In the Fall semester of 2000, the Geography 2020-Cultural Geography class took a walking tour of downtown Natchitoches to look at the variety of sacred landscapes in the city. We started at the Catholic Cemetery at the head of Church Street, sitting at one of the highest points in the downtown area. We then walked to Immaculate Conception Church, which stands across from the old Courthouse, which now functions as a museum. After spending time inside Immaculate Conception, we walked to Trinity Episcopal, First Methodist Church, and First Baptist Church, going into all of the sanctuaries and talking about the cultural landscapes represented by the different churches. It was a beautiful day, and the class enjoyed our stroll through the downtown area.

The class met at the Catholic Cemetery for the tour.

The Catholic Cemetery is a wonderfully evocative symbolic landscape, with significant trees providing shade
and other landscape features that set it apart from the surrounding area.

Headstones in the Catholic Cemetery.

A family plot in the Catholic Cemetery. The cemetery is well tended and a contemplative space.

Students passing before the old Courthouse, crossing the major intersection of the city,
Second Street and Church Street. We talked about the morphology of the city,
and the separation of the sacred from the secular within the city.

The class leaving Trinity Episcopal Church.

The class leaving First United Methodist Church and heading for First Baptist Church, the last stop on the tour.

This was a very good class to work with, and seemed to enjoy seeing Natchitochesin a different way.