So, the most cosmopolitan French speaking city in North America is about three hours away, and you’d rather travel 1500 miles south to a city that spoke creole 200 years ago?

Why though? Haven’t renewed the passport? I get it if Montreal wasn’t French enough for you (you’d find plenty of Quebecois who’d agree too), but that’s clearly not it.

Dude go take advantage of the strong dollar. America is the worst place in the world for a culture oriented vacation. Everything is the same everywhere. Copy pasted strip malls and chain restaurants and it’s all so goddamn expensive. DC and NYC are cool for a couple days, see the museums and whatnot, but that’s about it. The US is a good place to vacation for outdoorsy types, but not what you’re going for.

If you were looking for Spanish speakers, I’d say go to Miami. If you were looking for Vietnamese speakers, I’d say go to San Jose. If you were looking for Mandarin speakers, I’d say go to Chinatown. But French? Nah. The vast majority of French speakers in the US won’t be native speakers, unless you count Haitian Creole as French, which no one does. If you do, consider a trip to Brockton, MA! Not the nicest place but you’re actually less likely to get stabbed there than New Orleans.

Anyway, there are some towns in far northern New England (especially Maine) where double digit percentages of households speak French at home, but these are very rural areas. You’re gonna look like a lunatic going to the one store in town on a mission to find native French speakers. They might speak passable French as a second language, but that’s to accommodate the Quebecois visitors.