A village in Avoyelles Parish that thrived from 1830-1881. By Jerry LaFleur.
Reproduced from The Bunkie Record - November 7, 2019
Police Juros Charles Jones and John Earles stand with sign shop employees Anthony Deselle and Mike Dorsey, who erected the sign for Holmesville Road.
‘Holmesville’ returns to Avoyelles Parish map - By Raymond L. Daye, Editor
Holmesville was the first named community in southwest Avoyelles when the Holmesville Post Office opened in 1837. The community basically ceased to exist when the Post Office moved to Eola in 1881.
Now, 182 years since it began, the Holmesville name is once again part of the south Avoyelles landscape and map.
The Avoyelles Police Jury recently erected a sign designating the former Oilfield Road as Holmesville Road. The Police Jury formally changed the name of the road last October.
Bunkie resident and historian Jerry LaFleur said the former name had been outdated for over 50 years, ever since the oilfield in that area ceased operation. LaFleur said the Holmesville Post Office was the third in the parish. Its second post master, Fabius Ricord, later served as sheriff.
Now, 182 years since it began, the Holmesville name is once again part of the south Avoyelles landscape and map.
The Avoyelles Police Jury recently erected a sign designating the former Oilfield Road as Holmesville Road. The Police Jury formally changed the name of the road last October.
Bunkie resident and historian Jerry LaFleur said the former name had been outdated for over 50 years, ever since the oilfield in that area ceased operation. LaFleur said the Holmesville Post Office was the third in the parish. Its second post master, Fabius Ricord, later served as sheriff.
Holmesville History
LaFleur noted that the history of Holmesville includes several interesting incidents. “In 1845, 147 slaves departed Holmesville for Tuckapaw in St. Mary’s Parish as caterpillars almost totally destroyed the cotton crop throughout the region and there was little to be done, as noted in Solomon Northup’s book, 12 Years a Slave,” LaFleur said. Northup was a slave of Edwin Epps who lived about four miles upstream on Bayou Boeuf from Holmesville.
“In April 1804, 20,000 Union soldiers marched on the road through Holmesville during the Red River Campaign, from New Orleans to Bayou Teche to Washington, along Bayou Boeuf to Holmesville, Alexandria and Shreveport,” LaFleur said.
He said Gold Dust resident Teresa Milburn wrote in her diary of May 3, 1864 that she was visiting in Holmesville. While sitting on the back steps, she heard “the booming of cannons in the direction of Alexandria. It was very distinct: I counted a dozen. It is reported the Yankees are burning everything on their retreat, driving the women and children out of their houses.”
One of Holmesville’s distinguished residents was Dr. Christian David Owens who moved from St. Louis, Mo. to Holmesville in 1877 and became known as one of the state’s best surgeons. He married Alice Winn, the daughter of another leading physician, Dr. William Winn, in 1878. She died in 1879. Owens was elected president of the Louisiana State Medical Society in 1888.
“On May 30, 1881, Daniel B. Hudson became the last postmaster at Holmesville and the first postmaster at Eola when the post office was moved to be near the newly constructed Morgan’s Louisiana &Texas Railroad.” LaFleur noted. Hudson was also a member of the Louisiana Legislature, serving from 1884-1888 and then again from 1896-1900, he added.
“In April 1804, 20,000 Union soldiers marched on the road through Holmesville during the Red River Campaign, from New Orleans to Bayou Teche to Washington, along Bayou Boeuf to Holmesville, Alexandria and Shreveport,” LaFleur said.
He said Gold Dust resident Teresa Milburn wrote in her diary of May 3, 1864 that she was visiting in Holmesville. While sitting on the back steps, she heard “the booming of cannons in the direction of Alexandria. It was very distinct: I counted a dozen. It is reported the Yankees are burning everything on their retreat, driving the women and children out of their houses.”
One of Holmesville’s distinguished residents was Dr. Christian David Owens who moved from St. Louis, Mo. to Holmesville in 1877 and became known as one of the state’s best surgeons. He married Alice Winn, the daughter of another leading physician, Dr. William Winn, in 1878. She died in 1879. Owens was elected president of the Louisiana State Medical Society in 1888.
“On May 30, 1881, Daniel B. Hudson became the last postmaster at Holmesville and the first postmaster at Eola when the post office was moved to be near the newly constructed Morgan’s Louisiana &Texas Railroad.” LaFleur noted. Hudson was also a member of the Louisiana Legislature, serving from 1884-1888 and then again from 1896-1900, he added.
