Our Pick
Posted on @rawstates
The Evangeline Oak and a poem that invented a people
St. Martinville, Louisiana
Mike (msm62166) · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Longfellow, who never came south, wrote a long poem about a girl separated from her betrothed by the deportation and searching for him for life. It sold enormously, and Acadiana adopted it wholesale, a tree in St. Martinville became the Evangeline Oak, a local woman was identified as the real Evangeline, and a fictional character became the way a real people told their own story.
That was 1 of the hidden places.
Location: documented spot
This place has its own thread on r/rawstates
Read what people are saying about it, or add your own.
Is this information accurate?