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Abbeville
Louisiana, United States
Abbeville, city, seat (1854) of Vermilion parish, southern Louisiana, U.S., on the Vermilion River, 20 miles (32 km) south-southwest of Lafayette. It was founded in 1843 by a Capuchin missionary, Père Antoine Desire Mégret, who patterned it on a French Provençal village. First called La Chapelle and settled by Acadians from Nova Scotia and Mediterranean immigrants, it was later named Abbeville (“Priest’s Town”). St. Marie Madeleine Church (1910) now occupies the site of Mégret’s chapel, which was destroyed by fire in 1854. A trade centre for agricultural produce (rice, cotton, and sugar) and seafood, Abbeville provides services for nearby oil ...(100 of 144 words)