I Saw The Marker

Talbert-Pierson Cemetery
November 4, 2016
My 73rd Birthday Trip

That was the beginning of our day and it was an auspicious and appropriate beginning. We drove to Vidor on I-10 and took Hwy 12 north crossing into Louisiana almost at Starks. We drove through DeQuincy and at Ragley, Hwy 190 joins Hwy 12. At Reeves, we turn on to Hwy 113 north and stared toward Dry Prong where there is an Baptist encampment where Carolyn and I had attended several conferences when we were students at Northwestern State. Knowing that ALL Louisiana cemeteries are carefully marked on highways, we expected no difficulty in finding this one. Little did we know.

We continue to Sugartown and continued on Hwy 113 toward Pitkin. The Talbert-Pierson Cemetery Road was supposed to intersect with Hwy 113 so we looked and watched carefully. When we arrived in Pitkin, we assumed that we had missed the Cemetery Road. We were to discover that the Cemetery Road does not connect with Hwy 113. In Pitkin which is at the intersection of Louisiana Hwys 10 and 113, we stopped at a store for multiple reasons. We asked four people in the store if they new where the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery was – remember it is a National Monument and it was nearby. None of them had ever heard of it. Finally the store owner walked in. I asked him about the cemetery. He said, “Go 7 miles west on Hwy 10, turn left on La Hwy 399, go 5.5 miles and the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery Road will be on your left.

As we drove East on Louisiana Hwy 10, When we passed Hwy 399, I decided to drive down it for 5.5 miles and see. At 5.5 miles I went a little further. To the left there was a dirt road and just passed that and connected to it there was a narrow black-topped road with a sign. But, going south on Hwy 399, there was nothing on the sign. A quarter mile later there was a bridge and that seemed like the logical place to turn around. When we passed the previously mentioned sign on the South Side it stated, “Talbert-Pierson Cemetery Road.” Hurray, we have found it.

We drove down the road. We saw a church but nothing else, no sign, no marker, so we drove on. At the end of the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery Road, we intersected with a road but it was not Louisiana Hwy 113. There was a sign that said, “Talbert Cemetery Rd.” It was in the weeds and was worse for the wear. Surely, we must be close though, so we turned around and went toward Hwy 399 on the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery Road. We were approached in the opposite directions by a car and I lowered my window to flag them for directions; this being a cemetery road and Halloween having recently passed, they sped up and fled.

We slowly passed every possible turn and arrived back at the white, wood framed church but no cemetery. We decided to turn in and see. It was then that we say the cemetery hidden by trees. The sign said, “Talbert Cemetery.” We had found it. It was worth the effort and we will return now that we know how to get there. By the way at Hwy 113, at Hwy 10, at Hwy 399, there was no sign for a cemetery and there was no marker for monument. To be consistent, on the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery Road, there was No sign for a cemetery and there was no marker for a monument.

Nov 5, 2016 at 9:20am PDT by jamesholly