A golf cart ride along the 7-mile path of Tamahka Trails Golf Club, alone, is worth a trip to Marksville.
With its rolling hills, the spread is easily one of Louisiana’s most beautiful golf courses, as well as one of the amenities of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe-owned Paragon Casino and Resort at 711 Paragon Place, Avoyelles Parish’s biggest tourism draw.
That’s neither slight nor exaggeration. The casino and its grounds have been attracting tourists to Marksville since its opening in 1994. Still, the identity of this city that grew from a broken wagon wheel was established long before that.
Paragon Casino Resort’s Tamahka Trails Golf Club clubhouse can be seen in the distance along this rolling pathway through the golf course.
Marksville’s beginning can be traced to 1794 when Venetian peddler Marco Eliché’s wagon wheel broke while traveling through the area. He decided to stay and open a trading post.
A settlement grew around the business and eventually evolved into what is now the City of Marksville, standing along its main thoroughfare of La. 1, just 38 miles south of Alexandria and less than two hours from Baton Rouge.
A golf cart ride along the path of Tamahka Trails Golf Club in Marksville, Louisiana
Its outdoor natural areas, Spring Bayou Wildlife Management Area and the Lake Ophelia and Grand Cote National Wildlife Preserves offer recreational opportunities for hunters, fishermen and nature lovers.
The city also is known for such seasonal activities as the annual Avoyelles Arts and Music Festival on July 4 and the annual Tunica-Biloxi Pow Wow in May.
Native Americans dance during the Grand Entry at the 26th annual Tunica-Biloxi Pow Wow on May 28, 2024, at the Tunica-Biloxi Pow-Wow grounds in Marksville.
It’s said Marksville is known worldwide for its egg knocking contest, where the owner of the lone uncracked egg is pronounced the winner. The Independence Day celebration has the distinction of staging the nation’s longest-running July 4th parade.
And despite the permanent closure of Fort DeRussy State Historic Site, along with the temporary closure of the former Marksville State Historic Site, there is still plenty in the city for history lovers to explore.
“If you go to the second floor of the courthouse, you’ll see framed displays representing all of the communities in Avoyelles Parish,” said Wilbert Carmouche, director of Avoyelles Commission of Tourism. “They were all placed there by the tourism commission.”
Wilbert Carmouche, director of the Avoyelles Commission of Tourism, talks about the photo display recognizing all of the communities in Avoyelles Parish. The display is on permanent exhibit on the second floor of the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse in Marksville.
Both state and city historic signs can be found throughout Marksville, some of the most notable mapping out historical moments in Solomon Northup’s life.
Northup is best known for his memoir, “Twelve Years a Slave,” which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. Northup was a free African American man living in 19th-century New York, when, in 1841, he was drugged, kidnapped and sold into slavery, eventually landing in Avoyelles Parish.
The parish is planning to erect a statue honoring Northup and commemorating his story on its courthouse grounds in January.
The Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resources Center in Marksville.
Then, of course, there’s the history and culture of the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe, which is readily open for exploration in the Tunica-Biloxi Cultural & Education Resources Center, 151 Melancon Road off La. 1.
Admission is $3-$5 to the center, which not only tells the tribe’s story but is home to the Tunica Treasure, a collection of 18th-century Native American and European trade items discovered in more than 100 Native American graves at Trudeau Landing in West Feliciana Parish in the 1960s.
The artifacts eventually were returned to the tribe through the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1989. A museum in the form of a temple mound was constructed, but the building didn’t hold up.
The brickwork in the entryway of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe’s Cultural and Educational Center is designed to resemble handmade pine needle baskets for which the tribe is known.
The tribe replaced it with its new cultural center in 2011, whose brick work, gift shop and tour manager Melissa Sampson Barbin is quick to point out, reflects the meticulous, handmade pine needle baskets for which the tribe is known.
Examples of these baskets are also on display in the center, as well as chronologically arranged paintings and artifacts depicting the tribe’s story.
Barbin said the center also offers workshops.
“One of our popular ones is the pine needle basket workshop. I took that workshop, and it isn’t easy,” she said. “I kept practicing, and it took me about six months to get the basket where I wanted it.”
Melissa Sampson Barbin, gift shop and tour manager for the Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resource Center, holds a handmade pine needle basket made by a tribe member. Baskets are on display in the center.
Meanwhile, outside the center, which stands on land within the tribe’s reservation, is the trailhead for the boardwalk nature trail that stretches nearly a mile over the Coulee Des Grues waterway, ending at the Paragon Casino Resort RV Park.
The RV park stands behind the casino with 200 camping spots, 30 cabins and an outdoor pool. Not into camping? Well, the casino resort’s hotel offers 500 guest rooms and suites fronted by a reproduction cypress swamp atrium where alligators swim.
Though gaming is the casino’s main attraction, the business’ resort side offers a few relaxing ways to pass time, including facials and massages in its Spa La Vie, lounging by its indoor Oasis Pool, live music entertainment in the Mari Center or just enjoying the latest theatrical releases in its three-screen Paragon Cinema.
A boardwalk walking trail stretches nearly a mile over Coulee Des Grues waterway from the Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resource Center to Paragon Casino Resort’s RV Park.
For kids, Paragon’s Kids Quest has lots of games and activities for children ages 6 months to 12 years while parents are on the gaming floor. Kids Quest is supervised by adults at all times, and it operates on a drop-in, first-serve basis.
All of this activity surely will leave visitors hungry, and Paragon has nine restaurants and bars to fill the bill.
The Marketplace Buffet is open for dinner from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Sundays and brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. It also has special lunch hours for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
In Paragon Casino Resort’s hotel atrium, alligators swim in a reproduction swamp. The Marksville casino offers tons of amenities and entertainment, including concerts, off-track racehorse gambling and spa services.
Other Paragon restaurants are Legends Steakhouse, serving prime steaks and fresh seafood; Lucy Wok, specializing in Chinese cuisine; Roxy’s Diner, featuring such diner favorites as hamburgers and fried chicken; Tamahka Grill, a full-service restaurant at the golf course; Gator Coffee Co.; Bon Temps Daiquiris; Atrium Bar; and the Draft Room.
However, Marksville’s dining selections aren’t limited to the casino. One of its most popular restaurants can be found in the Broken Wheel Brewery & Bistro at 109 Tunica Drive. Co-owners Jonathan Knoll and Chris Pahl opened the establishment in 2015, serving up seafood, steaks, sandwiches and burgers.
Other local favorites include La Petit Affair Cafe with its daily farm-sourced ingredients; Nanny’s Restaurant, 333 Tunica Drive; and Logan’s Family BBQ, 208 S. Main St.
The dining room inside the Broken Wheel Brewery & Bistro in Marksville.
Before leaving for home, stop by for a glimpse of the Tamahka Course next to Paragon. Schedule a golf game if you like.
It’s a sight not to be missed.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.shreveportbossieradvocate.com ’
