Pecan Island, Louisiana facts for kids

Pecan Island (called La Pacanière in French) is a small community in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. It's not officially a town, but a place where about 300 people live.

This special place is located near White Lake. It's made up of two long, low ridges of land. These ridges are called cheniers, which are like old beach ridges made of crushed shells and sand. Pecan Island is very close to the Gulf of Mexico, about ten miles away.

Many people living here are of Cajun ancestry. The community has a few churches: Sacred Heart Catholic Mission, a Baptist church, and a Methodist church. After Hurricane Rita, only one store remained, selling things like fuel, groceries, and hunting supplies. Some common family names you might hear there are Veazey, Bourque, Stelly, and Guidry. The area has faced big storms before, like Hurricane Audrey in 1957.

Pecan Island is also part of the larger Abbeville area, which is a group of smaller towns and communities linked together.

Hurricane Rita's Impact

When Hurricane Rita threatened Pecan Island in 2005, most people had to leave their homes to stay safe. The hurricane caused a lot of damage, destroying many houses and even forcing the local school, Pecan Island High School, to close.

Because of the damage from hurricanes like Rita, new rules were put in place for building homes. These rules, from an organization called FEMA, mean that new houses must be built higher up. This helps protect them from future floods, but it also makes them more expensive to build.

Fun Local Events

Pecan Island has its own special events! They celebrate Mardi Gras, which is a fun festival with parades and parties. In the winter months, the area becomes very busy with duck hunters who come to the marshy areas.

The Morgan Effigy Discovery

An interesting discovery was made near Pecan Island at a place called Morgan Mounds. This site is an ancient archaeological spot where people from the Coles Creek culture lived a very long time ago, between 700 and 1000 CE.

Workers found a small, carved deer antler figurine, now known as the "Morgan Effigy." This tiny sculpture is unique because it's the only known artwork from the Coles Creek culture that isn't made from pottery. Its artistic style suggests it might have been a figure representing death. Since bones were found nearby, it's thought that the effigy was buried with an important person from the community.