Changed By Railroad
“Railroads nearly always make a radical change in a community,” LaFleur said. “When the Southern Pacific went through this section of Avoyelles Parish near Eola in 1881`, Holmesvillle was left a mile from the railroad. Soon all of its inhabitants moved closer to the railroad, and this began Eola.
A community’s history is also about individual tragedies. On September 3, 1881, it was reported that James Clark, a foreman on the Morgan railroad, fell off a handcar between Washington and Holmesville and was killed. When the overcrowded handcar hit a cattle-gap, Clark fell off and was run over by the car. Clark was from Maine.
On Sept. 24, 1881, the Marksville Bulletin reported that a man who had been hunting stopped by the J. W. Muse & Co. store in Holmesville. When he set his shotgun down “the hammer came in contact with the floor and it discharged, the contents lodged under his chin. There were 15 buck-shots which took effect, breaking his neck and nearly blowing his head off. He was a good man and enjoyed a good reputation among his race.”
Oil production in the area began in 1939 with the “Discovery well,” which was drilled on the site of the former Holmesville community. The Sid Richardson Oil Company and Amerada Petroleum Corporation built housing camps along Bayou Bouef at both ends of Holmesville Road in 1939-1940, LaFleur said.
A community’s history is also about individual tragedies. On September 3, 1881, it was reported that James Clark, a foreman on the Morgan railroad, fell off a handcar between Washington and Holmesville and was killed. When the overcrowded handcar hit a cattle-gap, Clark fell off and was run over by the car. Clark was from Maine.
On Sept. 24, 1881, the Marksville Bulletin reported that a man who had been hunting stopped by the J. W. Muse & Co. store in Holmesville. When he set his shotgun down “the hammer came in contact with the floor and it discharged, the contents lodged under his chin. There were 15 buck-shots which took effect, breaking his neck and nearly blowing his head off. He was a good man and enjoyed a good reputation among his race.”
Oil production in the area began in 1939 with the “Discovery well,” which was drilled on the site of the former Holmesville community. The Sid Richardson Oil Company and Amerada Petroleum Corporation built housing camps along Bayou Bouef at both ends of Holmesville Road in 1939-1940, LaFleur said.
Grew Up There
LaFleur is familiar with the Holmesville area because he grew up there. “We lived where Bayou Watermelon and Bayou Boeuf meet – in a 100-year-old unpainted cypress wood house built by Patrick Glaze in 1834,” he said. The house was located behind eight giant cedar trees facing Bayou Boeuf and right in the middle of a 20-acre tract his father farmed. Directly in front of our large unpainted home, Bayou Boeuf had a large increase in its width,” he said. “This was the location of the place where the last major turnaround point existed for large boats that navigated Bayou Boeuf to Bayou Courtableau.”
He learned the name “Holmesville” from Sally Sheppard Keller, an elderly neighbor he would talk to when they were both fishing on the bayou. “Sally often mentioned the name Holmesville, and said that was the name of the old village that used to exist at the very place where we were fishing.” LaFleur said. “Thus, the name ‘Holmesville’ became forever stuck in my memory.”
LaFleur said his “hat is off to the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury” for returning the name Holmesville to current use. “The name provides great relevance and geographical clarity to the history of this immediate area” he said. “This is the meaning of ‘Holmesville Road.” For more information about Holmesville, visit LaFleur’s website, HolmesvilleLa.com.
He learned the name “Holmesville” from Sally Sheppard Keller, an elderly neighbor he would talk to when they were both fishing on the bayou. “Sally often mentioned the name Holmesville, and said that was the name of the old village that used to exist at the very place where we were fishing.” LaFleur said. “Thus, the name ‘Holmesville’ became forever stuck in my memory.”
LaFleur said his “hat is off to the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury” for returning the name Holmesville to current use. “The name provides great relevance and geographical clarity to the history of this immediate area” he said. “This is the meaning of ‘Holmesville Road.” For more information about Holmesville, visit LaFleur’s website, HolmesvilleLa.com.
