Halloween in East Feliciana Parish Runs From the Courthouse Square to a Civil War Battlefield

The East Feliciana Parish Courthouse has stood on its square in Clinton since 1840. According to The Advocate, the Greek Revival building is still Louisiana's oldest working courthouse. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1973. Lawyers' Row followed in 1974. That row of five law offices, built between 1840 and 1865, sits across Woodville Road.

On Thursday, Oct. 29, that square fills with car trunks full of candy. Nine days later, a line of cars leaves from the same curb, headed for an airfield south of Jackson. In between, Halloween night happens on a residential street in Jackson and at a battlefield where a Civil War siege lasted 48 days.

The parish's fall calendar is short, and most of it happens on its landmarks. Here is how the next few weeks line up, all from The Advocate's Around the Felicianas calendar for Oct. 14, 2026.

Thursday Comes First, and It Comes Early

Clinton runs its Trunk-or-Treat two days before Halloween. It starts at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, at Clinton Courthouse Square, 12305 St. Helena St.

The timing matters for families who want more than one night out. A 5 p.m. start on a weeknight leaves Saturday open. The square is also a natural setting for costumes. Kids collect candy beside columns that have framed parish business for more than 180 years, with Lawyers' Row across the road.

The calendar listing gives the time and place but no organizer. If you plan to set up a trunk instead of just showing up with a candy bag, ask around town before the 29th.

Halloween Night Is a Choice Between a Street and a Siege Line

On Saturday, Oct. 31, the parish's two big Halloween events run at the same time, about the same distance apart as a few minutes' drive across Jackson. Both start at 6:30 p.m. and wrap up around 8:30. Most households will pick one.

College Street's Spooktacular

Jackson's Spooktacular has turned into a parish-wide draw. A past Advocate story on the Spooktacular named the Town of Jackson and the Jackson Tourism Enhancement Committee as sponsors. It reported more than 700 attendees that year, up from more than 600 the year before.

The format mixes old-style and newer trick-or-treating. Some College Street houses hand out candy from their doors. Other participants set up trunk-or-treat style at their vehicles, tables or booths. Bonnie Boyer coordinates the event and assigns spaces, and you can reach her at 225-324-5083 if you'd like to set up along the street.

That assigned-space system is why College Street can absorb a crowd in the hundreds without turning chaotic. Call before the 31st, not that evening.

Port Hudson After Dark

The other option sits on ground with a much heavier history. The National Park Service lists Port Hudson in East Feliciana Parish. The siege there began May 23, 1863, and ended in surrender on July 9, 48 days later. The Louisiana Office of State Parks calls it the longest siege in American military history. The earthworks that are still standing were Confederate dirt fortifications. They were built on a bluff above a bend in the Mississippi River, the feature that made the spot worth fighting over, as the National Park Service explains.

Ghosts of Port Hudson uses that ground for guided night tours that show a soldier's life after dark. The Friends of Port Hudson and volunteer living historians and re-enactors staff the scenes. Tours leave every 30 minutes from 6:30 p.m., and the last one starts at 8:30 p.m. Each route passes through:

• a picket post
• a medical tent
• a camp site
• a burial scene

Halloween candy is available for kids along the way.

Admission is the regular site entrance fee. The Advocate lists it as $6 per adult and $4 for seniors 62 and older, with children under 6 admitted free. The state's own pages describe children's pricing in slightly different ways, so families with young kids should confirm before going. The site takes questions at [email protected], 888-677-3400 or 225-654-3775. Organizers recommend bug spray and flashlights.

Normal hours at the site are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, so the Halloween tours are an uncommon chance to walk the grounds after dark. In daylight, Port Hudson is a place for hikes, with a six-mile hiking trail and a boardwalk route through the surviving earthworks.

Here is how the two options compare:

A Week Later, Clinton's Square Is the Starting Line Again

On Saturday, Nov. 7, the calendar comes back to Clinton, and two events overlap.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Clinton is Home hosts a gathering honoring local veterans at Green Door at H Mercantile, with food, beverages and door prizes. Green Door is a coffee and gelato shop at 12408 St. Helena St., Suite B. That puts it a short walk from the courthouse square, on the same street where the Trunk-or-Treat happens nine days earlier.

The gathering is a repeat. The Advocate's Around the Felicianas calendar for Oct. 15, 2025 listed a Clinton is Home Foundation "Meet the Veterans" event at Green Door for Nov. 8, 2025. That listing said organizers were working on plans for a veterans memorial park in Clinton. This year's event has state support. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities lists "Clinton Is Home Celebrates America and its Veterans" among recipients of its Parish America 250 Mini Grants. These grants, up to $1,500 each, fund local projects marking the nation's 250th anniversary, and the Clinton project received $1,500.

At 11 a.m. that day, cars leave the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse for the first Wings & Wheels Fly-in/Cruise-In at Feliciana Airpark outside Jackson. Many residents have driven past the airpark without ever turning in. It's a public-use airport about two miles south of Jackson, owned by the parish's Economic Development District, according to its FAA record on AirNav. The address is 5122 Airport Lane, off La. 68 near Dixon Correctional Institute.

Since the cruise-in leaves at 11 a.m. and the veterans gathering runs until 2 p.m., you could do both. Stop by Green Door when the gathering starts at 10, then join the cars on the square, or come back to St. Helena Street after the fly-in. For details on the cruise-in, call Matthew Peterson at 225-405-8901 or Adam Peters at 225-244-5960.

Over nine days, the courthouse square serves as the parish's Halloween gathering spot and as the starting point for its first fly-in, and both events start within a block of Lawyers' Row.

If you'd like a neighbor's take on Clinton or Jackson, whether you're thinking about the future or just want to know which streets fill up on Halloween, the team at Debra Sullivan Dream Homes is happy to talk it through over coffee. Contact Us anytime, and we may see you on St. Helena Street.