South Central Louisiana
Historical Markers by Parish

Parish Name

Ascension | Assumption | E. Baton Rouge | E. Feliciana | Iberia | Iberville | Lafayette | Livingston | St. Charles | St. James | St. Landry | St. Mary | Tangipahoa | West Feliciana

Ascension

Ascension Catholic Church

This church founded August 15, 1772 by Father Angel de Revillagodos on orders of King Charles III of Spain. Cornerstone of Present church laid June 1876 by Bishop Elder of Natchez and the April 14, 1896 dedication by Archbishop Janssens of New Orleans.

Located in Donaldsonville, District 61, Ascension Parish.

Donaldsonville

Second Acadian Coast. Town founded by William Donaldson, 1806, on farm of Pierre Landry. Began as trading post about 1750, Home of Governor Francis T. Nicholls, of Dr. F.W. Prevost, who performed first Caesarian section, 1824. Parish seat of Ascension. Capital of Louisiana from January 1830 to January 1831.

Located in Donaldsonville, District 5, Hwy 404, Ascension Parish.

First Missionary Martyr

Jean Francois Buisson De St. Cosme of Quebec Seminary, Canada. First American born priest killed in this country and in Louisiana near this site by Indians, 1706.

Located in Donaldsonville (Fort Houmas), LA, Dist. 61, Hwy 61, Ascension Parish. Ascension Parish.

Galveztown

Old Spanish town at junction of Amite River and Bayou Manchac. Settled by Anglo-Americans, 1776-78, seeking Spanish refuge from American Revolution, and by Canary Islanders (Islenos). Named for Spanish Governor Bernardo de Galvez. Town was abandoned by 1810.

Located in Galvez, LA, Dist. 61, Hwy 42, near Port Vincent, Ascension Parish.

Gramercy

Incorporated November, 1947, located partly on Indian-French settlement & trading post site. In 1739 much of this area was sold to Joseph delille Dupart, a Commissioner of Indian Nations under Bienville. Today area is location of various industries.

Located in Gramercy, District 3, Ascension Parish.

Houmas House

Houmas Indian land grant sold to Conway and Latil in 1774. Sold to Revolutionary War hero Wade Hampton 1811. Greek Revival mansion built by John Smith Preston in 1840. Restored by Dr. George Crozat in 1940.

Located in Burnside, District 61, River Road, Ascension Parish.

St. Emma Plantation

Scene of Civil War skirmish in fall of 1862. C 1850 Greek Revival plantation house owned 1854-1869 by Charles A. Kock, a prominent sugar planter. Listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Located in front of St. Emma, Donaldsonville, Hwy 1, District 8, Ascension Parish.

Assumption

Bayou Lafourche

Some early sources report that River of the Washas or the west fork was explored by Bienville (fall, 1699 from the Mississippi to Washa (ouacha) Indian village near here. Later the French would call the bayou Lafourche fork of the Chitamachas, then Bayou Lafourche.

Located in Supreme, District 61, Hwy 1, Assumption Parish.

Valenzuela dans la Fourche

Founded under Spanish rule c. 1778 by Canary Islanders, later joined by Acadians and others. Post believed to have been on site of Belle Alliance Plantation, 841 acre grant to Don Juan Vives, early Spanish physician, officer in the Galvez Expedition.

Located on Bayou Lafourche, District 61, Near Napoleonville, Assumption Parish. Assumption Parish.

E. Baton Rouge

Arsenal Museum

This building, erected c. 1835 as a powder magazine for a U.S. Army Post and Arsenal which used this area from 1810-1885, except in 1861-1862 when held by the Confederacy. In 1962 this building was restored and the museum established.

Located in Baton Rouge, District 61, Corner of State Capital Drive and North Fifth Street, East Baton Rouge Parish.

Baton Rouge

State Capital. Named by Iberville 1699 from Indian name Iti Humma, Red Pole. Village settled 1721. British, 1763 - 1779; Spanish 1779-1810. Republic of West Florida, 1810. Home of Lousiana State University.

Located in Baton Rouge, LA, Dist. 61, Front Street, East Baton Rouge Parish.

Port Hudson Siege

Seven miles west is site of anchor controlling Mississippi. Here 6500 Confederates held 30,000 Union troops May 21 until July 8, 1863. Fall of Port Hudson opened river, hastening fall of Confederacy.

Located in Port Hudson, LA, Dist. 61, Hwy 48, Parish East Baton Rouge Parish.

Spanish Manchac

Part of Isle of Orleans - now in Iberville Parish. Bayou Manchac boundary line, 1763-79, between British West Florida and Spanish Louisiana. Flag raised by Governor de Ulloa. Site of Spanish fort built at the urge of Don Francisco Bouligny.

Located in Burtville, LA, Dist. 61, Hwy 30, East Baton Rouge Parish.

