Wilkinson County Museum

About the Museum

The museum opening in October, 1991, marked the twentieth year of preservation efforts by the Woodville Civic Club, owner of the historic property.

The building which houses the museum was erected in 1838 as the office of the West Feliciana Railroad Company and is located on the southeast corner of the Courthouse Square in the Woodville Historic District.

The West Feleciana Railroad was the third oldest railroad in America and was constructed by Judge Edward McGehee and other Woodville financiers. Built to transport cotton from the county seat of Woodville to the river boats on the Mississippi at Bayou Sara, Louisiana, it was the first railroad to use standard gauge track and the first to adopt the use of the cattle guard. This railroad, which made its first run in 1842, was the first to issue and print freight tariff bills, and its home office in Woodville is thought to the the oldest of its kind in the nation.