Photography

Explore the dark and mysterious past of New Orleans with this riveting collection of tales that devle into the most haunted city in America.

New Orleans--the Big Easy, the birthplace of jazz, home of Cafe du Monde and what some call the most haunted city in America. Beneath the indulgence and revelry of the Crescent City lies a long history of the dark and mysterious. From the famous "Queen of Voodoo," Marie Laveau, who is said to haunt the site of her grave, to the wicked LaLauries, whose true natures were hidden behind elegance and the trappings of high society, New Orleans is filled with spirits of all kinds. Some of the ghosts in these stories have sordid and scandalous histories, while others are friendly specters who simply can't leave their beloved city behind. Join supernatural historian Troy Taylor as he takes readers beyond the French Quarter and shows a side of New Orleans never seen.

See how New Orleans became a place where several cultures met and blended to create a city and lifestyle unlike any in the United States.

Few cities boast a heritage as rich and a local color as dynamic as that of New Orleans, which is known around the world for its unique architecture, exquisite cuisine, flamboyant celebrations, and exotic peoples. Founded in 1718 as a backwater outpost of France, New Orleans was the catalyst for the greatest land deal in the history of the world, the Louisiana Purchase. Discover in these pages what made one city so appealing that one-third of the continental United States was purchased in order to obtain it. Images of the old city streets and such well-known districts as the French Quarter reveal the charm and mystery of New Orleans, and are complimented by informative and historical captions. A virtual tour of the city, New Orleans provides readers with a glimpse into the past and preserves the images of landmarks that have vanished. A scrapbook of memories for longtime residents of the city, this unique pictorial history will also be embraced by the millions of visitors who are captivated by the Crescent City.

Join author and Louisiana historian Eric J. Brock on a visual tour of the most captivating New Orleans burial sites -  above ground!

The mysticism of cemeteries is inescapable and the cemeteries of New Orleans are no exception. They have long enticed residents and visitors alike with their beauty and rich history. We are intrigued by the way these sacred cities of the dead have the ability to both fascinate and unnerve us at the same time. Within these final resting places lie many personal histories marked by myriad monuments ranging from grand architectural homages to endearing sculptures and simple gravestones. In New Orleans, the cemeteries are unique in that they are primarily built above ground. Done in part because of the city's location below sea level, this type of burial is also a common practice rooted in the area's Latin culture tradition. Witness this for yourself with over 200 photographs accompanied by an illuminating narrative of some of the most intriguing burial sites of the Crescent City.

In 1984, the city of New Orleans hosted the last world's fair held in the United States.

Conceived as part of an ambitious effort to revitalize a dilapidated section of the city and establish New Orleans as a year-round tourist destination, it took more than 12 years of political intrigue and design changes before the gates finally opened. Stretching 84 acres along the Mississippi River, the fair entertained more than seven million guests with a colorful collection of pavilions, rides, and restaurants during its six-month run. While most world's fairs lose money, the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair had the dubious distinction of going bankrupt and almost closing early. However, the $350-million investment did succeed in bringing new life to the area, which is now home to the city's convention center and a bustling arts district.

Fear, rumor and white supremacist ideals clashed with an unprecedented labor action spawned an epic tragedy.

On November 23, 1887, white vigilantes gunned down unarmed black laborers and their families due to strikes on Louisiana sugar cane plantations. A future member of the U.S. House of Representatives was among the leaders of a mob that routed black men from houses and forced them to a stretch of railroad track, ordering them to run for their lives before gunning them down. According to a witness, the guns firing in the black neighborhoods sounded like a battle. Author and award-winning reporter John DeSantis uses correspondence, interviews and federal records to detail this harrowing true story.

Historians Victoria Cosner Love and author Lorelei Shannon uncover the truth behind one of New Orleans' most famous stories and one of America's most haunted houses.

On April 10, 1834 Firefighters smashed through a padlocked attic door in the burning home of Creole society couple Delphine and Louis Lalaurie. The horrible discovery of chained and mutilated slaves spawned a legend that has endured for over 150 years. But what really happened in the Lalaurie home? Who was Mad Madame Lalaurie, and what motivated her to commit such ghastly atrocities, if in fact she really did?

Delve deep into the history of Lake Charles, Louisiana's past, through pirates, Creoles and cowboys, and other lost stories with historian Adley Cormier.

Fires, hurricanes, neglect and progress erased much of Lake Charles's physical history. The young town was a magnet for pirates and privateers, like the infamous Jean Lafitte, who conducted business at the mouth of what is today called the Contraband Bayou. Michigan Men, creoles and cowboys made their way to the fledgling Louisiana town to start new lives. A great lumber industry shaped the town in the nineteenth century. Streetcars ran routes around the clock seven days a week. Author and historian Adley Cormier delves deep into Lake Charles's past to uncover a history that has been lost to time and change.

Local author Andy Peter Antippas presents a walking history of the Vieux Carre, one alley, corner and street at a time.

Walking through the French Quarter can overwhelm the senses--and the imagination. The experience is much more meaningful with knowledge of the area's colorful history. For instance, the infamous 1890 separate but equal legal doctrine justifying racial segregation was upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court at the Cabildo on Jackson Square. In the mid-twentieth century, a young Lee Harvey Oswald called Exchange Alley home. One of New Orleans' favorite drinks--the sazerac--would not exist if Antoine Peychaud had not served his legendary bitters with cognac from his famous apothecary at 437 Royal.

At the close of the nineteenth century, Louisiana's ports hosted an influx of Italian immigrants. Like so many immigrant communities before, acclimating to their new home was not easy.