E. Feliciana

Clinton Courthouse

This Courthouse, built in 1840 is one of the architectural treasures of the state. The present building replaced a wooden courthouse that dated from 1825-26, which burned in March 1839. This is one of the oldest courthouses in Louisiana which is still in daily use.

Located in Clinton, District 61, East Feliciana Parish.

Iberia

Bayou Teche

Name comes from Indian legend that writhing snake (Tenche) made stream bed, or from Deutch after German settlers. Approx. 80 miles long, bayou starts near Port Barre, converges with Atchafalaya near Morgan City. Important waterway in Louisiana history for Indians, traders, settlers.

Located in New Iberia, District 3, Hwy 90, Iberia Parish.

Camp Pratt, Site of

From 1862-1863 Camp Pratt was official Confederate camp of conscription for South Louisiana. At one time as many as 3,000 conscripts here. A small compound for Union prisoners of war also located at the camp.

Located on Louisiana 182 at Spanish Lake, District 3, Iberia Parish.

Old Spanish Trail

Named in honor of the Spanish Pioneers who for a period during the Colonial Era occupied the entire Southern region of the United States from St. Augustine to San Diego.

Located in New Iberia, LA, Dist. 3, Hwy 90 East, Iberia Parish.

Iberville

Bayou Goula

Mugulasha Indian village captured by Bayougoulas. In 1699 Bienville here found Tonti’s letter of 1686 to LaSalle. Father Paul Du Ru built first chapel in Louisiana near village in 1700.

Located in Bayoula Goula, LA, Dist. 61, hwy 1, Iberville Parish.

Calumet Plantation

Home of Douglass C. Montan (1834-1896), who named this plantation Calumet after the Indian name for peace-pipe. Montan represented Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parishes in the La. State Senate. Montan wrote (1856) a popular book entitled Redstick which was about Baton Rouge life.

Located in Rosedale, District 61, Iberville Parish.

Lafayette

General Alfred Mouton (1829-1864)

Confederate brigadier General from Lafayette who served in Shiloh, Lafourche, Teche, and Red River campaigns. killed in Mansfield, leading Confederacy to its most important military victory west of the Mississippi.

Located Lafayette Parish.

Pierre Dugat Home Site

In 1776 Pierre Dugat received a Spanish land grant for this site, which became his plantation. Indian artifacts found on this site date from 3000 B. C. to about the eighteenth century.

Located in Lafayette, District 3, at Natural History Museum, Lafayette Parish.

Livingston

Springfield

Oldest town in Livingston Parish. Incorporated in 1838. Named for abundant ground water springs. Connected to old Natchez Trace. Site of a Spanish fort about 1800. Parish seat from 1835-1872. Old courthouse still stands.

Located in Springfield, District 62, Courthouse, Livingston Parish.

St. Charles

Battle of Des Allemands

Le district des Allemands, settled by Germans about 1720, the scene of numerous skirmish resulted in capture of an entire detachment of Union soldiers on September 4, 1862.

Located in Des Allemands, LA, Dist. 2, Hwy 90, St. Charles Parish.

Fashion Plantation

Home of General Richard Taylor, son of Zachary Taylor, Louisiana Statesman, and member of 1861 Secession Convention. Commanded Louisiana district, 1862-64; defeated Banks at battle of Mansfield, 1864. Federals plundered home in 1862.

Located in Hahnville, LA, Dist. 2, Hwy 18, St. Charles Parish.

Flagville

Named for O.J. Flagg, 1870. Now a part of Hahnville. Letter left here by Tonti, 1686 with Quinipissa Chief for LaSalle. Taensa Village, 1713. De Meuve, French Concession, 1718. Site included grant to Joseph Roi de Villere, 1765.

Located in Hahnville, LA, Dist. 2, Hwy 18, St. Charles Parish St. Charles Parish.

Les Allemands

Akanca Indian land prior Karlstein. Site of first German villages 1719-1722 and St. Jean des Allemands Chapel. Settlers joined in 1768 revolt against Spain. Leaders, Chevalier Karl d’Arensbourg and Captain Joseph Roi De Villere who was first martyr in 1769.

Located in Killona, LA, Dist. 2, Five miles above Hahnville on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, St. Charles Parish.

Skirmish of Boutte Station

Union train with sixty men ambushed by Confederate force of Louisiana militia and volunteers on September 4, 1862. Train escaped to New Orleans. Fourteen Union soldiers killed and twenty-two wounded in the skirmish.

Located in Boutte, District 2, St. Charles Parish.

St. James

James Mather

Large sugar plantation owned by Mather family until sold in 1879. James Mather, Englishman by birth, came to America in 1777; was active in Indian trade in West Florida area; was fourth mayor of New Orleans serving from 1807-1812. Here, on October 8, 1821, James Mather died.

