In 1714 a group of French soldiers came up from somewhere (New Orleans hadn't been founded yet) and built a small fort to garrison as a bulwark against Spanish expansion. They called it Fort St. Jean Baptiste, and it was poised against the eastward expansion of the Spanish, just 20 miles up the road at Los Adaes. For some reason, Natchitoches "stuck" when other settlements were abandoned, giving Natchitoches the distinction of being the oldest continual settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. It's older than New Orleans, and has the distinction of being vaguely French, but not too French. It's founder was a French Canadian, from whence the Acadians, who populated south Louisiana later came.. It's a point of distinction to trace lineage back to an ancestor who garrisoned the fort as the tip of the French spear.
I went to college in Natchitoches, at Northwestern in 1973. I graduated in 1975, went into the Army, then came back in 1980 to raise my family. Natchitoches is a great place to raise a family. I left Natchitoches in 2001, for all the right reasons and moved closer to my childhood home, fifty miles south. Still, I have lots of friends and a soft spot in my heart for that little town with the strange name. I am told that they're celebrating their tri-centennial next year, and I'd like to pass along congratulations.
Happy Birthday, Natchitoches.
2 comments:
Mmmmm... Natchitoches meat pies!!
In that case, PawPaw, we may be distantly related. In my direct lineage, on my mother's side, was the Compte Des Vosgines, a French Hugenot nobleman who had to leave France about that time because he wasn't Catholic. He was wealthy, bought his own ship and arms, and sailed for the New World, landing briefly in the Delta, then continuing up the River to the confluence of the Arkansas River, where he settled briefly at what is now Watson's Chapel. Last time I was there, in 1961, the old log chapel was still standing. The Count later got word via a voyageur that the King had appointed him Military Governor of New France, and he returned down the river to set up his HQ. I don't have a good biography after that, but the family tree shows it clearly enough. If you are related to the Count, then we are cousins of some degree.
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