(pg. 11) Continue driving down Martin Springs Road until you reach the State Fish Hatcherie Road .5 mile from the Martin house site. Turn right. Follow the road which curves past Beechwood Fish Hatcherie, crosses a small creek. Turn right at Northup pointer, you will arrive at Stop #5: Ford's sawmill on the property of Louisiana Wildlife Fisheries.
FORD'S SAWMILL was located on Indian Creek which is on the property of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries which operates the Woodworth Fish Hatcherie at this site. The mill is approached by entering the gate on the right and taking a trail to the left leading directly through the wooded area to the site of the old mill. Some of the timbers from Ford's old water mill still lie in Indian Creek. The mill was at a point just below the present dam of Indian Creek Recreation Area. Across the fence from the public property is the private property of William Smith.
In 1840, Ford owned forty acres of virgin timberland in partnership with a man named William Ramsey. Together they constructed the mill, run by water. Ford's wife had inherited a plantation on Bayou Boeuf, farther south along Bayou Boeuf.
(pg. 12) Turn at #5 marker and return 3 miles on the Fish Hatchery Road, continuing past the Martin Springs Road sign until you reach Highway 112, the road between Forest Hill and Lecompte. Turn right and about 3 1/2 miles to Forest Hill and turn left at pointer.
Ford's homesite has been confirmed as the Walter Guillory nursery, about 1/4 miles east of Forest Hill on the Blue Lake Road. Oak trees, the size of which belies their age, were probably planted about the time that Ford homesteaded 80 acres here in 1836. Ford's house site was at the site of the Guillory residence at the crest of the hill. Hurricane Creek is nearby. The brick kiln with adobe brick remaining on a hillside represents the remains of what must have been another project of Ford. He was pastor of Spring Hill Baptist Church and headmaster of Spring Creek Academy which opened in 1837. The place was on the Texas Road which ran along a ridge in sight of the house site.
