Outdoors in Avery Island Louisiana

With year-round hunting, fishing, golf and countless other opportunities for outdoor recreation, it is easy to see why Louisiana's nickname is "Sportsman's Paradise.” Sure, that’s a lot to live up to. But with thousands of hiking and biking trails, beautiful State Parks, and one of the largest game preserves in the United States, Louisiana is the ultimate playground for all outdoorsmen. Our vast expanse of coastal wetlands and countless birding trails make our state a habitat for many rare and endangered species and a natural paradise for bird watchers as well. Come step into the wild outdoors of Louisiana.

The birthplace of TABASCO® brand pepper sauce, Avery Island has been owned for over 180 years by the interrelated Marsh, Avery and McIlhenny families. Lush subtropical flora and venerable live oaks draped with wild muscadine and swags of barbe espagnole, or Spanish moss, cover this geological oddity, which is one of five "islands" rising above south Louisiana’s flat coastal marshes.

The island occupies roughly 2,200 acres and sits atop a deposit of solid rock salt thought to be deeper than Mount Everest is high. Geologists believe this deposit is the remnant of a buried ancient seabed, pushed to the surface by the sheer weight of surrounding alluvial sediments.

Today, Avery Island remains the home of the TABASCO® brand pepper sauce factory, as well as Jungle Gardens and its Bird City wildfowl refuge. The Tabasco factory and the gardens are open to the public. For tourism information, visit www.TABASCO.com or call 337-365-8173.