A decade of work finally paid off in Loreauville Thursday when a ceremony held to unveil the village’s new Acadian Odyssey Monument took place.

The unveiling included not only village and state officials, but also Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser as well as representatives from Canada and the Acadian Odyssey Monument Commission.

Mayor Brad Clifton said the monument, which traces the journey that Acadian exiles took following their expulsion from Canada in the 18th century, is the 18th in the world and only the second in the United States.

Loreauville’s connection to the historical Acadian journey began to be highlighted thanks to the New Acadia Project, an archaeological project that began about a decade ago to discover the first encampment that Joseph “Beausoleil” Broussard and the first group of Acadian exiles set up near the Bayou Teche.

The encampment has yet to be discovered, but is believed to be in the Loreauville area. University of Louisiana archeolgists make the trip to the Teche Area nearly every summer to continue the important work to find the encampment.

Clifton made sure to recognize former Mayor Al Broussard, who died in 2015, as the person who initially began the push for the project. Clifton said he remembered the first time Broussard explained the project to the Board of Aldermen 10 years ago.

“He gave us the talk about what the New Acadia Project was going to be, for him it wasn’t a tourist thing,” Clifton said. “It was a passionate thing for him and today is a testament to his dream.”

Other speakers during the unveiling included Consul General Susan Harper, New Acadia Project President Warren Perrin and Acadian Odyssey Monument Commission Chair Jean Gaudet.

Harper, a diplomat for the Canadian government, said the new monument location in Loreauville not only is an important recognition for those living in south Louisiana, but for the more than five million Acadians in the world.

“This monument marks the end of the Acadian odyssey and the beginning of Acadiana,” Harper said.