World Country Guide

The Rest of the State

The capital of Louisiana is also the heart of the Southern ‘Plantation Country’ region. The ‘Blues’ are a large part of the Baton Rouge heritage, sung by slaves as they picked plantation cotton, and the city was the original home of many of the USA’s most well-known blues musicians.
The Capitol Building is a 34-storey building with a viewing platform overlooking 11 hectares (27 acres) of formal gardens in the Capitol grounds. Other attractions include the Old Capitol, with its Center for Political and Governmental History; the Louisiana Governor’s Mansion, with exhibits of art, natural history and anthropology; Baton Rouge Zoo, with its 57 hectares (140 acres) of walk-through areas and forest settings for over 400 animals; the Louisiana Arts and Science Center Riverside, located in a remodelled railroad station; and the LSU Rural Life Museum, an outdoor museum located in the grounds of a former plantation, showing the type of work done in a 19th-century plantation community. Many magnificent old plantation mansions are available for viewing in this area, some offering bed & breakfast facilities as well as tours.
The industrial and cultural hub of ‘Cajun’ country is home to 100,000 people, many of whom are descended from French-speaking Canadians from Nova Scotia. They settled in the region after 1764, having been deported by the British for refusing to give up the Catholic faith or pledge allegiance to the British crown. These people were originally known as ‘Acadians’, but the name was eventually shortened to ‘Cajuns’. The land is full of swamps and bayous. Acadian Village and Vermilionville are faithful replicas of early Cajun communities.
Houma, a bayou town, is known for its many swamp tours, where alligators, wading birds and myriad other forms of swamplife thrive. New Iberia, home of world-famous Tabasco sauce, offers tours of subtropical gardens, stately antebellum homes, rice mills and the hot sauce and pepper plant farms. St Martinville is a quiet and elegant town once known as ‘Le Petit Paris’ for its luxurious balls, operas and highlife. Its Cajun museum and church are well worth visiting. On the Creole Nature Trail, near Lake Charles, ducks, geese, alligators, nutria and muskrats run rampant.
The oldest town in Louisiana, perched on Cane River Lake, was first established as a fort and trading post in 1714 to prevent the Spanish from encroaching on French territory. It is now a charming lake town and farm centre. It has numerous historic houses, many offering bed & breakfast, and is surrounded by pecan orchards, cotton farms and 18th-century plantation homes. The region around Natchitoches is known as ‘The Crossroads’ because it is where the French and Spanish heritage of the south meets the pioneer spirit of the north. It is also a haven for country music, having spawned such luminaries as Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley.
To the northeast, Monroe, another river town, also has many historic houses and a museum; the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in Monroe is a 40 hectare (100 acre) park with moss-laden oaks, formal gardens and winding waterways. Dogwood Trail Drive is a 29km (18 mile) journey over the State’s highest hills; it passes among blossoming dogwood trees, revealing the region’s particular beauty.
A leading oil and gas centre located close to the Texan border, with a distinctly American West flavour, Shreveport is also renowned as a trade, gaming and entertainment area; the town hosts several major annual events, attracting visitors from far and wide (see Special Events section). Shreve Square has an attractive cluster of nightclubs, restaurants and shops.
Attractions include the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, featuring dioramas, an art gallery, historical murals and archaeological relics; RW Norton Museum, featuring Old West artists Frederic Remington and Charles M Russell; Pioneer Heritage Center; and the American Rose Center, a famous garden showplace.
This region is known as ‘Sportman’s Paradise’ for its many forests and lakes offering opportunities for fishing, hunting, canoeing and hiking. An annual Fishing Tournament takes place at Toledo Bend. Louisiana Downs Thoroughbred Racetrack, across the Red River in Bossier City, is open for racing from late spring until the autumn. Poverty Point State Historic Site is an ancient Native American religious area dating from 1700 BC and one of the most important archaeological finds in the USA.
One of the most charming towns in Louisiana, Eunice has a strong musical tradition, with excellent Cajun music played every weekend at the Prairie Acadia Cultural Center in the Jean Lafitte National Park. The center also has some exhibits on local life. Another attraction is the Eunice Museum. The town celebrates Mardi Gras in style, with an annual spectacular that involves horses parading though the downtown and, of course, lots of Cajun music.