Evans

The small community of Evans was first settled around the 1820’s when Jonathan Day Cain traveled up the Sabine with Dr. Timothy Burr, the founder of Burr Ferry. Family history says that Cain and his family lived in a tent for some time before a log hut could be built, and then in the hut for a considerable length of time before a more permanent home could be built.

Jonathan’s daughter, Mary, married another man who had come up the Sabine with them — Thomas Jefferson Evans, and it was their son who donated property for the first Evans post office and gave the town its name.

evans

Others soon joined the Cains. Subsistence farmers and loggers found favorable conditions along the river which offered abundant fishing opportunities and gave them another option for transportation of themselves and their goods.

Many used the power of the Sabine to float cut logs down to the large sawmills in Port Arthur and Orange, Texas. By the 1900’s when the railroads reached Vernon Parish and the timber boom hit, most of the woods around Evans had already been cut.

Today, Evans is a rural community with a school and post office. The Eagle’s Nest Cafe is locally owned and operated and offers a daily special, catfish plates, the best hamburgers in town, and more.

McMahon’s Grocery can fix you up with whatever you need. Stock up on gas, snacks, groceries, fishing gear and licenses, as well as hardware and a good selection of gifts, especially Indian and Western art. If you plan to do any fishing along the way, stop in at Jeane’s Tackle to purchase a fishing license or gear before you go. George Jeane II, a pro fisherman with FLW Outdoors, can offer advice on what the fish are biting and where to find them.

Rent a canoe and make your own trip down the Sabine at Riverbend Canoe Rentals in Evans. Enjoy the stillness of the Sabine, which still appears untouched as you travel through majestic pine forests showing very little sign of human habitation.

As you pass through town, you’ll see the Homer Presley home in Evans. Mr. Presley was listed as a farmer who operated his own farm on the 1940 U.S. census — but sometime between then and 1960 he purchased a convenience store / gas station which he and his family operated successfully until the 1990’s. His wife, Mrs. Bernadine Presley, taught 2nd grade at Evans High School for many years.

The community is located on the Myths and Legends Byway.