[2] St. Martin Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan area in the region of Acadiana, along the Gulf Coast.

The Acadians brought the tale of Evangeline, a young woman said to have been separated from her mortally wounded betrothed during their expulsion by the British from their territory in eastern Canada.

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's work, Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, was based on this story.

The historical Evangeline, who is believed by some to have been an orphan girl named Emmeline Labiche, was purportedly buried on the grounds of St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St.

Planters also had profitable commodity crops such as cotton, sugar, corn, rice, and tobacco.

[3] A yellow fever epidemic in 1855, followed by a deadly fire and a destructive hurricane, ended an era of unbridled prosperity for elite whites.

Combined with the effects of the American Civil War and Reconstruction, the parish elite struggled in the postwar years.

The transition to freedom for African Americans was uneven, as whites soon tried to reimpose supremacy and effectively denying them the franchise.

[6] At the 2000 United States census,[13] there were 48,583 people, 17,164 households, and 12,975 families residing in the parish.

[15] St. Martin has the highest percentage of French-speaking residents of any county or parish in the United States.

Approximately 18.9% of the parish lived at or below the poverty line, and males earned $51,609 versus $32,748 for females from 2015 to 2019.

South Louisiana Community College's service area includes the northern part and Fletcher Technical Community College's service area includes the southern part.