The Bishop Martin house, which sits across from the church and
a block from the courthouse, was built in the 1850s.
A long, long time ago, when people in Louisiana still spoke French and "les
américains " were safely occupied fighting the natives in the foothills of the
Appalachians, the city of Natchitoches was founded by Louis Juchereau de
St. Denis.

St. Denis's  town, first platted in 1714, served as a trading post with Spanish
Mexico along the Camino Real, the original Spanish colonial road. With its
location right on the Red River and at the base of the great Red River Raft (a
log jam that effectively dammed the river, which created a large basin
suitable for river traffic), the town quickly developed into a thriving farming
center.  

Along the Red River surrounding Natchitoches, French men and women -
many born in New Orleans - traversed the swampy hinterlands of northern
Louisiana to build cotton and tobacco plantations, manned by slaves from
the Caribbean. In this prosperous yet isolated environment, a unique
blending of  African-Caribbean, French, and Spanish cultures gave the area a
distinctive flair - what we now simply call "Creole," meaning "created."

The use of the term "creole"  came into widespread use after the Louisiana
Purchase of 1803. The original settlers of the area wanted to distinguish
between themselves and the Americans who were coming to settle in their
new territory and bringing their industrious and business-oriented English
habits with them.

Those habits almost became a death knell for Natchitoches. The Americans
wanted to clear the Red River Raft to make the river navigable all the way
into Arkansas Territory. Captain Henry Shreve of the Army Corps of
Engineers was given this task, and the first of many clearings was
completed by 1839. Gradually, the loss of this natural dam forced the river to
shift its course, and in a matter of years, Natchitoches found  itself on the
banks of an isolated oxbow lake. The river had moved to the east.

Ever resourceful, the citizens and the corps created dams at both ends of
the lake to link with the Red River. Today, the Cane River Lake, which follows
the old ancient path of the Red River, runs through Natchitoches's
picturesque downtown.

Natchitoches continued to thrive well past the Civil War. In 1884, the
Northwestern State University was founded to train teachers. Today, this
university is a cultural resource center for the Creole heritage.

With all its history, Natchitoches has become a true  multi-cultural town. And
a major tourist attraction, too. The Cane River Creole National Heritage Area
is just south of the city, and the original town of  Natchitoches itself is a
national historic district. French architectural influence is evident on Front
Street, which faces Cane River, and houses from different periods and
ethnicities - French colonial, African - Creole,  antebellum American,
Victorian, Arts and Crafts, Prairie style - give the town core an intimate
feeling.

Natchitoches is worth an extended exploration!
Natchitoches:
Pronounced Naka-dish
Whenever you visit a town, always try to get away from the Main
Street - it pays off to wander. I found this brick building, with iron
shutter doors and French iron work along a side street off of Front
Street. I don't know much about the building, but it  definitely stood
out as vintage Natchitoches architecture.
Natchitoches street scene
If Front Street looks familiar, that's because the ultimate
chick-flick, Steel Magnolias, was filmed in Natchitoches. The
author of the book and play lives in a restored Creole
plantation house along the Cane River Lake.
An interior door at a sharecropper's house
(formerly a cabin occupied by slaves) at the
Oakland Plantation, an 1830s Creole
Plantation operated by the National Park
Service.
Natchitoches is about an hour south of
Shreveport on Louisiana State Highway 1, or
US Interstate 49. It also sits directly on the
Camino Real, the ancient Spanish Colonial
Road, which parallels LA 6.