Cafe’ Vermilionville

This building, also known as Vermilionville Inn, is a two-story, briquetteentre-poteaux (brick-between-posts) building located near the Vermilion River at Pinhook Bridge. When the building was, it was a residence in a rural setting. Despite several minor additions, the building retains its architectural integrity. It was built at the site where traders gathered, the ancient trading post called the Vermillion Poste des Atakapa. Before Louisiana became part of the United States, the trading post was called Le Petit Manchac, meaning “the little back door”. Later, the name was changed to Pinhook. Traders were mostly Indigenous as well as ranchers, trappers and smugglers. Smugglers used the Vermilion River to avoid paying tariffs imposed at landings in more developed areas. Indigenous and European traders and trappers used the landing because it was the place where travelers transferred from water to land transportation to transport material goods to and from surrounding ranches, plantations and farms. Early on, several businesses developed near this location, including a small lumber mill, a restaurant and a saloon.