Vernon Parish Founders

Vernon Parish was created on March 30, 1871, in the Reconstruction years, from parts of Natchitoches, Rapides and Sabine parishes. The official account says the name honors Washington's Mount Vernon; local stories offer a racehorse, a teacher known as Mr. Vernon and a mule. Before that, the area's timber and cotton plantations had been worked by enslaved people. The seat, Leesville, rose on land Dr. Edmund Smart gave from his plantation and was incorporated on February 15, 1900, with a courthouse already standing, ten general stores and seven doctors.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kisatchie National Forest: Longleaf Vista — 28 mi
  A free ridge-top overlook and 1.5-mile loop above the 8,700-acre Kisatchie Hills Wilderness on the Longleaf Trail Scenic Byway, in the forest Caroline Dormon helped win in 1930.

More markers nearby

• Vernon Parish Courthouse — steps away
• Great Louisiana Maneuvers — steps away
• The Nona Mills Lumber Company — 0.3 mi
• Life Along The Sabine River — 0.4 mi