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Natchitoches, Louisiana, holds the distinction of being the oldest permanent
settlement in the Louisiana Purchase because the fledgling French colony
in Mobile, Alabama, desperately needed to trade with the Spanish to their west.
Louis Juchereau de St. Denis led a party from Dauphin Island up the Mississippi River
to the Red River, and ascended to the village of the Caddo tribe of the Natchitoches
in 1714. There they build an outpost that evolved into Ft. St Jean Baptiste,
which is now a tourist attraction in the form of a reconstructed French
fort run by the state of Louisiana.
The home of Northwestern State University and the Cane River Creole
National Historical Park, the area is approaching its' 300 birthday in 2014.
The town is famous to many as the set of the movie Steel Magnolias
and has been named one of the top 100 places to retire in America.
from Mayor Wayne McCullen
TOP TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT NATCHITOCHES
1. How do you say
2. Who is the founder
Why did Congress
9. How did Northwestern
State University begin?