Ray's Ferry
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Ray’s Ferry is the point along Bayou Boeuf at which the road between Opelousas and Marksville crossed the waterway. A ferry service operated here from 1816 until a bridge was constructed many years later. The name comes from the individual, Reuben Ray, licensed to operate the ferry service. Ray was granted a permit from the State of Louisiana on September 19, 1816 to “keep a ferry across the Bayou Boeuf on the main road leading from Opelousas to Avoyelles”. The permit can be inspected at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge.
Much of the main road described in the permit has become Louisiana Highway 115. Today, a modern bridge carries LA 115 across the bayou at this historic site roughly two miles west of Bunkie, Louisiana.
In the 1821 case of Baldwin v Stafford before the Supreme Court of Louisiana, the boundary between Post of Opelousas and Post of Rapides was fixed at Ray's Ferry. The Posts of Opelousas and Rapides established by the Spanish colonial government later become the Parishes of St. Landry and Rapides under American administration.
No signs or historic markers provide information on the crossing.
