Catahoula Parish, Louisiana

Catahoula Parish (French: Paroisse de Catahoula) is a parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,407. Its seat is Harrisonburg, on the Ouachita River. The parish was formed in 1808, shortly after the United States acquired this territory in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

History

Prehistory

Catahoula Parish was the home to many succeeding Native American groups in the thousands of years before European settlements began. Peoples of the Marksville culture, Troyville culture, Coles Creek culture and Plaquemine culture built villages and mound sites throughout the area. Notable examples include Peck Mounds, and the Troyville Earthworks. The Troyville Earthworks have components dating from 100 BCE to 700 CE during the Baytown to the Troyville-Coles Creek periods.

It once had the tallest mound in Louisiana at 82 feet (25 m) in height; it was the second-tallest mound in North America (after Monk's Mound at Cahokia Mounds). This mound was destroyed to make way for the Jonesville bridge over the Black River.