Prairie des Femmes : Along the Prairie des Femmes Road

Friday, June 26, 2026

In the Fields of Prairie des Fermes

I watch the fields of Prairie des Femmes. They rotate soybean and sorghum most years, with a fallow year in there also. Some of the old timers will call the prairie "Prairie des Fermes" (Prairie of the Farms) because it was and still is an agricultural enclave. Some of the most persistent stories about this place revolve around the women (les femmes) who ran the farms (les fermes) and dairies while the men left to work or fight. However this anecdote is true in most places around the country in war times. The wars that the neighbors have given vary from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, WW1 or 2. Further research suggests that the memory of the prairie is older than American wars and that the wars in question were of the native Opelousas, Chitimacha or Atakapas tribes and may not have been traditional wars at all. Prairie des Femmes was said to be the peace zone between tribes. It is also said the men hid the women back here, or simply went hunting and never came back. Some say they were nomadic and just moved along the Teche while leaving this prairie as the base village for the women and children. It's even more interesting when one considers that we are on the western edge of the Teche Escarpment and tucked behind the ancient alluvial bluffs of Grand Coteau, where the Mississippi itself flowed. I also suspect that Grand Coteau was ceremonial grounds of some sort to the natives of this prairie.

This year there's a special atmosphere along the road because the close fields are in sugarcane and it creates the loveliest (for a prairie girl) vignettes while we search for broken ceramics in the late light of the summer afternoon.