Northup Trail
Northup Trail is a State Scenic Byway in Louisiana. Within Louisiana it covers roughly 90 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Northup Trail with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Northup Trail runs 83 miles through Rapides and Avoyelles parishes, retracing the ordeal of Solomon Northup, later chronicled in his memoir Twelve Years a Slave. Northup, a free-born Black musician from New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., with a fake job offer in 1841, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in Louisiana under the name Platt. The trail runs from Alexandria to Marksville, passing the Red River Landing where he arrived by steamboat, the Epps House where he was held longest, the Bunkie Depot, and the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse. Northup's memoir, published after his rescue in 1853, later became the basis for the film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2013.
- 83 miles, Rapides & Avoyelles parishes
- traces Solomon Northup's story
- the Epps House
- Alexandria to Marksville
- basis for the 2013 Best Picture film
Plan a drive on Northup Trail →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Northup Trail
No campgrounds are listed close to Northup Trail yet, but there are rooms near the route.
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