Located in Lutcher, District 2, Hwy , St. James Parish.

Oak Alley Plantation

Built (1837-1839 by Jacques T. Roman, this fine example of Greek Revival architecture is famous for its alley of 28 evenly spaced live oak trees, believed to be at least 100 years older than Big House. A National Historic Landmark.

Located on River Road near Vacherie, District 61, St. James Parish.

Vacherie

Bayougoula Village, 1713. Settled by Canadians and French; later by Germans, Acadians, Spaniards. Here in 1730 Governor Perrier organized expedition against Natchez Indians. Early cattle raising center. French records referred to area as Tabiscana.

Located in Vacherie, LA, Dist. 2, Hwy 18, St. James Parish.

Vacherie de Grande Pointe

This area, a ridge, extends from Convent through Gramercy and ends at Grande Pointe in the rear. On this ridge, the world’s supply of a unique crop, Perique tobacco, is grown, processed and shipped. It is also the site of Indian mounds and sugar cane fields.

Located near Convent, District ?, Hwy ?, St. James Parish.

White Hall Plantation (La Maison Blanche)

Spanish colonial plantation home, erected in the 1790s. Famous guests said to have visited La Maison Blanche include the Duc d’Orleans, later King Louis Philippe of France, and General Andrew Old Hickory Jackson. General William C. C. Claiborne was a guest in 1806. Noted Revolutionary War Colonel Wade Hampton purchased the property in 1825. White Hall changed hands several times before it burned about 1850.

Located in Convent, District 2, St. James Parish.

St. Landry

Site of Bowie Residence

James Bowie lived here with his family from 1815 to 1824. The Bowies operated several sawmills along the bayous of St. Landry Parish. The famous Bowie Knife became a legend in Opelousas prior to his historic death at the Alamo.

Located in Opelousas, District 3, Hwy 182, St. Landry Parish.

St. Mary

Battle of Bisland

April 12-13 1863. General Nathaniel P. Bank’s Union army attacked Gen. Richard Taylor’s Confederate forces entrenched at Fort Bisland. Confederates repulsed each attack, but post evacuated when Union flanking force landed at Irish Bend.

Located near Calumet Bridge in Bisland, District 3, St. Mary Parish.

Battle of Franklin

General Richard Taylor’s 1,600-man Confederate Army fought severe delaying battle here against 4,000 Federals under Gen. Cuvier Grover April 14, 1863, before retreating toward Opelousas.

Located in Franklin, LA, Dist. 3, Hwy 90, St. Mary Parish.

Chitimacha Indians

Four miles north are the remnants of once forceful Indian tribe. Decimated by war with French, 1706-1718, Many became slaves to colonists. The Chitimacha were the finest basketweavers of time.

Located in Baldwin, LA, Dist. 3, Hwy 90, St. Mary Parish.

Fort Brashear

Also known as Fort Star. Located one Half-mile south. This Union fort was the scene of an important military engagement on June 23, 1863, resulting in the confederate capture of 700 Federal troops and immense military stores.

Located in Morgan City, District 3, Hwy 90, St. Mary Parish.

Tangipahoa

Camp Moore

One of the principal Louisiana Confederate induction centers and training camps during the War for Southern Independence. Named for Governor Thomas Overton Moore. Over 400 soldiers buried in the camp cemetery.

Located in Tangipahoa, LA, Dist. 62, Hwy 51, Parish. Tangipahoa Parish.

Mt. Vernon Walnut

This tree grew from a seed of a walnut tree at George Washington’s home at Mt. Vernon. Planted Feburary 22, 1932 by the American Legion Auxiliary and Boy Scouts of Hammond in celebration of Washington’s bicentennial. Was transplanted in this location February 22, 1938 by Hammond Garden Club.

Located in Hammond, LA, Dist. 62, Post Office Grounds, Tangipahoa Parish.

Tangipahoa

Area settled in early 1800s. New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad built station here c. 1853. One square mile town formed around it in 1866. Included part of former Confederate Camp Moore. Town named for Indian tribe.

Located in Tangipahoa, District 61, Tangipahoa Parish.

West Feliciana

Houmas Landing

Portage of the Cross. Near this site Houmas Village was visited by Henri de Tonti, 1681, by Iberville and party March 20, 1699. A chapel was built by Father Du Ru, a mission founded by Father de Limoges, 1700. As Tunica Indians took over the areas Houmas moved by 1709.

Located in Tunica, District 61, West Feliciana Parish.

St. Francisville

Site of early Houmas & Tunica Indian villages. French St. Reyne Concession, 1717; later abandoned. British & Spanish Colonial Eras, 1763-1810; Independent state of West Florida; annexed by United States 1810.

Located in St. Francisville, District 61, Parish. West Feliciana Parish.