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Scenic Highways and Byways of North Caddo and Bossier Parishes
1 day
A step-on guide takes you on this fascinating tour of rural communities in Caddo and Bossier parishes. Traveling north on Highway 1, you'll find the community of Mooringsport, home to the Mooringsport Mini Museum, cemetery marker of Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, Belle of the Bluff, and the Historic Caddo Lake Drawbridge that overlooks the cypress trees of oil rig-filled Caddo Lake. The world's first offshore oil well pumped for oil out on Caddo Lake.
Experience the Louisiana State Oil & Gas Museum in Oil City. Here you will see displays of tent cities created in the wake of the oil boom, Caddo Indian artifacts, and artists’ works depicting Oil City’s glory days. As you continue north on Highway 1, you will visit Vivian, a community rich in antiques.
Continue your journey for a little siesta under the largest dogwood tree in the South, located in Rodessa. Then visit a quaint country store in the town of Ida. Complete your trip back to the big city by traveling down the Red River Levee Road and view the cotton fields, cotton gins, pecan orchards and much more.
Or, take the road less traveled – Highway 2. You'll find a place where life still moves at a slower pace, where folks still wave and where the area's own colorful history is celebrated at seemingly every turn in museums that are dotted across the rolling hills on and around the byway.
In rural Bossier Parish, tour Benton on the Square – the most charming village of yesteryear. The village has an old school house, dog trot house, blacksmith building and rare furnishings.