Haynesville is a town in northern

Claiborne Parish Claiborne Parish () is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1828, and was named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne. As of the 2020 census, the population ...

, Louisiana, United States, located just south of the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

border. The population was 2,039 in 2020. Haynesville is known as the "Gateway to North Louisiana" and the "Butterfly Capital of Louisiana". Loice Kendrick-Lacy of Haynesville published ''Gardening To Attract Butterflies: The Beauty And The Beast'' (2012). Kendrick-Lacy begins with memories of her childhood, when she was introduced to

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

by her grandmother.

History

The town of Haynesville is the namesake of the

Haynesville Shale The Haynesville Shale is an informal, popular name for a Jurassic Period rock formation that underlies large parts of southwestern Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, and East Texas. It lies at depths of 10,500 to 13,000 feet below the land’s surfac ...

, an upper

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

formation that is difficult to define on a technical basis but nevertheless covers a broad region of western Louisiana and east Texas and contains a large natural gas resource. On March 24, 2008, Chesapeake Energy announced a new natural gas discovery in the Haynesville Shale. This announcement began a new chapter in the development of the Hayneville Shale and hastened the activities of several other companies in the play. The town's churches include

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Missionary Baptist The Missionary Baptist church is a Christian denomination that emerged in the American South during the late 19th century. Missionary Baptists separated from the Southern Baptist Convention due to theological differences. Missionary Baptists ...

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

, and

Church of Christ Church of Christ may refer to: Church groups * Christianity, the Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ * Christian Church, an ecclesiological term used by denominations to describe the true body of Christia ...

. This part of the state was settled by Protestants from other parts of the South, more than by ethnic French, Louisiana Creole, Italian and Irish Catholics more typically found in the New Orleans area. Material on the history of Haynesville can be found at the Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum located across from the Claiborne Parish Courthouse in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and 0.22% is water. The most common soil is Eastwood series, which has of brown very fine sandy

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

over of red

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

. It supports a native forest vegetation of

loblolly pine ''Pinus taeda'', commonly known as loblolly pine, is one of several pines native to the Southeastern United States, from East Texas to Florida, and north to southern New Jersey. The wood industry classifies the species as a southern yellow pi ...

shortleaf pine The shortleaf pine or ''Pinus echinata'' is a species of coniferous tree endemic to the United States. The shortleaf pine is sometimes referred to as the "old field", "spruce", "rosemary", "yellow", "two-leaf" and "heart" pine. The common name " ...

southern red oak ''Quercus falcata'', also called southern red oak, spanish oak, bottomland red oak or three-lobed red oak is an oak (part of the genus ''Quercus''). Native to the southeastern United States, it gets its name the "Spanish Oak" as these are the ar ...

American sweet gum ''Liquidambar styraciflua'', commonly known as the American sweetgum among other names, is a deciduous tree in the genus ''Liquidambar'' native to warm temperate areas of eastern North America and tropical montane regions of Mexico and Central A ...

and

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''. Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Haynesville has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,039 people, 1,081 households, and 664 families residing in the town.

Government and infrastructure

The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

operates the Haynesville Post Office.

Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections The Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C) (French: ) is a state law enforcement agency responsible for the incarceration of inmates and management of facilities at state prisons within the state of Louisiana. The agency is headquart ...

operates the

David Wade Correctional Center David Wade Correctional Center (DWCC) is a Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections prison located in an unincorporated area of Claiborne Parish, between Homer and Haynesville, Louisiana. The prison is located near the Louisiana-Ark ...

in an unincorporated section of

near Haynesville.

Crime

In May 1999, the Haynesville Police Department discovered the skeletal remains of Shannon Capers, a 13-year-old girl who had been missing since March 8, 1997. She was found in the woods behind the Mill Street Apartments on the north side of town. Capers had lived in the apartments. She was known to have been murdered by her boyfriend, a local drug dealer named Maurice Tate.

Education

The

Claiborne Parish School Board Claiborne Parish School Board is a school district headquartered in Homer, Louisiana, United States. The district serves all of Claiborne Parish. Former Claiborne Superintendent Gary Lee Jones became a Republican member of the Louisiana B ...

is the local school district for the entire parish. It operates Haynesville Elementary School and Haynesville Junior/Senior High School.Welcome to Haynesville Jr/Sr School
." Claiborne Parish Schools. Retrieved October 2, 2010.

Notable people

Geoffrey Beene Geoffrey Beene (born Samuel Albert Bozeman Jr.; August 30, 1924 – September 28, 2004) was an American fashion designer. Beene was one of New York's most famous fashion designers, recognized for his artistic and technical skills and for creatin ...

, American fashion designer, born August 30, 1924 * Demetric Evans, NFL football player (San Francisco 49ers) * Doug Evans, former NFL football player (

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

;

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

champion) *

Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick (1933–1986) was an African-American musician, civil rights activist, and minister from Haynesville, Louisiana. In late 1964 he was a co-founder of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, an armed black self-defense gro ...

, musician and civil rights activist * John Sidney Garrett, Speaker of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...

(1968–1972) *

Jim Haynes James Almand Haynes (10 November 1933 – 6 January 2021) was an American-born figure in the British 1950s-60s counterculture, beginning in Edinburgh, Scotland with the opening of The Paperback bookshop in 1959. He was also a co-founder of Edi ...

(1933–2021), leading figure in British counter-culture *

George H. Mahon George Herman Mahon (September 22, 1900 – November 19, 1985) was an American politician and attorney. A Democrat, he served 22 consecutive terms as a member the United States House of Representatives from Texas. Biography Born near Haynesvill ...

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Texas's 19th congressional district Texas's 19th congressional district of the United States House of Representatives includes the upper midwestern portion of the state of Texas. The district includes portions of the State from Lubbock to Abilene. The current Representative fr ...

from 1935 to 1979. *

Danny Roy Moore Danny Roy Moore (August 9, 1925 – ) was an American politician who was a conservative Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate for one term, from 1964 until 1968. Moore was born in Haynesville, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, the son o ...

(1925–c. 2020), Louisiana state senator from 1964 to 1968 *

Bob Odom Robert Fulton Odom, Jr. (July 20, 1935 – May 17, 2014), was the longest-serving Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry in the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of ...

, former Louisiana commissioner of Agriculture and

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

* Larry Sale, sheriff of Claiborne Parish from 1936 to 1944 * A. L. Williams, high school and college football coach; born in Haynesville

Photo gallery

Image:Haynesville, LA, Methodist Church IMG 0887.JPG, Haynesville

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

Image:Revised photo of Haynesville Baptist Church IMG 2202.JPG, First

Church in downtown Haynesville Image:Haynesville, LA, Presbyterian Church IMG 0903.JPG, The First

Church in Haynesville Image:Haynesville, LA, City Hall IMG 0885.JPG, City Hall in Haynesville Image:Obelisk in Centennial Park in Haynesville, LA IMG 0906.JPG, This

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

erected in 1976 in Bicentennial Park in Haynesville is dedicated to the medical profession. Image:Old Town Cemetery in Haynesville, LA IMG 0900.JPG, The large Old Town Cemetery in south Haynesville.

References

External links

{{authority control * Towns in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana Towns in Louisiana