"Probably the most photographed tree in the world" is what the St Martinville visitor Center has to say about the Evangeline Oak. The tree is located in St Martinville on Bayou Teche adjacent to the Castillo Hotel.

So the story goes, that an Acadian exile named Emmeline Labiche waited in 18 for her lover Luis Arceneaux under this massive oak tree along Bayou Teche, only to find when he arrived he was wed to another. (One of several versions of the story). It is said that under this tree is where they met.

The story was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the peom "Evangeline", Though he never set foot in Louisiana, the story became a rallying point for those "Cajun" people Acadians from Acadia Canada that were expelled by the British who ultimately settled in south Louisiana.

Originally an ethnic slur to be called Cajun, the story was much like Ann Frank's Dairy helped the survivors of the Holocaust.

The tree is listed as a member of the Live Oak Society, and is noted as possibly the most photographed tree in the world.

Behind the tree is the Old Castillo Hotel, built in 1827, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotel has served as a hotel for guests arriving by steam boats during the early years and is currently a bed and breakfast.