2024 Travel Guide to New Iberia: Tabasco, Bayou Teche & Historic Homes
The City of New Iberia is located on U.S. Highway 90 between New Orleans and Lafayette on the banks of the historic Bayou Teche.
It is the parish seat of Iberia Parish, and was founded in 1779 and incorporated in 1839.
New Iberia is in the heart of Acadiana, and home to the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival each September.
The population is about 28,000 residents, and the Zip Codes are 70560 and 70563.
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Avery Island, Jungle Gardens, and Tabasco Sauce
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Nearby Avery Island is home of the world-famous Tabasco Sauce and the oldest salt mine in North America, and Jungle Gardens. The island was named after the Avery family, who settled there in the 1830s. But even the American Indians in the area knew about the massive underground salt dome.
Avery Island is very near the Gulf of Mexico, only three miles inland from Vermilion Bay. Avery Island remains a natural, sub-tropical paradise, home to massive like oaks, azaleas, camellias, and exotic plants from around the world.
Before the Civil War, Edmund McIlhenny joined the Avery family by marrying Mary Eliza Avery, daughter of Daniel Dudley Avery and Sarah Marsh Avery. In 1868, McIlhenny founded McIlhenny Company and began manufacturing Tabasco brand pepper sauce and shortly aftwards received patent for his sauce processing formula.
Tabasco sauce today is made from the same family formula, using tabasco peppers, vinegar, and salt, and aged in white oak barrels for three years. It has a hot, spicy flavor, and is popular across the USA and the world.
Thousands of birds make their home on Avery Island, during the year and the winter months as well. Visitors, eco-tourists, and bird watchers come from far and wide to see the bird rookeries, and alligators in the ponds and lagoons.
Tours of the Tabasco plant on Avery Island are popular and fun!
Conrad Rice Mill
New Iberia's Conrad Rice Mill is the oldest rice mill in America and is also one of the leading tourist attractions in the Bayou Teche area. At this National Register of Historic Places site, visitors can watch an introductory video about the history of rice farming in Louisiana, tour the mill itself and shop at the KONRIKO Company Store for some truly unique local souvenirs.
For more information, visit the website of the Conrad Rice Mill.
Bayou Teche Museum
The Bayou Teche Museum features many interactive exhibits that showcase the spicy blend of cultures, artists, industries and lore that sprang from the land surrounding Bayou Teche.
The museum provides guided and self-guided tours and events for educational groups of all kinds, including teachers and students, historians and more. Museum staff tailors guided tours to the needs of each group. It is located at 131 East Main Street in New Iberia.
For more information, visit the website of the Bayou Teche Museum.
Historic Homes
The New Iberia area includes lovely, historic homes such as the Shadows-on-the-Teche and others along Bayou Teche, and throughout the city.
Rip Van Winkle Gardens and the Jefferson Home
On nearby Jefferson Island is the Joseph Jefferson Mansion, built in 1870 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places This charming twenty-two room Southern mansion, with a fourth-story cupola, is part of the popular Rip Van Winkle Gardens.
 Joseph Jefferson Mansion at Jefferson Island, Louisiana (Photograph courtesy of the LA Office of Tourism) |
Swamp Tours Near New Iberia in the Atchafalaya Basin Area
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One of the most popular things to do in Louisiana is touring the swamps! Most tours are concentrated in South Louisiana.
The lush growth in a Louisiana swamp is indescribable. You have to see it to believe it.
The most impressive objects in the swamp are the cypress trees which are very graceful in their structure, with their reddish bark, exquisitely bent branches, and delicately fine leaves.
The area between Lafayette and Baton Rouge offers a number of swamp tours, operating from communities such as Breaux Bridge, Henderson, St. Martinvile and Plaquemine.
Learn more about Swamp Tours in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Bayou Teche
Bayou Teche is a 125 mile long waterway, beginning to the north at Port Barre where it draws water from Bayou Courtableau, and flowing to the south through the towns of Leonville, Arnaudville, Breaux Bridge, St. Martinville, and then to New Iberia.
From here, it continues its journey to south, through Jeanerette, Berwick, Baldwin, Franklin, and finally to the point where the bayou meets the Atchafalaya River near Patterson.
The name "Teche" is a Chitimacha Indian word meaning "snake", related to the bayou's twists and turns resembling a snake's movement.
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Shown below are a few photos taken during trips to New Iberia and Avery Island, plus some historic images from the Louisiana Destinations Archives.
Beautiful home on historic Bayou Teche New Iberia, Louisiana Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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Old live oak tree, touching the ground, in New Iberia, Louisiana Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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St. Peter's Catholic Church New Iberia, Louisiana Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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Jungle Gardens Louisiana |
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Shadows on the Teche, New Iberia, Louisiana April, 1961 Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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Caution! Alligators Are Dangerous! Avery Island, Louisiana Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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Can We Pet You? Avery Island, Louisiana Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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Excellent Swimmer! Avery Island, Louisiana Photographed and Copyright by the Author |
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Historic, vintage postcard of Bayou Teche, Louisiana |
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| Popular Travel Destinations and Tourist Attractions in South Louisiana |
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