Side Trips from New Orleans Places

Baton Rouge

Hemmed in as it is by endless industrial plants, Baton Rouge does not look like much from the road. Yet government-history enthusiasts will want to stop here on their way through the south Louisiana countryside. Baton Rouge, the state capital, has several interesting and readily accessible sights, including the attractive capitol grounds and an educational planetarium. This is the city from which colorful, cunning Huey P. Long ruled the state; it is also the site of his assassination. Even today, almost a century after Long's death, legends about the controversial governor and U.S. senator abound.

The parishes to the north of Baton Rouge are quiet and bucolic, with gently rolling hills, high bluffs, and historic districts. John James Audubon lived in West Feliciana Parish in 1821, tutoring local children and painting 80 of his famous bird studies. In both terrain and traits, this region is more akin to north Louisiana than to south Louisiana—which is to say, the area is very Southern.