Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana

Natchitoches Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States, in the central part of the state
about 65 miles southeast of Shreveport. It had a population of 37,515 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 36,089 by 2025, and covers 1,299 square miles (3,364 km2) centred near 31°44′N 93°06′W.

Natchitoches is the parish seat and the parish’s only city; its postal code is 71457. The
parish holds 1 city, 1 town and 7 incorporated villages, plus a handful of census-designated
places and unincorporated communities along the Cane and Red rivers, and it runs on Central Time.
Its FIPS code is 22069.

Towns & Villages in Natchitoches Parish

Natchitoches Parish has 17 named places on record: 9 incorporated (1 city, 1 town and 7
villages) and 8 census-designated or unincorporated communities with no local government of their
own. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers historic settlements and crossroads
with no formal boundary.

Vienna Bend and Point Place both appeared as census-designated places for the first time in the
2020 count, which is why their population figures look new against the parish’s older villages.
Neither had its own place-level data before that census. The parish’s Ashland is unrelated to
the Ashland communities in Terrebonne and Tensas parishes further south and east — all three
share the name but nothing else.

ZIP Codes

• 71457 — Natchitoches (also serves 71497 and 71458, both single-purpose Natchitoches codes)
• 71411 — Campti
• 71468 — Provencal
• 71456 — Natchez
• 71031 — Goldonna
• 71414 — Clarence (PO Box delivery)
• 71002 — Ashland
• 71469 — Robeline
• 71066 — Powhatan (PO Box delivery)
• 71450 — Marthaville
• 71416 — Cloutierville
• 71452 — Melrose

Vienna Bend, Point Place, Grand Ecore, Chopin and Isle Brevelle have no ZIP code of their own;
mail there is delivered under Natchitoches’s codes, since all five sit within a few miles of
the city along the Cane River corridor.

Geography

Natchitoches Parish sits in Louisiana’s Cane River country, a landscape of pine hills in the
north and river-bottom farmland in the south, split by the Kisatchie National Forest’s Kisatchie
Ranger District. Of its 1,299 square miles, 1,252 are land and 47 are water, about 3.6 percent
— the Red River forms most of the parish’s water surface, and Cane River Lake, a 35-mile
oxbow cut off when the Red changed course, runs past Natchitoches itself.

Bienville Parish and Winn Parish lie to the north and northeast, Grant Parish to the east,
Rapides Parish to the southeast, Vernon Parish to the south, Sabine Parish to the west, and DeSoto
Parish and Red River Parish to the northwest. Bienville Parish, Winn Parish, Grant Parish, Rapides Parish, Vernon Parish, Sabine Parish, DeSoto Parish and Red River Parish
all border Natchitoches directly.

Demographics

Natchitoches Parish had a population of 37,515 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the parish near 36,089 residents. Natchitoches and Vienna Bend are by far the two largest
communities, together holding more than half the parish’s population. The 2020 census recorded
the parish at roughly 51.6 percent White and 39.8 percent Black or African American, with smaller
Native American, Asian and multiracial shares — the Native American figure reflects the
parish’s Adai Caddo and Natchitoches tribal communities. Population density works out to about
30 people per square mile of land, low for the region and typical of a parish that is more forest
and farmland than town.

Economy & Local Life

Northwestern State University, in Natchitoches, is the parish’s single largest employer,
drawing students and staff from across northern Louisiana. Natchitoches Regional Medical Center
anchors health care employment in the city, and the parish’s pine forests support a working
timber industry across its northern half, feeding sawmills in and around Campti and Goldonna.
Tourism built on the city’s French colonial core — guided by its status as a National
Historic Landmark District — supports hotels, restaurants and tour operators along the Cane
River waterfront. The parish’s biggest annual event is the Natchitoches Christmas Festival of
Lights, held from late November into January each year, which has run for more than nine decades
and draws close to a million visitors to the riverbank.

History

The Louisiana legislature created Natchitoches Parish on 10 April 1805, one of the state’s
original 19 parishes, named for the Natchitoches people who lived along the Red River. Natchitoches
city was founded earlier still, in 1714, by French colonial officer Louis Juchereau de St. Denis
— it is the oldest permanent European settlement in the territory the United States later
bought as the Louisiana Purchase, predating New Orleans by four years. The city was incorporated
on 5 February 1819.

Near present-day Robeline, the Spanish colonial outpost of Los Adaes served as the capital of
Spanish Texas for more than 50 years, from 1721 to 1773, sitting only a few miles from the French
fort at Natchitoches — the two rival colonial capitals faced each other across a border that
took decades to settle. Along the Cane River south of the city, the Isle Brevelle community grew
into one of the oldest and largest settlements of free people of color in the antebellum South,
a heritage preserved today at the Cane River Creole National Historical Park and the Melrose and
Oakland plantation complexes.

Getting There

Interstate 49 crosses the parish north to south, running just west of Natchitoches. US Route 71
follows the Red River through Campti and the city, and US Route 84 crosses east–west through
Natchitoches toward Winnfield and Many.

• Alexandria — about 50 miles southeast
• Shreveport — about 65 miles north
• Many — about 35 miles west
• Winnfield — about 30 miles east

Shreveport Regional Airport, roughly 65 miles north, is the nearest major commercial airport.
Natchitoches Regional Airport, on the city’s south side, handles general aviation. Amtrak does
not serve the parish; the nearest station is in Alexandria.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Natchitoches Parish located?
It sits in central Louisiana’s Cane River country, about 65 miles southeast of Shreveport,
bordered by Bienville, Winn, Grant, Rapides, Vernon, Sabine, DeSoto and Red River parishes.

What is the population of Natchitoches Parish?
37,515 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 36,089.

How big is Natchitoches Parish?
1,299 square miles (3,364 km2), of which 1,252 square miles are land, making it one of
Louisiana’s largest parishes by land area.

What is the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish?
Natchitoches, founded in 1714 and incorporated in 1819, is the parish seat and only city.

How many towns and villages are in Natchitoches Parish?
One town, Campti, and seven villages — Provencal, Natchez, Goldonna, Clarence, Ashland,
Robeline and Powhatan — alongside the city of Natchitoches and CDPs including Vienna Bend,
Point Place and Marthaville.

What ZIP codes does Natchitoches Parish use?
71457 and 71497 for Natchitoches; 71411 for Campti; 71468, 71456, 71031, 71414, 71002, 71469 and
71066 for the seven villages; plus 71450 for Marthaville and 71416 for Cloutierville.

What is Natchitoches Parish known for?
Being home to the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory, the Cane River
Creole National Historical Park, and the annual Christmas Festival of Lights.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Louisiana.