By Jeanni Ritchie
Ascension Parish calls itself Louisiana’s Sweet Spot, and the nickname works on more than one level. While it pays homage to the region’s sugar cane roots, it also serves as a fitting description of a destination packed with history, beautiful scenery, and unexpected discoveries.
Before this trip, I had never spent time exploring Ascension Parish. What I found was a place that blended Louisiana history with memorable experiences in a way that left me already wanting to plan a return visit.
One of the highlights of my visit was Houmas House and Gardens in Darrow. Known as The Crown Jewel of Louisiana’s River Road, Houmas House offers visitors a glimpse into Louisiana’s past while surrounding them with acres of stunning gardens and grounds.
My first stop at Houmas, however, involved a much more immediate need: lunch.
At Dixie Café, I ordered what may have been the best crawfish pie I’ve ever eaten. Stuffed with crawfish and rice and topped with Cajun saffron sauce, it was rich, flavorful, and worth every bite. Paired with gumbo and beautiful garden views, it was the perfect way to begin the day.
My next stop was the Great River Road Museum, housed in the same location.
The museum manages to educate while also creating emotional connections to the stories being told. Historical scenes and exhibits brought the past to life in a way that felt immersive rather than simply informational.
From Napoleon in a bathtub agreeing to sell the Louisiana Purchase to a young bride seeking advice from Marie Laveau, the wax figures are so lifelike I actually spoke to a costumed guide before realizing she was not real! Plantation exhibits, colonial artifacts, and sugar cane displays filled the museum, along with wax re-enactments of the battles that shaped history.
A heartbreaking exhibit was an entire room called Africans in Louisiana, which depicted lifelike figures on auction blocks, in chains, and ripped from their families. The air was heavy in the exhibit, the realization of what was once material for a history quiz in living color before our eyes.
The Great River Road Museum quickly became one of my all-time favorite museums, one every Louisiana History class in the state should visit.
After the museum, I explored the Houmas Gardens. It didn’t take long to understand why there were so many professional photographers around. There were at least 60 perfect backdrops you can’t get inside a studio. From women in wedding dresses taking engagement photos to high school graduates and one woman taking professional headshots (or a Tinder profile, I didn’t ask!), the settings were gorgeous. One wedding photo mom told me her daughter was a twin and the sister had gotten married last month. She was excited, but exhausted!
I took pictures myself, posing my travel bear in front of fountains and in trees. We sat in rockers in a courtyard and listened to jazz music. The flowers were in full bloom, the forecasted rain had held off, and the atmosphere was serene.
The Houmas House Estate allows visitors to experience the life of wealthy plantation owners in the 1800s. The mansion has been restored to the antebellum era, reflecting the opulence and wealth this sugarcane farm boasted in the 1880s.
The property has been used in several films and tv shows, including The Green Book, a location shoot for The Bachelor, and one of my all-time favorite tv movies, the Joanna Garcia-film Revenge of the Bridesmaids.
I ended the day at Cabahanosse Bed & Breakfast in nearby Donaldsonville, a unique property located above an antique store. I’d rolled my eyes at all the comments praising the comfort of the bed. It’s a bed, I thought. You’re asleep.
Nonetheless, I booked a room.
After settling into my room with the antique furniture, I spent the rest of the evening working on the front porch as jazz music drifted through the air from the nearby River Road African American Museum. As the sun went down, the twinkling lights wrapped around the porch columns came on, making it a peaceful, charming, and perfect ending to a day of exploration.
Then I woke up the next morning.
And I realized exactly what the guests had been saying. That was, hands-down, the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in! I’d go back just for a good night’s sleep in that bed.
But then I’d have to go visit the museum and the gardens again, because they definitely earned the title of Louisiana’s Sweet Spot!
Sometimes the sweetest destinations are the ones you never expected to fall in love with, the opening acts that deserve to be headliners.
Check out the author’s visit to the Great River Road Museum and Houmas House and Gardens
