Welcome to Big Island ...

Big Island is located in Rapides Parish<1>.

The location of Big Island has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Big Island, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1932.

A typical abbreviation for Big Island: Big Is. (in Canada, 'Isld.' is the more common abbreviation.)

Big Island is 80 feet [24 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Big Island lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Big Island is within the boundaries of the (318) area code.

Communities Also Named Big Island ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 6 communities that are also named Big Island - they are located in Minnesota, New York, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ohio and Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Big Island.

Communities near Big Island ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Big Island.

• Alexandria
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alexandria
  • Alexandria is located in Rapides Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 45,573 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alexandria <4>
• Pineville
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineville
  • Pineville is located in Rapides Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 14,111 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pineville <4>
• Marksville
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marksville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marksville
  • Marksville is located in Avoyelles Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,271 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marksville <4>
• Ball
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ball have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ball
  • Ball is located in Rapides Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,906 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ball <4>
• Hessmer
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hessmer have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hessmer
  • Hessmer is located in Avoyelles Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 749 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hessmer <4>
• Pollock
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pollock
  • Pollock is located in Grant Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 483 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pollock <4>
• Creola
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Creola have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creola
  • Creola is located in Grant Parish
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 216 people
  • Creola has also been known as:
  • Creola village
• Center Point
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Center Point have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Center Point
  • Center Point is located in Avoyelles Parish
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Center Point <4>
• Effie
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Effie
  • Effie is located in Avoyelles Parish
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Effie <4>
• Vick
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Vick
  • Vick is located in Avoyelles Parish

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Big Island. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Big Island.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Big Island. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Big Island.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Big Island. See our Newspapers Page for Big Island.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Big Island ...

Looking for more information about Big Island? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Big Island, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Big Island.

Adding Big Island to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Big Island in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Big Island was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Big Island post office opened in 1932.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Big Island.

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Big Island. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Rapides Parish: www.rppj.com/

The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/