The state of Louisiana is full of history, and Morehouse Parish is no exception. Almost two hundred years ago, an Indian trader by the name of Francois Bonaventure settled at Point Pleasant on Bayou Bartholomew, just outside the present city limits of Bastrop.

On that day in the year 1785, the recorded history of Bastrop and Morehouse Parish began.

When the Spanish Governor started an all-out colonization effort in 1795, a Dutch nobleman, Baron de Bastrop, who was said to be fleeing the French Revolution, was given a grant of 36 square miles of land on June 21, 1796, by the Spanish crown.

This grant contained practically all of Morehouse Parish with the exceptions of the southern portion and extreme northwestern corner. The grant also obligated that Baron de Bastrop to bring in at least 500 families.

Large portions of this original grant were sold by the Baron to Abram Morehouse. Between the years of 1805 and 1813, ninety persons bought land from Abram Morehouse in tracts ranging from 30 to 10,000 acres. Morehouse Parish had been born.

Today, Morehouse Parish is home to nearly 31,000 people. Bastrop is the parish seat of Morehouse Parish and it is truly a community of new vision. As you drive through the parish, you will see flourishing crops of corn, cotton, rice, soybeans and sweet potatoes. The scenic drives are breathtaking as you wind through the oak and pine trees along the bayous and swamps filled with cypress trees and hanging Spanish moss. Wildlife is in abundance here from the ground to the sky. There is something for everyone to enjoy in Morehouse Parish.

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

Chemin A Haut State Park
14656 State Park Road
Bastrop, LA 71220
(318) 283-0812

Kalorama Nature Preserve
P. O. Box 123
Collinston, LA 71229
(318) 874-7777

Rose Theatre
102 E. Jefferson
Bastrop, LA 71220
(318) 283-0120

Village of Bonita Museum
P. O. Box 278
Bonita, LA 71223
(318) 823-2128

Snyder Museum
1620 East Madison
Bastrop, LA 71220
(318) 281-8760

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