Bilbo Cemetery

The best-known grave here belongs to the man the city calls its father. John Jacob Ryan Jr. dominated the lumber trade until Daniel Goos arrived in 1855. Wikipedia's history of Lake Charles adds that he persuaded the state to move the parish seat from Marion to Lake Charles, and then moved the courthouse and jail by barge. The ground was crowded with earlier claims, an Atakapa-Ishak village first and a U.S. Army post after 1829.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mardi Gras Museum of Imperial Calcasieu — 1.2 mi
  A 6,000-square-foot museum of southwest Louisiana Carnival with about 275 costume mannequins and 14 animated figures, opened in April 2026.
• Imperial Calcasieu Museum — 1.5 mi
  Lake Charles's history museum, founded by the Junior League in 1963, with parish artifacts, Claire Chennault's uniform and the Sallier Oak.
• Sam Houston Jones State Park — 4.9 mi
  A 1,087-acre park on the West Fork of the Calcasieu with longleaf pine, cypress-tupelo swamp, five trails, cabins and kayak rentals.
• Creole Nature Trail Adventure Point — 9.4 mi
  A free visitor center at the western gateway of Louisiana's only All-American Road, with exhibits on alligators, migrating songbirds and the estuary.

More markers nearby

• Cantonment Atkinson — steps away
• Homer L. Wise — steps away
• John R. Kane — steps away
• Leroy Johnson — steps away