The Mississippi River Road is one of those places people love to visit unique and authentic, where past and present mingle, where rich history and delightful culture are reflected in the landscape.

The River Road is a region and a frame of mind, defined by two distinct roads one along the east bank and one along the west bank that trace the bends and arcs of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Though best known for its rich cache of antebellum plantation homes, this area was created during a five hundred year period blending the influences and traditions of the people who settled here. It is not only magnificent plantation homes legendary historical and architectural treasures, but also a place where Native Americans, French, Germans, Spanish, Creoles, Acadians (known locally as Cajuns), slaves from Africa and the West Indies, free people of color, Anglo-Americans, Italians, and others lived, worked, and played. They have all influenced our food and architecture, customs and lifestyle, our legends and lore.

The Mississippi River Road offers something of interest to everyone: prehistoric Indian sites, grand mansions and creole architecture, small, atmospheric churches and cemeteries with headstones in French, a 200-year-old sugar industry, old plantation stores, small local museums, river towns and much more. And don’t forget the area’s venerable centerpiece, the historic, romantic, amazing Mississippi River The River Road is a place that offers something for everyone, that speaks to all who venture along it, into the pages of a long and remarkable history.