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Relationship of the Acadian and the Creole:
Building Traditions

STANDARDS

The material in this unit may be used to address the following Social Studies Standards:

G-1B-E2
G-1D-E2
H-1A-E3
H-1A-M4
G-1C-E2
G-1B-M1
H-1B-E2
H-1D-M6
G-1C-E4
G-1C-M3
H-1C-E4
H-1B-H1

HOW THE ACADIAN COTTAGE EVOLVED

Creoles had developed a house type satisfactory for local conditions well before the first Acadians arrived in Louisiana in 1764  This house type, the Creole Cottage, combined architectural elements from Canada, the West Indies, Italy and medieval France. 

Some Acadians had spent time in France and the West Indies after their removal from Canada.  Thus, they were familiar with some of the same architectural solutions for climatic problems which the Louisiana Creoles had previously adopted. 

As the Acadians sought to develop a satisfactory house type, they naturally turned to the Creole example because it had been proven successful and employed ideas with which they were familiar. 

Borrowing from the Creole architectural tradition by the Acadians and their Cajun descendants occurred slowly and selectively as they tried various housing alternatives.  However, by the 1790s Creole features were definitely being included in Acadian houses.  By the middle of the nineteenth century, the final version of the Acadian Cottage was quite similar in appearance to the Creole Cottage. 

FEATURES SHARED BY ACADIAN AND CREOLE COTTAGES
    1. raising the house on wooden or brick piers,

    2. braced frame construction,

    3. bousillage walls,

    4. the presence of a front gallery used as living space

    5. a steeply pitched umbrella roof which covers the house and accompanying gallery,

    6. the presence of a rear cabinet/loggia range. 

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACADIAN AND CREOLE COTTAGES

Although many houses are easily identifiable as Acadian Cottages, others are difficult to tell apart from their Creole cousins.

The problem of classifying houses as Acadian or Creole is also difficult because some ambitious and prosperous nineteenth century Cajuns, wishing to copy Creole manners and customs, specifically built Creole Cottages and Raised Creole Plantation Houses. 

There are three possible ways to tell if a historic house is Acadian or Creole:

  1. the Acadian Cottages built by less prosperous Cajuns look more rough or primitive, and are generally smaller, than those built by prosperous persons.

  2. Acadian Cottages sometimes have gallery staircases leading to their attics, which they used as sleeping lofts.

  3. generally, Acadian Cottages have fewer decorative elements than do the homes of the Creoles.

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Pioneer Settlement Age of Mechanisation Creole Heritage Downtown Louisiana Plantation Life The Acadians Victorian Era LA Heritage Education Home Educator Area