1963 Map of Arnaudville

About this map

Bayou Teche winds through the heart of Acadiana in the early 1960s, serving as the historical spine for settlements from Leonville down to Breaux Bridge. The landscape reveals the enduring footprint of the plantation era, preserved in the large land tracts of La Bourgeois Plantation and Magenta Plantation. To the east, the massive Atchafalaya Basin Floodway dominates the geography, a controlled wilderness of bayous like Bayou Chenevert and Bayou Fordoche designed to manage the river's power. Industrial development is evident in the Krotz Springs Oil and Gas Field and near Anse La Butte, where extraction sites sit alongside traditional rural life. The map meticulously records the spiritual and educational centers of these communities, including the Ring Zion Ch. & Cem. and the Cecelia Elem Sch, providing a clear view of the social fabric of St. Martin and St. Landry parishes during this period.