Welcome to Port Barre

Welcome to Port Barre. . , Did you know that bayous were the early highways of travel? The founding and growth of Port Barre are linked to its location along Bayou Courtableau and Bayou Teche. The town began as a trading post before becoming a steamboat landing and later grew with its timber mills, a development helped by the east-west railroad. When oil was discovered nearby in 1928, Port Barre grew even more. With the advent of the automobile in the first half of the 1900s, today's US 190 and LA 103, which run through town, replaced the bayous as a primary means of transportation and connected Port Barre to Opelousas and the state capital of Baton Rouge. The creation of the Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District in the 1960s improved water quality in Bayou Teche and helps maintain water levels to protect St. Martin and Iberia parishes from devastating floods., Where The Waters Intersect , Port Barre lies at the intersection of Bayou Courtableau and Bayou Teche on the site of a former French trading post where whiskey was traded with the Opelousas Indians for furs. In 1765, Jacques Courtableau, a wealthy landowner, gave land grants to 32 Acadian immigrants. That same year, he sold a large parcel of land, including the site of the first trading post, to Charles Barre. The post later became known as Barre's Landing, then Port Barre. During the American Revolution, the trading post served as a staging area for the Opelousas militia and their Indian allies as they prepared to cross the Atchafalaya swamp to Baton Rouge and fight to defeat the British., Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District , For several thousand years, Bayou Courtableau provided fresh water from the Atchafalaya River to Bayou Teche. The flood of 1927 inundated much of the Mississippi River basin, devastating communities along Bayou Teche and throughout Louisiana. In response, the U.S. Corps of Engineers implemented the comprehensive Mississippi River and Tributaries Project. Consequently, the construction of the Atchafalaya River flood protection levees cut the natural flow of water to Bayou Courtableau and Bayou Teche. , The Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District was created in 1969 to restore this fresh water supply, improve water quality and help with irrigation. Maintaining year-round water levels in the Bayou Teche is an important benefit of pumping basin water to the bayou. A pumping station on the Atchafalaya River was completed in 1982. The district includes St. Martin and Iberia parishes along Bayou Teche and is funded by a 1.5-mill property tax., Bring on the Cracklin' , Otherwise known as pork rinds or grattons in French, cracklin' is fried pork fat and skin doused with Cajun seasoning. Port Barre laid claim to the South Louisiana delicacy with the first Cracklin' Festival held in 1985. The November event has been held at Veterans' Memorial Park with the popular Cracklin' Cookoff on Sunday. For a taste of cracklin' year-round, Bourque's Super Store right off the bayou serves its award-winning version fresh daily , , "Coureur de bois" , Coureur de bois means "wood runner" in French and references fur traders who were considered outlaws in the early days of Port Barre. These were typically independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian traders who traveled in New France and the interior of North America to trade with First Nations peoples by exchanging various European items for furs., "All of y'all know about Port Barre" , Swamp pop band Rufus Jagneaux recorded the song "Port Barre" in 1971. It was originally paired with the band's hit "Opelousas Sostan" and written by band member Benny Graeff. The song is about Port Barre's storied past of fur trading and robbers and can be found on The Opelousas Sostan Collection" two-volume collection available from Flat Town Music. Find a complete Bayou Teche music playlist at techeproject.org! , The TECHE Project recognizes Shane Bernard, Patti Holland, Tami St. Germain, Chloé St. Germain-Vermillion and Erin Bass for their contributions to the content of this panel. , For more information, visit: , Town of Port Barre | townofportbarre.com St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission cajuntravel.com The TECHE Project | techeproject.org The TECHE Project 2021, all rights reserved