End of article: ‘Holmesville’ returns to Avoyelles Parish map - By Raymond L. Daye, Editor
Holmesville Road
Photo taken by Gerard Moreau – Nov. 7, 2019
Holmesville Road extends for approximately seven/tenths of a mile along Bayou Boeuf and connects with both Louisiana Highways 29 and 1176 (above) in Southwestern Avoyelles Parish. This road was the center of Holmesville village from 1837 to 1881. The bridge over Bayou Boeuf is just beyond the sign above, while Watermelon Bayou is about 300 ft. directly to its right. The village of Holmesville covered a radius of approximately 3 miles in each direction from the Eola Crossroad where Highways 29 and 1176 meet – approximately one - half mile beyond the Holmesville Road sign above. Directly to the right of the green lawn and fence on the lower right in the photo is where the Watermelon Bayou flows into Bayou Boeuf. On the left side of Hwy. 1176, above, was the location of the Sid Richardson housing camp, as well as the site of the discovery oil well in 1939. On the immediate right side of the road is where the Sid Richardson warehouse was located during the years of oil production activity, while at the other end of the road is where the Amerada Petroleum Corporation was located. Around this time, the road was named “Oilfield Road”.
Two of the last remaining buildings from the Holmesville era are immediately to the right of the bridge across Bayou Boeuf above – a home (where my family lived from 1950 - 1981) and a church that is experiencing its final years.
Two of the last remaining buildings from the Holmesville era are immediately to the right of the bridge across Bayou Boeuf above – a home (where my family lived from 1950 - 1981) and a church that is experiencing its final years.
Remembering "Oilfield Road"
On January 16, 1939, oil production began in Eola with the first successful drilling across Bayou Boeuf from where my great grandmother, "Momo" Kelley lived on Hwy. 1176. This location was also just a few hundred feet from where we lived on Oilfield Road – a road that eventually became the geographical center of the Eola Oil Field. In less than half a year, there were oil derricks and drilling rigs all around our old house – some located in the center of Bayou Boeuf in front of our house; in my dad's sugarcane field and in the woods behind our home. Three oil rigs, strategically positioned over Bayou Boeuf by Louisiana state authorities – two of which were on Oilfield Road - demonstrated their eagerness for extra state funds. As only one well was allowed on every twenty acres of land, the rigs were placed to cover ten acres of land within the average mean Bayou Boeuf water boundaries in each direction. Since Bayou Boeuf was once a navigable stream, royalties from these wells went to the state of Louisiana.
Individual steam-powered rigs hammered the forty-to fifty-foot creosote logs into the ground. These logs supported the platform for the heavy machinery that drilled wells to depths that averaged 8,000 feet. The huge weighted hammers continually produced a constant sound for quite a distance. All this took place at two locations less than 300 feet from our home. From our front porch, one could easily observe the drilling process. One derrick location was positioned in the center of Bayou Boeuf, to the right-front of our house, while the other was for the construction of a new wooden bridge over the Watermelon Bayou, to the left-front of our home on Oilfield Road. Jimmy, Kelley, and I often sat on our front porch and watched the oil drilling process for hours and hours, especially at night, because the large bright electric light bulbs significantly increased the uniqueness of the scene.
The ten Marchive producing wells were located behind their large home on Oil Field Road in the nearby forest and next to the Keller property. It was on the Marchive land that the Amerada Petroleum Corporation built their camp and warehouse. My older brother Jim remembers that there was a large party hosted by the Marchive family, and everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the momentous event. There were people everywhere—and the bright flares from the excess gases added excitement to the evening. As I recall, these flares produced a faint sulfur smell from tubing extending between 30 to 40' feet in height; these giant gas flares produced a powerful and distinctive hissing sound.
The discovery of oil opened the area to abrupt changes. It was, I guess, like building an overnight military base. There were big trucks with big wheels; there were large drilling machines with diesel engines; homes were being constructed overnight for the employees at the Amerada and Sid Richardson Camps – at both ends of Oilfield Road. There were board roads built to support the heavy machinery in the winter months. There were ditches dug anywhere and everywhere to lay pipelines both below the ground, and more often, above the ground. The Townsend Brothers Construction Company supported the Amerada Petroleum Company in supplying hundreds of workers to perform every job conceivable towards the primary goal of producing oil. Both the newly constructed Anchor Gasoline pumping station, next to the Eola Post Office, and The Columbia Carbon Company employed many workers, along with erecting several homes for its employees located next to LA. Hwy 1176. These were bustling times and they were successful for many years – and, as well, exciting days in Eola, Bunkie, and Avoyelles Parish.
