecan Island High School. As with most Gulf coastal towns, future growth will be regulated by FEMA construction guidelines following the 2005 hurricanes, meaning new homes will be somewhat more expensive to construct, due to the increased elevation requirement.

Local events

Pecan Island has a Mardi Gras and is bustling with duck hunters in the winter months.

Morgan effigy

A carved deer antler figurine known as the "Morgan Effigy" was found in fill dirt taken from the nearby Morgan Mounds site. The location, a pre-Columbian Coastal

Coles Creek culture Coles Creek culture is a Late Woodland archaeological culture in the Lower Mississippi valley in the Southeastern Woodlands. It followed the Troyville culture. The period marks a significant change in the cultural history of the area. Population ...

archaeological site, was occupied between 700 and 1000 CE. The artistic stylization of the small sculpture shows it may have been a human death figure. The presence of bones in the same fill dirt means it was interred as a grave good, possibly with a prominent member of the community. It is the only known Coles Creek culture artwork to be found that is not made from ceramic.

References

External links

Vermilion Parish Tourist Commission

Vermilion Historical Society
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Louisiana Unincorporated communities in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana Acadiana