Hey Louisiana! 75 Big Easy Facts About the Bayou State
“Louisiana” is the opening tune to The Walkmen’s fantastic 2006 album A Hundred Miles Off. It’s also the 18th state to be admitted into the Union. Not only that, Louisiana is 18th when you recite the states in alphabetical order — which is what we’ve been doing here at Content Bash. Following the first 17 states that include Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, and Kentucky, here are several dozen facts about the state that has shaped so much of the world’s economy and culture for the past 300 years.
What is Louisiana known for?
1. New Orleans! The Big Easy is a big party scene that takes place pretty much all year round at all hours of the night. It’s among the top 12 or so most populous cities in America, and the port that accesses the Mississippi River has been a crucial part of the world economy for almost 300 years. It has a very rich cultural history so influential — albeit sometimes a problematic one — that has influenced the culture of the world at large.
2. Mardi Gras! Something like 1.4 million people gather in New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras, which is something like 4x the population of New Orleans. Gras-goers hang out on Canal Street and Bourbon Street to watch the festivities and throw (and collect) beads and get shitfaced, sometimes in elaborate costumes. It’s been called the Greatest Free Show on Earth and it’s like Spring Break for people who enjoy acting like they’re still in college. If that sounds like you, you will enjoy Mardi Gras and you should go!
3. Jazz! Perhaps the only uniquely American art form, jazz was basically invented in Louisiana. It is very tough to credit one single event or person for the origins of jazz. Buddy Bolden started his jazz band in 1895. Jelly Roll Morton claims to have invented jazz in 1902. The first jazz record was “Livery Stable Blues” by Nick LaRocca and his Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1917. Wherever and however jazz music began, the beginnings were in Louisiana.
4. Cajun and Creole culture, which is made up of the descendants of Spanish and French colonial settlers, as well as some of the African slaves that were brought over. The presence is so strong in Louisiana that almost 7% of the population here speak Spanish and/or some variation of French. All of these cultural elements have resulted in a very American melting pot of fashion, food, and music that is celebrated by millions. Many of the things Louisiana is known for — New Orleans, Mardi Gras, Jazz, Creole and Cajun culture — are so intertwined with each other that they seem practically interchangeable. It was tough to write this section without much redundancy.
Official Louisiana state symbols
5. The official state song is “Give Me Louisiana,” which was named as such after being written by Doralice Fontane in 1970.
6. Louisiana actually has a second state song, the very popular tune “You Are My Sunshine,” which was published by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell in 1940. Jimmie Davis is actually a two-time governor of Louisiana and the Louisiana State Legislature chose to honor Davis by naming a second state song in 1977. There are many many versions of the song, but we prefer the Johnny Cash one.
7. The diatonic accordion, often used in zydeco and Cajun music, is the official instrument of Louisiana. Playing the accordion is not a geeky nerdy endeavor at all and though we can’t promise you won’t get beat up for it, we absolutely encourage you to buy your own diatonic accordion.
Click to buy your own diatonic accordion!
8. The green tree frog is the official state amphibian of Louisiana. Ribbet!
9. The official dance of Louisiana is the square dance, which many an American child of a certain era was forced to learn in elementary school.
It also happens to be the official dance of Alabama, Arkansas, and Colorado and Connecticut and Georgia, as well as Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, and Missouri. And Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Oregon, as well as Tennessee and Texas. And Utah. And Virginia. And also Washington state. It’s also the official folk dance of California, New Jersey, and South Carolina.
10. In 1983, Louisiana named the American alligator the official state reptile. Florida and Mississippi also have our alligator friend as a state symbol. Rawr!
11. Louisiana has an official state boat, and it’s the pirogue, which is basically very similar to a canoe.
12. The beautiful Catahoula Leopard became the official dog of Louisiana in 1979. The breed originated in the state and is even named after the Catahoula Parish in Louisiana.
13. Despite the state’s reputation as a big party scene because of Mardi Gras, milk was somehow made the official drink of Louisiana in 1983. The entire state remains very perplexed by this. It’s also a state symbol for Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and also Wisconsin.
14. The Louisiana iris was named the state wildflower in 1990, and these mfs can grow up to 6 feet tall. Here is a picture of it!
15. The Louisiana state wildflower should not be confused with the official Louisiana state flower, which is the magnolia blossom.
16. Strawberries are delicious! It’s also been the state fruit of Louisiana since 1980. There is an annual Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula, Louisiana and if you call yourself a strawberry-lover but you’ve never been to Ponchatoula, then you are probably a poseur that just pretends to like strawberries, like every state that isn’t Louisiana or Delaware or North Carolina or Oklahoma. If you love strawberries for real, then you should prove it and buy some right now.
17. The sweet potato was designated the official vegetable of Louisiana in 2003. Have you ever had sweet potato fries? They’re pretty good, especially with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. They’re also super nutritious and were grown in Louisiana by Native Americans as far back as the 1500s.
18. The official state freshwater fish of Louisiana is the white perch, designated as such in 1993. The female can lay 150,000 eggs at once! Not quite as much as your mother, but still impressive nonetheless.
