Roland at Jeanerette Museum March 14

As part of the “Water/Ways” traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street program, the Jeanerette Museum Board and Bayou Teche Museum have partnered to present an evening with Gwen Roland, the author of “Atchafalaya Houseboat,” at 6 p.m. on March 14 at the Sliman Theatre in New Iberia.
Roland is also the author of “Postmark Bayou Chene.” She grew up in rural Louisiana where self-sufficiency was a given. During the back-to-earth movement of the early 70s, Roland and Calvin Voisin moved to the Atchafalaya swamp where their ancestors had settled before the Civil War.
She shared their adventures through magazine and newspaper articles. LSU Press reprinted those essays in the memoir “Atchafalaya Houseboat.” The book inspired the popular PBS documentary by the same name.
Roland brings an insight into living on a houseboat she and Voisin built that few others can. She lived peacefully off of the land for nearly a decade in the swamp.
Later she moved away from her beloved swamp and held many jobs until becoming the communications specialist for the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program at the University of Georgia. She retired after 20 years of writing about Ag research in the country.
During her talk, Roland will be showing personal photos from her collection of her time living in the swamp.
This program is suitable for an adult audience and is being held free of charge, however, seating is limited. This program is in a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities made possible through funding from the Walton Family Foundation.
For more information contact Gail Garcia at 337-380-9057 or call the Bayou Teche Museum at 337-606-5977.