Nachitoches, Louisiana

Nachitoches is pronounced NAKatush. I had to practice it awhile. The oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase Territory, it was founded in 1714 by the French. Several overland highways met at this town including the El Camino Real from Mexico. (I have a National Park Service stamp in my Park Passport for this road.) This young fellow was working at Fort St. Jean Baptiste, a full-scale replica of a French Colonial fort. He was building a fire from scratch.

The five-acre compound had eight wood/mud buildings all surrounded by a pointy wood fence.

Nachitoches was a thriving transportation center and cotton crossroads until 1830 when the Red River changed course. Now it is a tourist destination partly because Steel Magolias was filmed here.

I saw other places of interest on the Cane River National Heritage Trail.

Here are some of the books on sale at the Melrose plantation, a complex of buildings dating from the 1790s. One owner, Cammie Henry offered lodging to artists and writers such as Faulkner and Steinbeck. Artists stayed free in the Yucca House and ate together in the main house dining room. After three days if the artist did not produce art, she tactfully told them to gather their things and leave.

A longtime employee of the plantation, Clementine Hunter became a well-known Creole folk artist.

This beautiful old oak is breathtaking.

Rocking on the porch of the bookbindery. The guide called the blooming magnolia trees, "tulip trees".

One of my goals is to visit places lived in by Southern Authors. This was once Kate Chopin's home in Cloutierville, which recently burned down including the loss of many historic items.