19. The Louisiana black bear was made the official Louisiana state mammal in 1992, the same year the folks at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed them as threatened. It’s also the state mammal for Alabama, New Mexico, and West Virginia.
20. The Brown Pelican is the official state bird of Louisiana. It had been considered endangered since 1970 thanks to pesticides contaminating their food chain, but they have slowly rebounded in population in the decades since. In 2013, the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA were rebranded as the New Orleans Pelicans.
21. Here is the Louisiana state flag. Check it out. It has a bad-ass pelican on it regurgitating food for its babies. Go Louisiana go!
Facts about early Louisiana history
22. The earliest known peoples who occupied present-day Louisiana are the Mound Builders, around 4000 B.C.
23. The very first European guys to grace Louisiana was a Spanish expedition led by the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez in 1528.
24. Hernando de Soto came around a few years later in 1542 and spent the next year or so following the Mississippi River all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
25. A whole bunch of French and French Canadian expeditions established settlements around the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River in the late 17th century. In 1663, the French explorer Robert Cavalier de La Salle called the area La Louisianne to honor Louis XIV, who was the king of France.
26. In 1714, Louis Juchereau de St. Denis established the Natchitoches settlement along the Red River. It is the oldest permanent white settlement of Louisiana.
27. Over the next couple decades starting in 1722, the boundaries of Louisiana would slowly be defined and redefined as France and Spain would wrestle for control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River.
28. In 1763, after the French and Indian War — which is also referred to as the Seven Years’ War — France gave up most of the territory easy of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.
29. It’s a bit hard to grasp just how big Louisiana was at one point. In 1800, the region of Louisiana reached all the way up to the southern-most parts of mainland Canada.
30. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was a big fucking deal, in terms of the United States expanding. For like $18 per square mile — or $15 million — the United Sates acquired 828,000 square miles of land that included parts or all of 15 different states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
31. On Thursday, April 30, 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state to join the Union.
32. Unfortunately, Louisiana has a deep history with slavery. The first African slaves were brought to Louisiana in 1708 and by 1840, New Orleans had the largest slave market in the United States, contributing to its status as one of the wealthiest cities in America at that time. By 1860, slaves made up like 47% of the population of Louisiana.
33. On January 26, 1861, after the election of Abraham Lincoln, Louisiana seceded from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America.
34. As a Confederate state, Louisiana did not last very long. New Orleans was captured by Federal troops on April 1862.
35. The New Orleans Massacre of 1866 was a thing. A whole bunch of members of the old Confederacy, the New Orleans Police Force and/or white supremacists attacked and killed dozens (some reports say even 200) of Black people.
36. Two of the first Black governors of the United States were in Louisiana: Oscar Dunn (in office 1868 to 1871) and his successor P.B.S. Pinchback (1872 to 1873).
37. From 1928 to 1932, Huey Long was a very popular Governor. Huey then began serving as Senator until his assassination in 1935.
38. The 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was enacted on May 21, 1919. Louisiana did not ratify it until June 11, 1970. Isn’t that fucked up?
39. Hurricane Katrina came along on August 29, 2005 and absolutely devastated New Orleans. Fucking like 80% of the city was flooded, with at least 1,800 casualties and $125 billion worth of damage. A true tragedy of epic proportions that illustrated just how fragile the infrastructure is in the United States.
Fun, cool & weird facts about Louisiana
40. Rayne, Louisiana is the Frog Capital of the World. Rayne was once the center of the Louisiana frog industry, shipping some 500,000 edible frogs in 1937. The town started officially celebrating its froggy roots in1973 by hosting the first Frog Festival. People dress up frogs in costumes and top hats and everything. It’s very cute.
41. Pretty much all cemeteries have their above-ground crypts face east to west. However, the St. Joseph’s cemetery in Rayne, Louisiana is notable for being the only Christian graveyard in America where the graves face north to south.
42. Speaking of cemeteries, legendary actor Nicolas Cage (star of Bringing Out the Dead, among other flicks), purchased a pair of plots in the St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans and build a 9-foot-tall pyramid there, which is an extremely Nicolas Cage thing to do.
43. Gueydan, Louisiana is considered the Duck Capital of America. This is a lil weird because Stuttgart, Arkansas is considered the Duck Capital of the World.
44. Crowley, Louisiana is known to be the Rice Capital of the World, and the host of the International Rice Festival every October for more than 85 years. Again, this is weird because Stuttgart, Arkansas has also been called the Rice Capital of the World.
45. Of all the capital buildings in the United States, Louisiana has the tallest one at 450 feet tall.
46. More than 40 colleges and universities are located in Louisiana, including Tulane University and Louisiana State University. Think you’ve got what it takes to be an LSU Tiger like Shaquille O’Neal? Take your best shot and apply to LSU today!
47. Hurricane Katrina totally wiped out a Great Adventure in New Orleans. It is now the site of some big-budget film productions, including Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and Jurassic World (2015).
48. On November 15, 2014, Guinness World Record history was made in New Orleans, Louisiana when 406 people gathered to set the record for most people twerking simultaneously. You are very much encouraged to gather 406 of your best friends to beat this.
