New Iberia Things to Do Tips by grandmaR Top 5 Page for this destination

Shadows on the Teche

We drove towards New Iberia on Louisiana State 182 from Jeanerette, and along the Old Spanish Road with all the big pretty mansions on the bayou side. Eventually we got to Shadows on the Teche and all the signs said to go to the visitor's center across the street first. But there didn't seem to be anything that looked like a visitor's center across the street - it looked like a bank.

Eventually after going around the block about 3 times (because the street was one way), we turned into the bank parking lot (it was Saturday afternoon so we didn't think we'd get into trouble) and saw the sign on the side of the building that said it was the visitor's center. It was on the side away from the traffic, so you'd have to look back at it to see it.

We paid our money ($6.25 each for over 62) and took the tour. This was another place that wouldn't let me take pictures inside because of 'security'. Personally if I were going to steal something, I wouldn't need a camera for that - I could use my Mark I eyeball. But at least they told us up front.

At the visitor's center, I found out that I did not tour Shadows when we were here before because it did not open to the public until 1961. It had been in the original family that built it (David and Mary Weeks in 1834) until the last member (their great grandson William Weeks Hall) died in 1958, one day after signing a contract to give it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It has almost all of the original furnishings (unlike Oak Alley) and extensive documentation.

The Shadows-on-the-Teche is an antebellum historic house museum. It is the only National Trust building in Louisiana.

Guided tours daily 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Address: 317 E. Main Street, New Iberia, LA

Directions: At the intersection of Highways 14 & 182

Phone: 337/369-6446

Walking Tour

There is an interesting town walking tour listed on the New Iberia website. This includes:

# 1-The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany (303 West Main Street) constructed in 1858,and used as a field hospital during the Civil War

# 2 First United Methodist Church (108 Jefferson Street) erected in 189l in Gothic Revival style.

# 3 Old Mt. Carmel Academy (109 Bridge Street) built around 1826 as the home of Henry F. Duperier, it later became a girls’ school operated by the Sisters of Mt. Carmel and today is known as Place Eugenie.

# 4 The Railroad Depot (Railroad Avenue) built as a passenger depot for the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1912.

# 5 (300 East Main St) The pictured old post office builting, constructed in 1903 and used as a post office until 1965.

# 6 Shadows on the Teche (317 East Main Street) Built in 1834 by David Weeks, sugarcane planter (3rd photo)

# 7 The Evangeline Theatre (29 East Main Street) First opened as a movie theatre in 1930 now is known as "The Sliman Theatre for the Performing Arts." (last picture)

# 8 Statue of Hadrian (Weeks and St. Peters Streets) Hadrian, Roman Emporer 117 A.D. - 138 A. D. was noted as a builder and financier. This one-ton antiquity sculpted from life in 127 A.D. came to New Iberia in 1961 from Rome via London and New Orleans.

# 9 The Gebert Oak (541 East Main Street) planted in 1834 was large enough for a child to climb in to watch the Yankee troops march into New Iberia during the Civil War.

# 10 East Main Residental District (East Main Street between Phillip and Center Streets) with 71 buildings that date between c. 1890 and c.1930. (4th photo)

Address: 300 East Main Street

Phone: (337) 373-3120

Annual Events & Festivals

The festivals in town now are not the same as they were in our day. These include:

Mardi Gras Parades - February/March
The Live Oak Tree Festival - March
Laotian New Year Celebration - Spring
The Bunk Johnson Jazz Festival - May
CajunFun Fest - May
July 4th Celebration
Civil War Encampment
Sugar Cane Festival - last weekend in September
World Championship Gumbo Cook-off - 2nd weekend in October
Downtown Merchants Association Christmas Parade - 1st Monday in December
Yuletide on the Bayou - 2nd Saturday in December
Shadows Tour of Homes

We were there after the Christmas Parade, and the Shadows Tour of Homes.

Phone: 888-942-3742 (Visitor's Bureau)

Website: http://www.iberiaparish.com/dail.php