Lake Fausse Pointe State Park occupies a 6,000-acre site which was once part of the Atchafalaya Basin. Prior to the 20th century, the Basin was a vast swamp enclosed by the natural levees of Bayou Teche and the Mississippi River. The construction of the east and west protection levees isolated the former Atchafalaya swampland; the park site lies within this isolated swamp, bound on the east by the protection levee and on the west by the natural levee of the Teche.

The area surrounding the park was formerly the home site of the Chitimacha Indians. From the middle 1700's,the region was dominated by French and Acadian farmers and trappers, although the Spanish were in control of the land from 1763 until 1802. It was during this period that a major influx of Spaniards and Canary Islanders emigrated to the New Iberia area, contributing to the cultural diversity of this section of Louisiana.

• Fish, boat, or canoe on the dark labyrinth of waterways that winds through the Atchafalaya Basin.
• Have a picnic at the large group pavilion which sits upon stilts over the edge of Old Bird Island Chute.