There are several Lafayette’s in the United States, but none of them quite have the cache of the one in Louisiana. This city harkens back to a time when the United States was both a simpler place and a more conservative place.

Imagine a time when Americans didn’t all think the same and didn’t all watch the same things on television and didn’t all speak the same language. It seems hard to believe but this was America when the city of Lafayette really came into its own.

As a direct result of French settlers moving away from their homes along the Mississippi and Canada, and established a new home for themselves in the deep south. It was this infusion of French culture that has given Lafayette is distinctive charm and appeal, a charm that still exists today.

You can step back in time in this small town of about 100,000 people, sample their unique cuisine, which includes fantastic BBQ and some of the spiciest creole cooking in all of the land. And why no explore the thick, lush landscape that has come to characterize Louisiana. There are also some great real estate opportunities in this wild land, and you can help bring the past back to life by restoring an old colonial home.