Washington Parish Celebrates: A Message from Sheriff Randy “Country” Seal

What a privilege it is for me to serve as Sheriff of Washington Parish during our 200 year bicentennial celebration. The rich history of our parish and people established a legacy that will continue on through future generations, and I am so pleased to call Washington Parish my home.

The area we now know as Washington Parish was settled more than two hundred years ago, and reports were that life for the inhabitants at that time was very hard and even dangerous. It was during this time that General Andrew Jackson led his forces through the area as he headed south for what we now know as the Battle of New Orleans A few years later, our parish came into official existence on March 6, 1819, when the Louisiana legislature formally established parish boundaries and designated Washington as the name of the new parish. From then until now, our parish has remained a place of beauty, distinguished by rolling farmlands and huge tracts of timber.

As the land has flourished, so have its inhabitants. From what has been described as only a few inhabitants in 1813, our parish has grown by tens of thousands to our present population. Aside from our natural resources, including streams and rivers, it is the people of Washington Parish who make it a wonderful place in which to live and raise our families and who continue our heritage as people of this land.

The wonderful people who comprise the staff of your Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office are a significant part of our heritage which formally reaches back for two centuries. In honor of our staff, I worked to design and acquire a special bicentennial badge for each of them to display during this special year of celebration and to retain as a personal remembrance of the history of our wonderful parish. These fine folks honor you and me daily with their integrity as they work hard to continue our rich heritage and to maintain a wonderful parish for generations to come.

I hope you will enjoy seeing this image of our bicentennial badge honoring the rich history of Washington Parish.