49. The very first opera performed in the United States was André Grétry’s Sylvain in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 22, 1796, back when the territory was still under Spanish rule. New Orleans quickly became known as The Opera Capital of North America. It’s where Placido Domingo got his start, and he’s surely an opera person you may have heard of before.
What famous people are from Louisiana?
50. Action film star Carl Weathers, perhaps best known for his role as Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, was born in New Orleans. Carl also played in the 1969 Pasadena Bowl as a defensive end for the San Diego State University Aztecs, as well as in a few games for the Oakland Raiders in the early 1970s.
51. Angela Martin was the funniest character on both versions of The Office. We stand by this statement. Angela Kinsey is the actor who played her and she was born in Lafayette, Louisiana. She actually grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, though, and she even still speaks the language.
52. Notable baseball players born in Louisiana include Mel Ott (Gretna), Will Clark (New Orleans), Reggie Smith (Shreveport), Vida Blue (Mansfield), Lee Smith (Jamestown), and Ron Guidry (Lafayette). Guidry won the American League Cy Young in 1978 and was actually nicknamed Louisiana Lightning.
53. Fats Domino — whom Elvis Presley once called “the real king of rock-n-roll” — was among the first inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Fats was born in New Orleans, and honed his groundbreaking sound with what he’d heard performing in bars since he was 14 years old. His classic songs like “I’m Gonna Be a Wheel Someday,” “Let the Four Winds Blow,” and “My Girl Josephine” — among many many others — are bangers of all time. Predictably, Fats Domino remained well-loved in Louisiana until his death in 2017 at age 89.
54. Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. — better known as Lil Wayne — was born in New Orleans. Weezy F. Baby spent some of his childhood in Louisiana’s 17th Ward in Hollygrove, which is often referenced in his work.
55. The Manning football brothers — Peyton Manning and Eli Manning — have won 3 Super Bowls between them. They were both born in New Orleans.
56. Reese Witherspoon won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005). She is literally like one of the most powerful women in the entire world right now, and she was born in New Orleans.
57. A lot of NBA Hall-of-Famers were born in Louisiana. They include Robert Parrish (Shreveport), Karl Malone (Summerfield), Clyde Drexler (New Orleans), Elvin Hayes (Rayville), Bill Russell (Monroe), and Joe Dumars (Shreveport).
Louisiana topography & geography
58. The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge.
59. Population-wise, New Orleans is the biggest city in New Orleans.
60. Other major cities in Louisiana include Lafayette and Shreveport-Bossier City.
61. Over 604,000 acres of central northern Louisiana make up Kistachie National Forest, the only one in the state.
62. Driskill Mountain is the highest point in the state of Louisiana at 535 feet above sea level.
63. The lowest point in the state of Louisiana is New Orleans at -8 feet below sea level. This also happens to be the 2nd-lowest point in the country.
64. Louisiana doesn’t really have counties, but parishes. There are 64 parishes in Louisiana.
65. Three states border Louisiana: Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east.
66. There are 52,069 square miles of Louisiana, which ranks 31st among the states.
67. About 600 miles of the Mississippi River runs through the state of Louisiana, emptying out into the Gulf of Mexico.
68. If you were to drive across Louisiana from north to south, it would be 379 miles. If you were to go from east to west, the trip would be 130 miles.
Where should I visit in Louisiana?
69. The LSU Museum of Art at the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana has a 6,500-object collection of Chinese jade, sculpture, paintings, and photography. It’s a must-visit for anyone interested in Louisiana-centric arts and culture.
70. The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum is located in the French Quarter, and has been entertaining and engaging visitors on the history of voodoo since 1972. In addition to their displays of voodoo artifacts and relics, they offer walking tours of nearby cemeteries and if you ask them nicely, they may even put you in touch with voodoo practitioners who could possibly maybe help you out with your own voodoo needs.
71. The Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland, Louisiana, and it is managed by the son of one of the men who killed the bank-robbing lovebirds. It’s also the site of their last meal — a BLT for her and fried bologna for him — before they were killed about 7 miles away.
72. The New Orleans Jazz Museum is located in an old U.S. Mint building by the French Quarter holds concerts practically every single day, as well as at least 15 festivals a year. They also happen to have over 25,000 artifacts in their museum — considered the most comprehensive of its kind in the world — and should be essential visiting for any jazz fan when they’re in New Orleans.
73. The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, located on the Mississippi River in New Orleans, is considered one of the best in the country. Featuring endangered species like white alligators and African penguins as well as 250 other kinds of animals, water animal lovers will find lots to love here.
74. The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum is a throwback to the days of concoctions, potions, and elixirs that claimed to cure ails — but without the oversight of regulatory bodies to tell companies like Bayer not to make heroin anymore. This location is the also the sight of the first apothecary shop in the United States to have a licensed pharmacist, a dude named Louis J. Dufilho Jr.
75. The Louisiana Children’s Museum in New Orleans has 30,000 square feet of playspace for your kiddos and rug rats, including science exhibits, mock kitchens, and outdoor activities that are sure to engage your little ones.
Cover Image Credit: Image by Rene Rauschenberger from Pixabay
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