A Patriotic Family Road Trip in Louisiana

National WWII Museum

New Orleans, LA

In New Orleans. Ranked one of the best museums in the world. Plan a full day.

Louisiana State Exhibit Museum

Shreveport, LA

An Art Deco rotunda of 1930s dioramas depicting Louisiana life parish by parish.

Imperial Calcasieu Museum

Lake Charles, LA

Southwest Louisiana's history under the 400-year-old Sallier Oak.

Louisiana State Capitol

Baton Rouge, LA

At 34 stories, this is the tallest state capitol in the country — built in Baton Rouge in just over a year under Governor Huey Long.

Chalmette Battlefield

Chalmette, LA

Where Andrew Jackson beat the British in January 1815 to end the War of 1812.

Port Hudson State Historic Site

Zachary, LA

The bluffs where 6,800 Confederates held out for 48 days, the longest siege in American history.

Mansfield State Historic Site

Mansfield, LA

The field where the Red River Campaign was stopped cold in April 1864.

Oak Alley Plantation

Vacherie, LA

Twenty-eight live oaks planted a century before the house, leading up from the river road.

Whitney Plantation

Wallace, LA

The only plantation museum in Louisiana told entirely from the perspective of the enslaved.

Poverty Point World Heritage Site

Pioneer, LA

Six concentric earthen ridges and a 72-foot mound, built 3,400 years ago by hand.

Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral

New Orleans, LA

The old Place d'Armes, where Louisiana was formally transferred to the United States in 1803.

Cane River Creole National Historical Park

Natchitoches, LA

Oakland and Magnolia plantations, with their outbuildings and quarters largely intact.

Vermilionville Historic Village

Lafayette, LA

Seven original Acadian and Creole homes from 1765 to 1890, moved to a bayou-side campus.

USS KIDD Veterans Museum

Baton Rouge, LA

A Fletcher-class destroyer restored to her 1945 configuration, kamikaze scar and all.

Fort Jesup State Historic Site

Many, LA

The 1822 outpost Zachary Taylor built to watch the disputed Texas border.

Port Hudson National Cemetery

Zachary, LA

Nearly 4,000 Union dead from the siege, most of them unknown.

Alexandria National Cemetery

Pineville, LA

One of the original fourteen national cemeteries established in 1867.

Tabasco Factory and Avery Island

Avery Island, LA

A salt dome, a pepper field and the same factory making the same sauce since 1868.