In 1699 Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur D'Iberville, father of Louisiana, explored the Mississippi and its distributary the Ascantia, later called Bayou Manchac. By 1758 exiled Acadians had settled at Manchac. They soon built upstream this cypress church, among the first erected in Louisiana during Spanish Colonial days. It was moved to this site in 1772 and the next year Fr. Angelus de Revillagodos opened the registers of St. Gabriel. Previously the parish was the depository for records brought from St. Charles-Aux-Mines, L'Acadie, Canada. The records date from 1707.