It was all about the Teche Thursday evening at Shadows-on-the-Teche when local historian Shane Bernard gave a talk to a packed room about the history and environment of one of Louisiana’s most famous bayous. 

Bernard, a historian who works for McIlhenny on Avery Island, published a book in 2017 that provides one of the most comprehensive works on the history of the Teche and the way it has changed over time. 

Bernard has done extensive work over the years to compile facts about the bayou, and the talk discussing it officially begins and ends. 

“Some like to argue that the Teche goes through Patterson and continues onto the Atchafalaya,” he said. “I met a guy who took extreme exception to that, and he showed me a resolution passed by the Town of Patterson that says the Teche ends at Patterson and then becomes the lower Atchafalaya.

“I consulted the LSU Cartography Center and Army Corps of Engineers and they basically said the same thing,” he added.

Bernard also discussed the geological history of the Teche, which he said was originally part of the Mississippi River and then changed over time. 

“You can see it on Admiral Doyle heading to Jeanerette,” he said. “It’s way up high and you look around and the barns are down below. That block represents the western most circuit of the Mississippi River 5,500 years ago, it meandered east to where it is now and the Red River eventually took its place here.”

Bernard said archaeological evidence shows that humans have been living in the area for 13,500 years who then began changing the landscape, and Native American mounds can be found in Iberia and St. Mary parishes. The mounds were used as ceremonial sites and can still be found in Iberia Parish. 

“I find a lot of people surprised that there are two mounds in Loreauville,” he said. “They are very well kept and studied by scientists 100 years ago.”