Additionally, large earth pits were dug to collect the used drilling mud and oil sludge that usually burned. The burning fuel created huge black smoke clouds. Such pits were at every oil well location. The bright electric lights, illuminating from the very large light bulbs that were attached to the 90 to 100-foot oil derricks, from the bottom to top, drew our earliest attention. At night, in the flatlands of southwestern Avoyelles Parish, everyone could see the locations of the drilling activities in Eola. The glare from the derrick lights, the gas flares, the black smoke clouds and the constant noise from the diesel motors for the drilling of the 8000 plus depths wells and pumping of the oil out are among my earliest memories of living in our old house at the place where the Watermelon Bayou flows into Bayou Boeuf.
Individual steam-powered rigs hammered the forty-to fifty-foot creosote logs into the ground. These logs supported the platform for the heavy machinery that drilled wells to depths that averaged 8,000 feet. The huge weighted hammers continually produced a constant sound for quite a distance. All this took place at two locations less than 300 feet from our home. From our front porch, one could easily observe the drilling process. One derrick location was positioned in the center of Bayou Boeuf, to the right-front of our house, while the other was for the construction of a new wooden bridge over the Watermelon Bayou, to the left-front of our home on Oilfield Road. Jimmy, Kelley, and I often sat on our front porch and watched the oil drilling process for hours and hours, especially at night, because the large bright electric light bulbs significantly increased the uniqueness of the scene.
The ten Marchive producing wells were located behind their large home on Oil Field Road in the nearby forest and next to the Keller property. It was on the Marchive land that the Amerada Petroleum Corporation built their camp and warehouse. My older brother Jim remembers that there was a large party hosted by the Marchive family, and everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the momentous event. There were people everywhere—and the bright flares from the excess gases added excitement to the evening. As I recall, these flares produced a faint sulfur smell from tubing extending between 30 to 40' feet in height; these giant gas flares produced a powerful and distinctive hissing sound.
The discovery of oil opened the area to abrupt changes. It was, I guess, like building an overnight military base. There were big trucks with big wheels; there were large drilling machines with diesel engines; homes were being constructed overnight for the employees at the Amerada and Sid Richardson Camps – at both ends of Oilfield Road. There were board roads built to support the heavy machinery in the winter months. There were ditches dug anywhere and everywhere to lay pipelines both below the ground, and more often, above the ground. The Townsend Brothers Construction Company supported the Amerada Petroleum Company in supplying hundreds of workers to perform every job conceivable towards the primary goal of producing oil. Both the newly constructed Anchor Gasoline pumping station, next to the Eola Post Office, and The Columbia Carbon Company employed many workers, along with erecting several homes for its employees located next to LA. Hwy 1176. These were bustling times and they were successful for many years – and, as well, exciting days in Eola, Bunkie, and Avoyelles Parish.
Additionally, large earth pits were dug to collect the used drilling mud and oil sludge that usually burned. The burning fuel created huge black smoke clouds. Such pits were at every oil well location. The bright electric lights, illuminating from the very large light bulbs that were attached to the 90 to 100-foot oil derricks, from the bottom to top, drew our earliest attention. At night, in the flatlands of southwestern Avoyelles Parish, everyone could see the locations of the drilling activities in Eola. The glare from the derrick lights, the gas flares, the black smoke clouds and the constant noise from the diesel motors for the drilling of the 8000 plus depths wells and pumping of the oil out are among my earliest memories of living in our old house at the place where the Watermelon Bayou flows into Bayou Boeuf.
The early days of Eola oil activity is taken from my Dad’s “Recollections” that he wrote in 1972:
Producing wells in the Eola Field - 1941
During the period from 1939 -1941, there were 106 producing oil wells in Eola. A 1946 publication of The Louisiana State Mineral Records indicate that the total allowable production of the Eola Field was 10,043 barrels daily in 1941. This equated to an average of 94.7 barrels of oil from each well on a daily basis.
The Haas Investment Company well # 14 was the last that was drilled in the Eola area in 1941. Drilling resumed in 1947 and only a small number were successful in discovering new oil locations. At the present time (2020) there are about three well locations that are still producing oil. The most recognizable and controversial well still producing is State Bayou Boeuf # 3 that was drilled in 1939 in the center of Bayou Boeuf near the Marchive home on Oilfield Road.
