Lately, there have been items in the news and on social media about a “swingers” RV park coming to Mamou, of all places. Do you remember when there was a nudist camp in Iberia Parish? The answer, according to the Facebook posts, was resoundingly YES. 

The question posed put it in Coteau, but that was quickly dispelled. The naked truth: yes, there was once a nudist camp, it was off Highway 14 near Delcambre, owned by a man named Merlin Trahan.

Interesting stories came up concerning Merlin Trahan. Apparently he was an actor with a failed Hollywood career. John Berard recounted that Trahan moved to Hollywood in the sixties and was in a few movies, citing “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and “a war movie with Vince Edwards (Dr. Ben Casey).” Berard further said that when the war movie played the Essanee around 1966, The Daily Iberian did a story about Merlin’s adventures.

He also shared that the camp had a tourist brochure that they put at the Iberia Parish Tourist Commission office, but it was kept under the counter and you had to ask for it. Carla Hostetter remembers that Trahan was quite a character, and had brought those same brochures to the library, asking to leave them. Carla okayed them, as long as they didn’t have any blatant nudity. She recalled looking at the pictures and finding them “very tame and often blocked by picnic tables and such. He left a few but didn’t replace them after they were gone.”

Trahan did have a few scrapes with the law. Carla said that he “was once cited for public nudity because someone driving by caught him in the act of taking out his camp’s trash in the nude. His defense was simply he’d forgotten to put clothes on when going out to the road. He may have gotten a small fine.”

Many posters remember being curious about the camp. Susan Roberts Trahan noted the wooden fence surrounding the site. Laurie Segura added that every so often the gate to the privacy fence was left open. Paul Dugas, who grew up right down the road from the camp, said he remembered roofers just wearing underwear with their tool belts. Alice Moreau Faul told the story of riding horses near there with her father and sister. She said that there was a very large man who mowed the grass in the all-together. She said he was so heavy, they couldn’t see anything. But, she said, they did look and laugh. Many of the posters agreed that the nudists they did occasionally catch sight of were not the prettiest of people.

David Robin remarked that he’s flown over the camp many times and never saw a thing. Joanne Daugherty Breaux acquiesced saying offshore crews would fly over every week, she always knew when the crew change day was. She also said that she delivered their mail for 25 years. She also noted that the club had a pay phone and she wondered where they kept their change.

Some Facebook posters admitted having visited the club, mostly once and then never again. Others had relatives who frequented the club, notably Charles Link Melancon, whose father belonged, and Liz Carline Jumonville, whose aunt and uncle also belonged.

There was further debate as to the name of the place, and where it was actually located. The neighborhood was pinned down, either on Poufette Road or Railroad Road, between New Iberia and Delcambre.

Posters had different ideas about the name. Some, like Carman Tassin Bienvenu, called it Merlin’s Campground. Joanne Daugherty Breaux, their mail carrier, referred to it as Cajun Free. Others had names not suitable to publish in a family newspaper without fear of reprisal. Joanie Kraker, real estate agent to the stars, said the name was Poufette Nude and Bath Club. Lynn Leger called it Puffet (sic) Beach Nudist Club.

Whatever it was called, and wherever it actually was geographically, the club no longer exists. Joanne Daugherty Breaux said that when Merlin died, his sister took the property over and ran it as a “regular trailer park.”

There you have it, a peek into the titillating history of New Iberia’s nudist camp. Photographs were not included in order to save your eyes.