Marker Logo HMdb.org THE HISTORICAL
MARKER DATABASE
“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Big Bend in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana — The American South (West South Central)
 

Big Bend: Development of a Community

 
 
Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, July 14, 2017
1. Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker
Inscription.
Big Bend is located along Louisiana State Highway 451, adjacent to Bayou des Glaises in a loop through northeastern Avoyelles Parish, between Hamburg and Moreauville. The community was settled in the 19th century by people of both French and English extraction. The economic structure of the Big Bend community was linked to Bayou des Glaises. Rich, alluvial soils along the waterway were ideal for farming, and an abundance of wildlife, in and around the bayou, supplemented food supplies between harvests. Pomme de Terre and Grassy Lake, two current state wildlife management areas, attest to the importance of wildlife around Big Bend. The dynamics of the community changed at the turn of the 20th century with the development of the railroad.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Big Bend was among the most prosperous communities in Avoyelles Parish with many thriving plantations and cotton and moss gins. Through the intercession of Senator Pierre Couvillion in 1840, Bayou des Glaises was cleared of canebrakes which made the waterway more navigable between the mouth, on the Atchafalaya at Simmesport along Hamburg, Big Bend, Kleinwood, Rexmere, Bordelonville, Borodino, Moreauville, Longbridge to the port docks on Bayou Rouge at Cottonport. Steamboats and barges transported imported goods for local farmers and exported cotton and corn for

Paid Advertisement
Click on the ad for more information.
Please report objectionable advertising to the Editor.
Click or scan to see
this page online
sale in New Orleans.

In 1896 William Edenborn, President of American Steel and Wire Co., began construction of a railroad line from Shreveport to Alexandria that was completed in May, 1902. Mr. Edenborn then organized the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Co. (LR&N) in 1903 to continue the line to New Orleans. The railroad was constructed through Mansura, Moreauville and Big Bend by 1905. The line then continued on several miles ending at Naples (depot) a bristling thriving town that was washed away in the 1927 Flood in the area known as Water Valley. In 1906, a railroad bridge was built across Bayou des Glaises and section crew was established for opening and closing the bridge. The completed line was completed from Angola to New Orleans in October, 1906.

Byron F. Lemoine built the present Adam Ponthieu Store and Big Bend Post Office after the 1927 Flood destroyed the store built circa 1900 by Thomas H. Carruth, In 1946, Adam Ponthieu purchased the old country store and relocated it a short distance to its present site on Sarto Lane.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Railroads & StreetcarsSettlements & SettlersWaterways & Vessels.
 
Location. 31° 4.423′ N, 91° 47.581′ W. Marker is in Big Bend, Louisiana, in Avoyelles Parish. Marker is on

Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, July 14, 2017
2. Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker
State Highway 451 near Iron Bridge Crossing (Sarto Lane). Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 8554 LA-451, Moreauville LA 71355, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Bayou Des Glaises (here, next to this marker); A Historic Landmark (a few steps from this marker); What is the Sarto Bridge? (a few steps from this marker); Sarto Old Iron Bridge (a few steps from this marker); a different marker also named Sarto Old Iron Bridge (a few steps from this marker); Buddy Guy (approx. 5˝ miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx. 6.2 miles away); White Hall Plantation House (approx. 6.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Big Bend.
 
Also see . . .  Louisiana 1927. Video and song about the 1927 Flood (Submitted on April 3, 2018, by Kenneth Ramagost of Unknown, Louisiana.) 
 
Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, July 14, 2017
3. Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker
Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, July 14, 2017
4. Big Bend: Development of a Community Marker
Big Bend Museum image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, July 14, 2017
5. Big Bend Museum
Big Bend Post Office/Adam Ponthieu Store Museum
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on January 26, 2024. It was originally submitted on July 16, 2017, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 887 times since then and 71 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on July 16, 2017.

Share this page.  
Share on Tumblr
m=105604

CeraNet Cloud Computing sponsors the Historical Marker Database.
This website earns income from purchases you make after using our links to Amazon.com. We appreciate your support.
Paid Advertisements
Mar. 28, 2024