One hour driving time from New Orleans on U.S. 90 West, travelers will find the bayou city of Houma, seat of Terrebonne Parish. Travel a coast road to see the natural beauty of Cajun Country. Visitors will enjoy the swamp scenery, especially the alligators, nutria, and varieties of birds in the wild. Experience the delight of fresh-water and saltwater fishing, view antebellum homes along the seven bayous and see the 55 bridges here. Some of the more notable bridges include swinging, lifting, and bascule bridges as well as a pontoon bridge over the Houma Navigation Canal and a railroad bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. Other attractions are art galleries, guided boat, land and air tours through the swamps, seafood processing plants, Cajun food, music and culture and Houma's Indian Communities. Houma is a natural to visit when you want to get back to nature.

Visit Bayou Lafourche, known as "The Longest Street in the World," a half hour south of New Orleans. Enjoy Cajun hospitality, plantation homes, antique shops, swamp tours, charter fishing, festivals, and Mardi Gras celebrations. In Thibodaux, visit the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center or Laurel Valley Village, an operating 19th-century sugar plantation. See St. John's Episcopal Church, the oldest Episcopal church west of the Mississippi. St. Joseph Catholic Cathedral, with its ornate artwork, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nicholls State University features the Allen J. Ellender Memorial Library with displays of the region including the Evangeline Baseball League Collection, Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building, and the Allen J. Ellender Archives. Travel south along LA 1 or LA 308, enjoying the bayou drive through Cajun villages on your way to the Gulf of Mexico. Port Fourchon's public beach provides fishing, crabbing and beach combing. Sunsets are breathtaking in this birdwatcher's paradise.

Grand Isle/ Cheniere (Jefferson Parish), a fishing resort located at the end of LA Highway 1 on Louisiana's Gulf Coast, is the only inhabited barrier island in Louisiana. Summer, fall, winter or spring, this small town has some of the best fishing found anywhere in the world. You can try fishing by charter/personal boat, in the surf, or from our "Old Fishin' Bridge" for speckled trout, redfish, black drum, white trout, sheepshead and flounder. There are motels, charter boats, marinas, seafood wholesalers, supermarkets, lounges, restaurants, craft/souvenir stores and tackle shops on the island. The seafood industry makes a big impact on visitors. Many wish to purchase seafood at wholesale prices. Fresh seafood is the key ingredient for our Cajun recipes. You can't get any fresher than from the water to your plate! Migratory birds flock to the island in winter for birdwatchers. We welcome you to come!

Come bask in the pleasant climate of Assumption Parish. Our natural lakes and bayous such as Lake Verret, Bayou Lafourche, Belle River and Pierre Part offer great fishing and camping as well as other outdoor recreation. Year-round festivals offer the flavor of the South with delicious food and arts & crafts. The Madewood Arts Festival and Antebellum Christmas, held on the grounds of Madewood Plantation, are two of many. In addition to Madewood, there are several other historical structures to view, for the roots of Assumption Parish are buried deep in the past. St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, with its unusual frescoes, Christ Episcopal Church, with its beautiful stained-glass windows, and St. Philomena Catholic Church and Cemetery are all works of art as well as centers of religious worship. The present, too, makes itself known here, with tours available to Supreme Sugars Refinery and three raw sugar mills in Belle Rose, Paincourtville, and Napoleonville.

Louisiana Tourism Information -- Louisiana Page Locale Adapted from the Louisiana Office of Tourism site.