St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, Catholic church building in Saint Martinville, Louisiana.
St. Martin of Tours is a symmetrical stone church in Saint Martinville with classical features including Doric columns, a central nave, and stained glass windows. The interior leads to a semi-circular apse on the eastern end, with a transept extending to both sides.
The church was founded in 1765 when Acadian refugees settled in the region. The current building was completed in 1840 and underwent major architectural changes during a renovation in the 1870s.
The parish was first called l'Église des Attakapas, the Attakapas Church, a name still used in the 1810 church census of Attakapas (St. Martin) Parish. Behind the church stands a statue of Evangeline, the heroine of Longfellow's poem about the Acadian exile, a figure tied to the town's Acadian story.
The church stands at 133 S. Main Street, in the town centre of Saint Martinville. The monument to the militiamen of the Battle of Baton Rouge (1779) is beside the church, and the statue of Evangeline is behind it, so both can be seen on the same walk.
The monument beside the church lists 42 militiamen of St. Martinville who served in General Bernardo de Galvez's army at the Battle of Baton Rouge in 1779: 36 French Creoles, three Acadians and three colonial Americans, with one man's citizenship unrecorded. The Louisiana Daughters of the American Revolution erected it.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,582 contributors worldwide.