Explore The Atchafalaya National Heritage Area via these trails:

Encompassing the Atchafalaya Basin and its surroundings, the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area is a scenic semi-wilderness area of hardwood forests, cypress swamps, marshes and bayous.

The basin is one of the few great wetland semi-wilderness areas left in the nation. Its 833,000 acres are home to the country's most productive habitats for fish and wildlife. Within the basin, important oil and gas fields co-exist with farmlands, commercial forests and a sizeable commercial fishing and trapping industry. The basin also serves the Lower Mississippi Valley as both a natural and man-made floodway for conveying floodwaters from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Waters divested through the Old River Control structures into the Atchafalaya River play a significant role in the ecosystem of the basin.

In the 1800s, the Atchafalaya Basin with its many bayous offered a route to the heartland of Louisiana. Bayou Plaquemine was the entry point from the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya Basin.

As a distributor of the Mississippi River, Bayou Plaquemine was used as a navigable artery centuries before the age of European exploration. The bayou was documented as early as 1699 in the journal of Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d' Iberville. For the next century and a half, the waterway was dredged and widened, making it navigable during high water to most vessels plying the Mississippi River. During this time, Bayou Plaquemine served as a commercial transport route, promoting settlement and economic prosperity in southwest and northern Louisiana via the Atchafalaya, Red and other rivers.

Bayou Teche, on the western edge of the Basin, provided a route for settlers coming into south Louisiana. It also provided a route for steamboats bringing goods from New Orleans and returning with the farm products that were grown in the area. South Louisiana was rich in agricultural products such as sugar cane, cotton and cypress lumber from the Atchafalaya Basin.

On the west side of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, the towns of St. Martinville, New Iberia, Jeanerette, Charenton and Franklin were established along Bayou Teche. Acadians and French aristocrats settled in St. Martinville. The Spanish played an important part in the settlement of New Iberia. The Native American Chitimacha Indians in Charenton were the earliest setters in the region and are among the finest basket weavers of their time. English settlers from Virginia and the Carolinas primarily settled in Franklin making it an Anglo-Saxon pocket in Acadiana.

At the southern end of the Basin, the Atchafalaya River shaped Morgan City's history. As you continue your journey, you will visit the small towns of Belle River and Pierre Part. Most of the people living in this area are commercial fisherman. Delicious fresh seafood is available in many small restaurants along the route.

The east side of the bike route brings you through Plantation Country. Nottoway Plantation near White Castle is the largest plantation home in the South. As you continue north to New Roads, you will travel along Bayou Plaquemine and Bayou Grosse Tete. Pointe Coupee Parish is one of the earliest settlements in Louisiana. Some of the nation's largest plantations are still thriving on land surrounding New Roads.

After New Roads, you will cross the Morganza Spillway, the largest spillway in the world. The raised road through the Spillway will give you an opportunity to view an extensive wilderness area. The Atchafalaya bike trail continues to Marksville through the small towns of Hamburg, Moreauville, and Mansura. The French first settled here in the 1700's. The Marksville State Historic Site features earthen mounds dating from 1400 A.D. At the museum you can see artifacts and exhibits interpreting the culture of the Tunica-Biloxi Indians.

In Washington, you can enjoy a rendezvous with the past. Settled in 1720, the town of Washington is the third oldest settlement in Louisiana. The trails also take you through Opelousas where zydeco music was born.

The Atchafalaya bike routes wind through the towns of Sunset, Grand Coteau and Breaux Bridge. When you reach Breaux Bridge, you can kick your heels up at Mulate's Cajun Dance Hall and Restaurant. The Atchafalaya National Heritage Area offers an opportunity to visit one of the most historic and culturally rich areas in our country. For more information visit http://www.atchafalaya.org .