The Eola Post Office closed in 1979 (98 years after it was established at the Hudson Store in 1881). About the same time, the Anchor Gasoline Corporation closed due to the depletion of the oil industry in Eola and the surrounding area.
The Holmesville Road sign marks the East end of the prior “Oilfield Road” and was the place of the “Sid Richardson school bus stop” where Vollmer and Orvil Harris, Larry Wiltze, Diane Jones, Eddie and Georgeann Grimshaw, Peggy Belcher, Mike Young, my three brothers, Jimmy, Kelley, Danny LaFleur and myself, boarded the school buses that were driven by Sam Cerami and later by Frederick Roy from 1939 to 1955 for the trip to/from Bunkie High School.
Prior to the Sid Richardson bus stop, there was the “Amerada bus stop” at the West end of Oilfield Road where Darris Beard, Eunice Fay Haught, Len and Madge Brown, Butch Dye, Marvin and Mildred Pettijohn, Jesse and Jim Baker, Patty and Sharon Richardson and Genevive White boarded the bus.
A short distance later, Marjorie Marchive and her sisters, Cecilia and Martha boarded the bus. (When the water was high in Bayou Boeuf, in the front of our home, my three brothers and I would board the bus at the Sid Richardson stop.).
In total, 21 of the 28 students that boarded the school bus on Oil Field Road and the Sid Richardson bus stop were from families that moved into the Eola area as a result of the oil boom.
With the exception of State Bayou Boeuf #3 on Holmesville Road, little remains of Oilfield Road. The land has long since gone back to what it was before the boom – farmlands, fishing, hunting, and tourism – mostly because of the interest in the Solomon Northup story that occurred at the Epps plantation near Holmesville.
As noted in the Bunkie Record at the beginning of this presentation, “my hat is indeed off to the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury” for resurrecting and recognizing the name Holmesville as to its exact placement, background and history. The name provides great relevance and geographical clarity to the history of this immediate area. It all comes down to the place where these events occurred: Holmesville – thus the name: Holmesville Road.
- Total barrels produced monthly: 293,710
- Total barrels produced annually: 3,524,244. (Pls. note that these are 1941 totals).
The Haas Investment Company well # 14 was the last that was drilled in the Eola area in 1941. Drilling resumed in 1947 and only a small number were successful in discovering new oil locations. At the present time (2020) there are about three well locations that are still producing oil. The most recognizable and controversial well still producing is State Bayou Boeuf # 3 that was drilled in 1939 in the center of Bayou Boeuf near the Marchive home on Oilfield Road.
The Eola Post Office closed in 1979 (98 years after it was established at the Hudson Store in 1881). About the same time, the Anchor Gasoline Corporation closed due to the depletion of the oil industry in Eola and the surrounding area.
The Holmesville Road sign marks the East end of the prior “Oilfield Road” and was the place of the “Sid Richardson school bus stop” where Vollmer and Orvil Harris, Larry Wiltze, Diane Jones, Eddie and Georgeann Grimshaw, Peggy Belcher, Mike Young, my three brothers, Jimmy, Kelley, Danny LaFleur and myself, boarded the school buses that were driven by Sam Cerami and later by Frederick Roy from 1939 to 1955 for the trip to/from Bunkie High School.
Prior to the Sid Richardson bus stop, there was the “Amerada bus stop” at the West end of Oilfield Road where Darris Beard, Eunice Fay Haught, Len and Madge Brown, Butch Dye, Marvin and Mildred Pettijohn, Jesse and Jim Baker, Patty and Sharon Richardson and Genevive White boarded the bus.
A short distance later, Marjorie Marchive and her sisters, Cecilia and Martha boarded the bus. (When the water was high in Bayou Boeuf, in the front of our home, my three brothers and I would board the bus at the Sid Richardson stop.).
In total, 21 of the 28 students that boarded the school bus on Oil Field Road and the Sid Richardson bus stop were from families that moved into the Eola area as a result of the oil boom.
With the exception of State Bayou Boeuf #3 on Holmesville Road, little remains of Oilfield Road. The land has long since gone back to what it was before the boom – farmlands, fishing, hunting, and tourism – mostly because of the interest in the Solomon Northup story that occurred at the Epps plantation near Holmesville.
As noted in the Bunkie Record at the beginning of this presentation, “my hat is indeed off to the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury” for resurrecting and recognizing the name Holmesville as to its exact placement, background and history. The name provides great relevance and geographical clarity to the history of this immediate area. It all comes down to the place where these events occurred: Holmesville – thus the name: Holmesville Road.
