New Acadia project to share findings at Acadian Cultural Center

New Acadia Project researchers will share their as they share discoveries from their 2014-2015 winter field expedition at the Acadian Cultural Center at 11 April 18.
The presentation by researchers Maegan Smith and Christian Sheumaker is free and open to the public.
The Acadian Cultural Center, one of six sites of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, is located off Surrey Street at 501 Fisher Road in Lafayette. For more information, call 337-232-0789 ext. 201 or visit www.nps.gov/jela.
The New Acadia Project is a multidisciplinary research effort working to locate, identify, and investigate the homesteads and unmarked gravesites of the Acadian exiles who came to south central Louisiana in the 1700s.
The project is a long-term collaboration between the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation, the Acadian Heritage & Culture Foundation, and the Louisiana Public Archaeology Lab, bringing together specialists in public archaeology, public history, and cultural resource management. For more information on the New Acadian Project, visit http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~mar4160/nap.html.
“The researchers are literally working against time to save these stories for today’s Acadian descendants and others,” said Park Ranger Jodie Bacque. “Continued residential and commercial development in the region and the effects of time and weather make this an increasingly urgent task.”
The Acadian Cultural Center is managed by the National Park Service as part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The center is open Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m.-noon. The center is closed on federal holidays and Mardi Gras. The film “The Cajun Way; Echoes of Acadia” is shown hourly beginning at 9 a.m, with the last showing at 3 p.m. Rangers present a short talk Tuesday-Friday at 2:45 p.m.
The center also features exhibits and programs on the history and cultures of south Louisiana. Admission to the center and for most center programs is free. Group tours are available by reservation. Call the Acadian Cultural Center at 337-232-0789 ext. 11 or visit www.nps.gov/jela.