Burleaux Baptist Church

Pastor: Ezrah Booker Every good down home southern town needs at least one church, and the Baptist crowd is alive and well in Saint Burleaux. Though the majority of the congregation is of African descent, those of all races are welcome to their gatherings, and their gospel is something much of the town takes pride in.

The outside of the church has only a simple placard and a beaming, red neon cross to call the faithful, a beacon in the darkness of the surroundings woods, considering it's veiled placement well away from the main road. An expansive, above ground graveyard sits in haphazard fashion around the back and sides, five mausoleums placed at each cardinal point and in the center. The interior is humble, two rows of blue pews lead down a simple walkway to a pulpit and stage for the gospel to sing their praises. A handful of offices populate the back end, as well as a modest meeting room for church functions and gatherings.

Out in the back, surrounded by towering oaks and white flowered dogwood, as well as a rotting white fence that hasn't been painted in ages, lays the final resting place of many worshipers from the past. Atop two pillars gracing either side of the entrance stand figures of judging angels, one of which carries a fluted horn with a somber expression, the other holding aloft a sword of white flame and bereft of a head. Crooked headstones and above ground tombs encase both the old and new dead, many turn-of-the-century graves having nearly no identifiers anymore. A few even have alarmingly large holes in them, or jagged cracks no doubt caused by the turbulent weather. Standing at each cardinal direction and in the center are five mausoleums, each one housing anywhere from four to ten family members who couldn't bare to be interred away from each other.