Holmesville, Louisiana - Location (Google Maps)
Map with the Geographical locations of Holmesville, Eola, Bunkie, & the home sites of Edwin Epps and Rezin Bowie along Bayou Boeuf
This website is about the Holmesville era that existed from 1830 to 1881
Several old maps are included as are some photos of a few old homes that were demolished due to decay and neglect. Holmesville thrived as small village in the Southwestern corner of Avoyelles Parish from 1830 – 1881. It was located in the general area where the Watermelon Bayou flows into Bayou Boeuf. Prior to 1830 the area was known as “Bayou Boeuf Village”, or simply “Bayou Boeuf”. It extended three to four miles from Holmesville and included the Edwin Epps home site, along with the Rezin Bowie home site that was near the Rapides Parish Line to the East, and to the Windes Plantation in the West. In 1881, when the Louisiana and Texas Railroad by-passed Holmesville, one mile to the north, a new village, Eola, was established to be near the railroad. Subsequently, when the Holmesville Post Office was re-located to Eola (also in 1881), Holmesville gradually ceased to exist. Holmesville reached its zenith in the several years preceding the Civil War. There were several plantations, steamboat transportation, two or three physicians and several stores as well as saloons.
The sources of information for this website are taken from the Marksville Villager Newspaper (Randy DeCuir); The History of Avoyelles Parish by Corinne Saucier that was published in 1943; and from the early Avoyelles Parish Police Jury Papers. Also the Post Office Department, Office of the Topographer, provided some information, particularly regarding the early Postmasters of Holmesville. L. F. Marchive, former Postmaster, Bunkie, LA., for obtaining information from the Post Office Department, Office of the Topographer, regarding the dates of closings and re-openings of the Holmesville Post Office - including the name change to Eola on Nov. 14, 1881. An outstanding and invaluable source of information was Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, as superbly edited, researched and published by LSU professor Dr. Sue Eakin and historian Joseph Logsdon, a professor at the University of New Orleans. Additionally, The Windes of Bayou Chicot and Holmesville, Louisiana (George Windes). "Recollections”, by the authors father, Edwin G. LaFleur, was an excellent source of factual information. Biographical and Historical Memories of Northwest Louisiana, p. 637 - History of Avoyelles Parish; Our Hudson Heritage, p.102 - Compiled by Lonita Ayers Stamps and Weldon Isaac Hudson; Indexed by Ray Hudson.1980. Avoyelles Abstracts and Land Company, and the Amerada Oil Company Abstracts (1939). Papers and photos from the collection of Gladys Sandefer regarding the Bayou Boeuf barge named Little Store, LA, and for the ”Louisiana Cemeteries" photo of the Fogleman Cemetery. “The Lord and Fogleman Families” by Clyde W. Lord. Chapter 2. page 27. Theresa Milburn, for her Diary, “Scribbling”, that she wrote from August 1863 to May 1865. The Old Evergreen Burying Ground by Porter & Barbra Wright. Arthur W. Hyatt Papers, Mss. 180, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Stuart Salling, Louisiana Civil War historian, (Burges’ Plantation/Civil War). Germain Bienvenu, LSU Libraries, Public Services, Special Collections. Garland Forman, Editor, Bunkie Record, for his excellent response in printing articles sent to the Bunkie Record.
Taken together, these documents provide some information about the general Holmesville area, a small village that has for all practical purposes completely disappeared. For myself, I have always been interested in places of birth of everyday people and the history of those places. That is my underlying interest in having this website. I just believe that no place should ever be forgotten. My birthplace, in Holmesville, (now Eola) was at an old house located at the place where the Watermelon Bayou flows into Bayou Boeuf. This website is primarily about Holmesville as it was from its beginnings in the early 1800’s to 1881. In 1881, when a new railroad was built a mile east of Holmesville, some of the populace, along with the Post Office, moved to this new village, named Eola. Thus, the name Holmesville phased out while Eola phased in.
