Lafourche Parish

Bayou Lafourche stretches more than 100 miles through the parish that bears its name. For visitors, the scenic byways flanking it provide captivating routes past fishing villages, proud churches and historic sites, like the 19th-century Laurel Valley Village Sugar Plantation. It ends at Port Fourchon, the city that is also the jumping-off point for fishermen and the offshore energy industry located in the Gulf of Mexico. Exhibits at the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center provide an overview of the area's heritage, and local tour guides offer birding expeditions, airboat swamp rides and charter fishing adventures throughout the parish. Locals and visitors gather in Golden Meadow each April for the Blessing of the Shrimp Fleet & Family Fun Day, when decorated fishing boats parade along the bayou, followed by a community party. Home to Nicholls State University, Thibodauxville brings crowds out in droves for the Fall Festival in November.