Emar Andrepont Store

Emar Andrepont farmed, worked as a blacksmith and craftsman, and made dozens of violins of orchestra quality as a hobby. The store he ran for the Prairie Ronde community kept its goods on shelves along the walls instead of in glass cases, and for a time some of those shelves served as post office boxes. It sold dry goods, household items, farm equipment and textiles. After the move to Opelousas, a federal grant passed through the state paid to refit it as a general store exhibit, with the original cash register and an antique scale sent out for restoration.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Le Vieux Village and the Venus House — steps away
  A heritage park in Opelousas built around the Venus House of about 1791, the home of a free Creole woman of color, Marie Francois Venus, with an old schoolhouse, Methodist church and the visitor center's zydeco music exhibit.
• Prairie Acadian Cultural Center — 21 mi
  A National Park Service center in Eunice on the Cajun prairie, with exhibits on the Acadians who settled the prairies, a Courir de Mardi Gras display, free music and cooking demonstrations, and the shuttered Liberty Theatre nearby.
• Vermilionville — 22 mi
  A living-history village of about 23 acres on Bayou Vermilion in Lafayette, opened in 1990 to interpret the Native peoples, Acadians, Creoles and people of African descent of the Attakapas region.
• Atchafalaya Welcome Center — 25 mi
  A state welcome center inside the Atchafalaya Basin, the nation's largest river swamp, with exhibits on Basin history and life, a film, a crawfishing boat and French-speaking staff.

More markers nearby

• Louisiana Orphan Train Museum — steps away
• La Chapelle House — steps away
• Mary Jane Steam Engine Train — steps away
• Doctor's Office — steps away