The sources of information for this website are taken from the Marksville Villager Newspaper (Randy DeCuir); The History of Avoyelles Parish by Corinne Saucier that was published in 1943; and from the early Avoyelles Parish Police Jury Papers. Also the Post Office Department, Office of the Topographer, provided some information, particularly regarding the early Postmasters of Holmesville. L. F. Marchive, former Postmaster, Bunkie, LA., for obtaining information from the Post Office Department, Office of the Topographer, regarding the dates of closings and re-openings of the Holmesville Post Office - including the name change to Eola on Nov. 14, 1881. An outstanding and invaluable source of information was Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, as superbly edited, researched and published by LSU professor Dr. Sue Eakin and historian Joseph Logsdon, a professor at the University of New Orleans. Additionally, The Windes of Bayou Chicot and Holmesville, Louisiana (George Windes). "Recollections”, by the authors father, Edwin G. LaFleur, was an excellent source of factual information. Biographical and Historical Memories of Northwest Louisiana, p. 637 - History of Avoyelles Parish; Our Hudson Heritage, p.102 - Compiled by Lonita Ayers Stamps and Weldon Isaac Hudson; Indexed by Ray Hudson.1980. Avoyelles Abstracts and Land Company, and the Amerada Oil Company Abstracts (1939). Papers and photos from the collection of Gladys Sandefer regarding the Bayou Boeuf barge named Little Store, LA, and for the ”Louisiana Cemeteries" photo of the Fogleman Cemetery. “The Lord and Fogleman Families” by Clyde W. Lord. Chapter 2. page 27. Theresa Milburn, for her Diary, “Scribbling”, that she wrote from August 1863 to May 1865. The Old Evergreen Burying Ground by Porter & Barbra Wright. Arthur W. Hyatt Papers, Mss. 180, Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Stuart Salling, Louisiana Civil War historian, (Burges’ Plantation/Civil War). Germain Bienvenu, LSU Libraries, Public Services, Special Collections. Garland Forman, Editor, Bunkie Record, for his excellent response in printing articles sent to the Bunkie Record.
Taken together, these documents provide some information about the general Holmesville area, a small village that has for all practical purposes completely disappeared. For myself, I have always been interested in places of birth of everyday people and the history of those places. That is my underlying interest in having this website. I just believe that no place should ever be forgotten. My birthplace, in Holmesville, (now Eola) was at an old house located at the place where the Watermelon Bayou flows into Bayou Boeuf. This website is primarily about Holmesville as it was from its beginnings in the early 1800’s to 1881. In 1881, when a new railroad was built a mile east of Holmesville, some of the populace, along with the Post Office, moved to this new village, named Eola. Thus, the name Holmesville phased out while Eola phased in.
Bayou Boeuf Village, Holmesville, and Eola
Probably no other location in Avoyelles Parish has been re-named three times: "Bayou Boeuf", (1800 - 1830); "Holmesville" (1830 - 1881); and "Eola" (1881 - present), are generally one and the same place and location. As such, it's easy to understand why people are often confused when discussing the events that transpired in either "Bayou Boeuf", "Holmesville" or "Eola" when these places and locations, at different periods of time, were/are one and the same place. So, if you are looking for Holmesville today, then look on the map and find "Eola". In the four miles radius of Eola were the former locations of the Dr. Windes Plantation, at the headwaters of the Watermelon Bayou on La. Hwy 1176; the Edwin Epps’ farm/house on Bayou Boeuf and La. Hwy 1176, and the Rezin Bowie Plantation on Bayou Boeuf along the dirt road between La. Hwy 115 and Shirley Road (La. Hwy 1177).
12 Years a Slave (Movie, 2013)
The impact of the Academy Award winning movie, 12 Years a Slave, has provided abundant literary and media publicity for Louisiana, Avoyelles Parish, and particularly, Bunkie. Holmesville, the village nearest the actual place of the Solomon Northup enslavement, at the Edwin Epps home/farm from 1845-1853, is approximately four miles south of Bunkie.
I believe it is important and historically worthwhile to give the public and readers of this website a glimpse of the Holmesville that was once a bustling small village and the place that was mentioned several times in Solomon Northup's book, Twelve Years a Slave. Additionally, this website pinpoints the exact location of the Edwin Epps' farm and the place where Rezin Bowie lived on Bayou Boeuf and its proximity to the village of Holmesville.
I believe it is important and historically worthwhile to give the public and readers of this website a glimpse of the Holmesville that was once a bustling small village and the place that was mentioned several times in Solomon Northup's book, Twelve Years a Slave. Additionally, this website pinpoints the exact location of the Edwin Epps' farm and the place where Rezin Bowie lived on Bayou Boeuf and its proximity to the village of Holmesville.