Things looking up for fishery at Parish Park Lake

By: Glynn Harris

Lincoln Parish Park was born from the dream of a special man, the late Fredrick Hoogland. One day, in the late 1970s, he was inspired by something he saw. I interviewed him 20 years or so ago and wrote an article on his discovery. 

“When I stepped up on a bluff that spring day and saw what lay before me, I’m sure if somebody had heard me, they’d have thought I was an evangelist praising the Lord. I’ve never had an experience quite like that and I was overcome with emotion, realizing that my prayers had been answered. After walking thousands of acres around Ruston for the better part of three years, I realized that God had led me to the right spot and it was just about more than I could handle. There was no doubt in my mind that here was the site that would ultimately become the park I’d dreamed about since high school,” Hoogland told me when I interviewed him.