This description of Cloutierville was written by Clemence Benoist, daughter of Victor Sanguinet Benoist and Marie Celine Cloutier, while she was a student at Sacred Heart Academy, Grand Coteau, about 1888. This document is filed in the Melrose Collection, Folder 1053, in the Cammie G. Henry Research Center, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Nachitoches, LA.

MY NATIVE TOWN

    Cloutierville is my native place, it is situated on the right bank of Cane River in the parish of Nachitoches. The little village is not very pretty nor is it at all flourishing, still I love the place for it has always been my home. The chief pursuit of the people around Cloutierville is agriculture. Some of the planters own very large plantations, and they cultivate cotton every year. Hundreds of bales of beautiful, white cotton are shipped from the banks of the Cane River. Our lands are very rich and some day I suppose this country village will be in a flourishing condition. We have but one church in our village and it is a Roman Catholic church. All the people are Creoles except two families. They are Americans and profess the Protestant religion. There is not much trade and commerce carried on in this little place. The climate is very mild and the soil is very fertile. In the spring of the year, Cloutierville looks very pretty, then the flowers are all in bloom, and the trees are dressed in green, the little birds sing their gay songs and little old Cloutierville looks gay and festive.