Looking for a place to exercise the dogs the other day, my sweetheart and I wandered upon the old sawmill town of Fullerton, just a few miles from the house.
Louisiana, and this area in particular, is full of old, abandoned mill towns like this one. Fullerton cut its last log in 1927, and the town died soon thereafter, but at one time it had a population of over 5,000, and boasted the largest pine sawmill west of the Mississippi River.
It housed over 500 workers and their families, and even the houses in the old “Negro” section had running water, indoor toilets and electricity – unheard of luxuries at the time.
It had a modern (for the time) hospital, where all town residents received medical care for the princely sum of $2.50 per month per family, or $1.50 per month for single men.
The town pool had slides and concrete walls, and was fed from a spring near the lake.
It looks a little different now, 90 years later:
There was a rather large, two-story hotel that had 100 guest rooms, complete with all modern amenities, although I hear the wireless Internet was a tad slow.
Aside from the huge sawmill, there were also several kilns, an alcohol plant, and a turpentine plant. The loading shed was large enough to load thirty rail cars simultaneously.
The lake certainly looks pretty, and from what we could see, the fish were biting, but there is enough tannin in the water to stain it dark brown. Smelled vaguely of turpentine, too.
At the very least, the dogs got some exercise, the sweetheart and I found some new hiking trails, and we learned a little more about our community. It was a good day.