Vandals strike Chauvin Sculpture Garden, a Houma area landmark. Take a look at the damage.

Someone has vandalized one of Terrebonne Parish's most recognizable landmarks, the Chauvin Sculpture Garden, caretakers say.

Gary LaFleur, head of the Center for Bayou Studies at Nicholls State University, said he thinks the vandalism happened between July 11 and 15.

Three of the concrete sculptures were broken, and one is missing, LaFleur said.

"The one that hurts everybody's feelings the most is this sculpture of a little girl, kinda sweet, we call her 'Girl in White Dress,' " he said. "The vandals kind of pushed her over and unseated her from her spot so that she fell over in the grass."

Owned by Nicholls, the garden was created by self-taught artist Kenny Hill when he moved to Chauvin in 1988. A bricklayer by trade, Hill created more than 100 concrete statues along Bayou Little Caillou before walking away from his art and his home about a decade later. Labeled a recluse, he left no trace of his whereabouts, but about 10,000 visitors each year visit the menagerie of angels, Cajuns, self portraits and other figures he left behind at 5337 Bayouside Drive.

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Artists were already at work to repair the damage Hurricane Ida inflicted on the sculpture garden in August.

LaFleur estimates this month's vandalism caused about $23,000 worth of damage.

A sculpture of a woman standing in a waterfall sustained the most damage. A hard blow shattered one leg and caused the statue to fall to the ground, bending the rebar that held it upright.

"That one looked the most violent, in a way, it looked like they took a sledgehammer and just popped her as hard as they could," LaFleur said. "They broke a leg and she came down."

Years back, before the garden was better known, that sculpture, as well as the Girl in White Dress, were each valued at $10,000, he said.

Pricing art can be difficult, and the garden has grown in popularity since that estimate was done, LaFleur said. But dollar value doesn't fully quantify what was lost.

Lafleur has done a quick fix on the Girl in White Dress. The only part broken was where she was mounted, so he was able to put the sculpture back in place.

Vandals also damaged a sculpture of an angel that held an amber globe. The angel was on display several feet off the ground and the globe in similar in fashion to how the Statue of Liberty holds its torch.

The globe was from a lantern inside Hill's home, LaFleur said. It was a type of amber bulb that could be found in the 1960s and 70s.

Some artwork done by Nicholls students is displayed at the garden, and a seahorse on a long metal pole is the missing piece. Made of composite metal, it weighs about 100 pounds.

The Terrebonne Sheriff's Office is investigating.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Vandals strike Chauvin Sculpture Garden, a Houma area landmark