Texas and Pacific Railroad Depot

The depot sits in stucco and red tile where the Texas and Pacific Railway once ran the iron thread that connected Natchitoches to Shreveport and the wider South. Built in 1927 in Spanish Colonial Revival style, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When the Red River shifted course in the 1820s and 1830s, it left a 33-mile oxbow lake and cut off Natchitoches from its lucrative connection to the Mississippi. The railroad arrived decades later. Now the depot serves as the visitor center for Cane River Creole National Historical Park. NPS rangers provide maps, tour information, and context for the Oakland and Magnolia plantation units—both preserved National Historic Landmarks established as French creole cotton plantations in the antebellum years, both damaged by Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War. Open Wednesday through Sunday. Free admission. Park at the depot and start your Cane River exploration here.