Germantown Colony

Seven miles from Minden stood a commune of pacifists, and the town itself was a Confederate depot. Minden, founded in 1836, held an encampment of about 15,000 soldiers and served as a supply depot. At Germantown about thirty-five people owned property in common and objected to war on principle; its pacifism and the war's privations helped end the colony, which lasted as a commune until 1871. Its leader, the widowed Countess Leon, died in 1881.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Germantown Colony Museum — 6.2 mi
  Two hewn-log buildings from an 1836 religious commune near Minden, the earliest of its kind in Louisiana, with a museum added in 1975.
• Lake Bistineau State Park — 14 mi
  A 903-acre state park on a lake the Great Raft made, opened in 1946 with a separate section for Black visitors from 1956, and now known for cypress water and a lake that is drawn down.

More markers nearby

• Academy Park — 0.2 mi
• Germantown Colony And Museum — 6.1 mi
• Ma Canfield's Cafe — 14 mi
• Bellevue Cemetery — 15 mi