Los Adaes State Historic Site

At this 300-year-old site that was once the capital of Texas, you’ll get an up-close look at battles waged between two global superpowers.

Los Adaes State Historic Site

Visit Los Adaes State Historic Site.

Los Adaes State Historic Site

Explore the grounds of Los Adaes State Historic Site, and stroll the Spanish Walk Trail.

To get an idea of Los Adaes State Historic Site’s importance, it helps to go back — way back — to the earliest days of European settlement in Louisiana. In 1716, New Spain stretched from present-day southern Mexico to California. Northwest Louisiana was a sparsely populated outpost then, which was disputed territory claimed by France.

Thanks to the founding of Natchitoches in 1714 by a French Canadian named St. Denis (whose story is told at Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site), Spain decided to send troops there, building their own fort and missions within just a few miles of Natchitoches and naming one mission Presidio Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes.

After three tense years, French soldiers stormed Los Adaes, which was at the time guarded by only one soldier. Spain vowed to return. When that happened two years later, the Spanish built a new, stronger fort just two miles away from the first one, and brought more troops and more settlers — a wealthy landowner leading the charge, the Marques de Aguayo, even requested that prisoners convicted of non-serious offenses be sent to Los Adaes to live. This time the settlement was a success, so much that in 1729 Los Adaes became the capital of the Province of Texas.

Visit Los Adaes State Historic Site to see the grounds of where the fort (or presidio) once stood, as well as the museum where artifacts discovered there offer clues to the past.

Nearby is Natchitoches, the oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase. Get out on the Cane River with Cane River Paddle & Pedal Sports or a ride on the Cane River Queen paddleboat. Then, get up close with a gator at Alligator Park.

Entrance fee: Free to the public.