Long-closed area of park might be reopened

PHOTO: Viewed from the closed DOTD LA 736 bridge, the large coulee runs through the south part of Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site. The historical 1938 bridge may soon be rebuilt, allowing access to this area.

The usual great food at Longfellow-Evangeline State Historical Site’s monthly Dutch Oven Society cookout was accompanied by some pretty tasty rumors concerning the future of the site itself.
The dutch oven events, like the one held Saturday, June 6, will be held at Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site the first Saturday of every month. Cooks come from all over the state to do their work for the benefit of the park, so they were excited by news that the site may soon be able to reopen areas that have been closed and all but forgotten for years.
The amphitheater in the closed section was once the most popular location for concerts in the parish, often hosting several hundred people. The remains of the old boat ramp and dock, as well as a usable pavilion also remain in the area. Whether the facilities are rebuilt or left the way they are, they are interesting relics of St. Martinville’s past that many residents have never seen.
Restoring access to this area requires the repair or rebuilding of the 1938 wood piling bridge which was finally condemned, even for foot traffic, in 2010. City officials expressed a high level of optimism that this welcome reopening will occur.