Calvary Baptist Church

Joseph Willis, the preacher behind this congregation, began life enslaved. Family histories say he was born in North Carolina to an English planter, Agerton Willis, and an enslaved Cherokee woman. His father's will freed him, but relatives would not honor it, and two cousins, John and Daniel Willis, later petitioned for his freedom. Those accounts also place him among Francis Marion's men in the Revolution. He crossed the Mississippi around the time of the Louisiana Purchase and built a congregation at Opelousas. Historians note that much of this rests on family tradition, including a self-published family history.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Prairie Acadian Cultural Center — 23 mi
  A National Park Service center in Eunice on the Cajun prairie, with exhibits on the Acadians who settled the prairies, a Courir de Mardi Gras display, free music and cooking demonstrations, and the shuttered Liberty Theatre nearby.
• Le Vieux Village and the Venus House — 26 mi
  A heritage park in Opelousas built around the Venus House of about 1791, the home of a free Creole woman of color, Marie Francois Venus, with an old schoolhouse, Methodist church and the visitor center's zydeco music exhibit.
• Tunica-Biloxi Museum — 27 mi
  The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana's own museum at Marksville, built around the Tunica Treasure that the tribe won back in court.
• Avoyelles Parish Courthouse: Solomon Northup Marker — 28 mi
  The Marksville courthouse where Solomon Northup was freed in January 1853, with a marker and a 2026 bronze that shows him rising from the mud.

More markers nearby

• Evangeline Bank & Trust Company — 9.6 mi
• Ville Platte — 9.6 mi
• Rays Ferry 1816 — 12 mi
• Fred's Lounge — 13 mi