Early Spanish Missions

Zwolle's Spanish roots reach back to the 1790s, when a mission church called Las Cabezas stood on Bayou Scie and the settlement was known as Vallecillo. After Spain closed the Los Adaes presidio in 1773, many soldiers and their families stayed in the region, settling near what are now Zwolle and Ebarb. Their descendants include the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, whose members trace Choctaw, Lipan Apache, Adai and Spanish ancestry. Louisiana recognized the community in 1978, and the tribe is still seeking federal recognition. A Spanish dialect from Los Adaes was spoken here into the 1970s.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• North Toledo Bend State Park — 6.2 mi
  A 900-acre park on the Louisiana shore of the 186,000-acre Toledo Bend Reservoir, with trails, disc golf and cabins, near the flooded sites of Pine Flat and other Sabine Parish communities.
• Fort Jesup State Historic Site — 14 mi
  The 1822 army post Zachary Taylor built to hold the Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Spanish Texas, with the one surviving kitchen, a reconstructed officers' quarters and a museum open Friday to Sunday.
• Red Hills Lake Recreation Area — 15 mi
  A 19-acre Sabine National Forest lake completed by the CCC in 1940 near Milam, a short drive from Toledo Bend Reservoir, with a swimming beach, fishing and camping from May through October.
• Los Adaes State Historic Site — 22 mi
  The Spanish presidio that was the capital of Texas from 1729 to 1770, some 15 miles from French Natchitoches, now an archaeological site where Native pottery is the most abundant find.

More markers nearby

• Zwolle Railroad Depot — 1.0 mi
• Pendleton Crossing — 9.7 mi
• The History of Toledo Bend — 9.8 mi
• Baldwin's Store — 9.9 mi