Unlisted Cemetery in Ouachita Parish
Russ
archives. First, some background.
I was born in 1937 in Ouachita Parish, and lived on what is now
Washington Street/Hwy 3033, in a 'tweener' area--between Seigle
Addition and Bawcomville. In the 1940s and 1950s friends and I used
to 'roam' an area adjacent to Cheniere Lake that could be reached by
leaving hwy 3033 at West Lenwil Street (now so named). [Actually, we
cut through the woods, walking.[ Back in that area, beyond where the
levee crosses W. Lenwil Street (crosses just before the lake),
ocassionally accessible by auto, mostly walk in, there were still
standing concrete structures descibed to me by my parents and others
as the "old dry kilns" from the days of logging back at the turn of
the 20th century, up to the teens and 1920s, totally abandonded by the
time I came around. This may be a walk-in only area by now.
In my day there were still "roads" or trails that were the former
railroad tracks that hauled in logs to the dry kilns. There was
another concrete skeleton--a tall structure--that was said to be the
railroads maintenance round house/station as I recall, this was closer
to Cheniere Lake, by about a half mile, than the dry kilns--and down
the hill toward the lake--and was often under water during Spring
flood season.
Now, remembered from roaming: an old (very old) graveyard. Small,
untended, probably no more than 50x50 feet with an old (iron?) fence
around it. I remember that one of the graves was surrounded by an
iron fence and was like a small crypt ... but most were simply flat
ground with unreadable markers or no markers. I never knew a name for
that graveyard. I found it fascinating that it seemed not to have
been touched, tended or ? for many years. I have recently been told
that it is likely an African-American cemetery for those who worked at
the Lenwil dry kilns, sawmill, or logging/lumber railroad. What ever
happened to those who had relatives or friends buried there, etc.?
That cemetery is found if you continued on Lenwil Road past the point
where it crosses Washington Street/Cheniere Dam Road, and would be
about one mile in, near the top of the "second" hill just after
crossing the "valley" between the hills. Required walking "in the
woods" for most of the way in. I last saw it sometime in the early to
mid 1950s.
I'm hoping someone recognizes this cemetery or knows of someone who
does and perhaps will provide records so current day descendants can
see their history.
Russ
Louisiana Genealogy Blogs
Cemeteries.com? http://www.la-cemeteries.com Mr. Gautier, the
webmaster and author, has a really lovely site (large too) and would
love to hear about your story and cemetery find. I would search for
the cemetery on his website, he offers maps to assist in finding the
cemetery - Maybe, with some luck the one you described is listed. If
not, what a wonderful find! I'm so glad that you shared this
information. Many cemeteries are not listed with USGS as they are
private or family cemeteries. Church cemetery listings are not
listed on the USGS site under 'cemeteries' BUT 'churches'. So when
you conduct a search on the USGS geonames server your cemetery may go
unfound. Old cemeteries are interesting and mysterious, but full of
untold history. I would hope that you could find the cemetery again
and take a few photos to share.
Louisiana Genealogy Blogs
Russ
Gautier for possible ideas. Not sure how to search for the cemetery
until I know the name for it, hopefully Mr. Gautier will know it.
Again, Thanks, Russ
On Feb 6, 8:23 am, Louisiana Genealogy Blogs
<louisianagenealogybl...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Have you tried searching to see if this cemetery is listed on LA-
> Cemeteries.com? http://www.la-cemeteries.comMr. Gautier, the
> > Russ- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Louisiana Genealogy Blogs
location. Thank you for the post!