The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana uses Koasati for its ancestors, its language and its ways. The Koasati lived on islands in the Tennessee River when de Soto reached them in the 1500s, and by 1700 had moved south to Alabama and joined the Creek Confederacy. About half of those who remained followed Mikko Red Shoes west to Spanish Louisiana in 1797. By the 1880s about 300 had settled along Bayou Blue in Allen Parish, and the tribe used the Homestead Act of 1862 to claim land there. Federal support was withheld in 1953; Louisiana recognized the tribe in 1972, and the United States re-recognized it on June 27, 1973.
Koasati is still the community's first language, and the tribe runs summer camps, immersion classes and an immersion preschool. The tribe is known for coiled longleaf pine-needle baskets. Edna Lorena Abbott Langley, who spoke Koasati, was inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Master Folk Artists in 1993. The tribe has about 1,000 members.
Its public gatherings are held at Coushatta Casino Resort, 777 Coushatta Drive, five miles north of Kinder on U.S. 165. The Coushatta Powwow, in its 29th year in June 2026, opens with a Grand Entry of dancers in regalia and is described as family-friendly; spectators are asked to speak softly, dress modestly, ask before photographing dancers in regalia and bring no pets, alcohol, drugs or firearms. Koasati Heritage Day, held each November in the resort's conference center, is free and offers basket weaving, beadwork, a stickball demonstration, storytelling in Koasati, chawahka corn soup and fry bread.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour