New Iberia — The Queen City of the Teche

The spring of 1779 brought some 500 colonists from Málaga, Spain, up Bayou Teche to what became Spanish Lake — a settlement Lieutenant Colonel Don Francisco Bouligny called Nueva Iberia, honoring the Iberian Peninsula. French-speakers called it Nouvelle Ibérie. English settlers arriving after the Louisiana Purchase called it New Town. In 1814, the U.S. government opened a post office and officially recognized the name as New Iberia. The town was incorporated in 1839 as the Town of Iberia; the state legislature amended the charter in 1847, recognizing New Iberia as the name. In 1868, Iberia Parish was established, and New Iberia became the seat of parish government. The Malagueños were quickly absorbed into the French Cajun population. The parish kept its name from the Iberian Peninsula even as Spanish surnames became French ones. Forbes once called New Iberia's Main Street district America's prettiest town. Main Street features a live oak canopy, antebellum storefronts, and Bayou Teche running behind the buildings. The Shadows-on-the-Teche — a historic former residence and plantation, now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation — is on Main Street. The Bayou Teche Museum, also on Main Street, has exhibits on the history, culture, artists, and industries of the Bayou Teche region. It houses artist George Rodrigue's last studio. New Iberia is the hometown of James Lee Burke, whose detective Dave Robicheaux novels have set hundreds of thousands of readers on these specific streets. The Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, held in April, celebrates Burke and South Louisiana literature. You go for the walkable downtown, the live oaks, the bayou. You stay because a crime novelist put this place on the page in a way that made it solid.