Homer, LA

Homer is Claiborne Parish's seat, laid out around Courthouse Square in 1850 by Frank Vaughn. The brick Greek Revival courthouse still serves the square and is one of only four pre-Civil War courthouses in Louisiana still in use. Across the way, Ford Memorial Museum occupies the former Claiborne Hotel, giving the town another place to pick up the local story. Homer also has an important Black educational history: Homer College operated from 1855 into the early 1880s as a private school for African American students and offered bachelor's and master's degrees. The town's outline is easy to read—courthouse, hotel, college history, and parish roads meeting in northern Louisiana.