Though the Italian contribution to Louisiana's culture is palpable and celebrated, at one time ethnic Italians were constantly embroiled in scandal, sometimes deserved and sometimes as scapegoats. The new immigrants hoped that they would be welcomed and see for themselves the streets paved with gold. Their new lives, however, were difficult. Italians in Louisiana faced prejudice, violence and political exile for their refusal to accept the southern racial mores. Author and historian Alan Gauthreaux documents the experience of those Italians who arrived in Louisiana over one hundred years ago..

Opelousas, one of Louisiana's oldest European settlements, takes its name from the Opelousas tribe, who roamed the area for years before the first French explorers arrived.

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the community was called Opelousas Church until it was officially incorporated as a town in 1821. Known for its hospitality, music, cuisine, and cultural diversity, Opelousas prospered during antebellum times, survived the Civil War, and suffered through the period of Reconstruction. In the late 1870s, the town again began to flourish with an increasing population and a great number of new businesses. The coming of the railroad in the 1880s led to more economic development, and Opelousas grew to be one of the most progressive towns in the state by the turn of the 20th century. In the 21st century, Opelousas is again seeing a revival of its past glory and continues to be the seat of Imperial St. Landry Parish, a title it has held for over 200 years.

Carola Lillie Hartley, a native of Opelousas, has worked for the city as tourism director and in 1993 became the first Opelousas Main Street director. A community activist and local historian for over 50 years, she has written numerous books and articles about Opelousas, including a weekly column titled Parlons Opelousas for the Daily World newspaper, part of the USA network.

The Voodoo tradition continues in the Crescent City even today. Rory Schmitt and Rosary O'Neill study the altars, art, history and ceremonies that anchor Voodoo in New Orleans culture.

There is no more compelling nor more spiritual city than New Orleans. The city's Roman Catholic roots and its blended French, Spanish, Creole and American Indian populations heavily influenced the rites and rituals that West Africans brought to Louisiana as enslaved laborers. The resulting unique Voodoo tradition is now deeply rooted in the area. Enslaved practitioners in the nineteenth century held Voodoo dances in designated public areas like Congo Square but conducted their secret rituals away from the prying eyes of the city. By 1874, some twelve thousand New Orleanians attended Voodoo queen Marie Laveau's St. John's Eve rites on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The Voodoo tradition continues in the Crescent City even today.

Engulfed by the bayou, Lafourche is a parish rich in history and culture known for its close-knit, family-centered communities.

The parish was originally inhabited by Native American tribes and later by European, African, and English settlers, and many of the residents of Lafourche can trace their ancestry back to these early settlers, strengthening the sense of community that is distinctive to southern Louisiana. The fertile bayou delta fostered small vegetable farms as well as large sugarcane plantations that continue to thrive. The numerous waterways and marshes of the parish produce bountiful catches of fish, seafood, and other wildlife, giving rise to its reputation as a sportsmen's paradise. The parish's economy is also made up of a shipbuilding industry as well as the oil industry, and because of the continuous pattern of homes and businesses that sprung up organically along the bayou, many refer to the town as the "Longest Street in the World."

Bayou St. John played a significant role in the neighborhood of the same name, fueling debate over the waterway's use, control and ownership for centuries.

Native Americans first used it as a trade route. Later, it became a backdoor entrance for settlers to the present-day French Quarter. As commercial use declined, residents witnessed a progressive shift toward recreation. Following the Civil War, tourists flocked to witness Marie Laveau's voodoo ceremonies. The early twentieth century brought two amusement parks. And events like the Bayou Boogaloo music festival draw thousands of visitors. Despite its many costume changes, the bayou continues to be the Crescent City's most beloved waterway. Author Cassie Pruyn reveals this evolving story.

In Images of America: Lake Pontchartrain, photographs document memories of a time that not even Hurricane Katrina could erase.

Native Americans used Okwata, meaning ""wide water,"" as a shortcut for inland trade between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. When the Europeans arrived, the original inhabitants showed them the route--the settlement near the river became the city of New Orleans, other lakeshore communities grew, and Lake Pontchartrain continued to be a vital waterway well into the 20th century. Aside from its economic value, Lake Pontchartrain was a cultural mecca: Mark Twain wrote about it and jazz sprang from its shores; locals and visitors traveled out to the amusement parks and opera pavilions, simple fishing villages and swanky yacht clubs, forts and lighthouses; and majestic hotels and camps perched precariously over the water.

New Orleans was one of the first cities to embrace street railways, and the city's love affair with streetcars has never ceased. New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line showcases photographs, diagrams, and maps that detail the rail line from its origin and golden years, its decline and disappearance for almost 40 years, and its return to operation. From the French Quarter to the cemeteries, the Canal Line ran through the heart of the city and linked the Creole Faubourgs with the new neighborhoods that stretched to Lake Pontchartrain.

Over the course of many decades, the city of Shreveport witnessed dramatic growth and ever-changing landscapes.

Mule-drawn railways gave way to electric streetcars, and what was once the Confederate capital of the state became today's vibrant commercial hub of northwest Louisiana. Drawing from their extensive image collection, authors Joiner and Roberson depict the forgotten scenes and lost stories that form the complex layers of Shreveport history. From the famous performances of Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show to the infamous red-light district, from the decline of vigilante justice to the victims who perished from yellow fever, Joiner and Roberson recover and remember lost Shreveport.

Let the good times roll down in New Orleans! Read the secrets and origins of the beloved Mardi Gras.

New Orleans practically owns Mardi Gras, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone who would deny it. The wild celebration brings thousands of tourists to Louisiana each year, but none of it would be possible without the carnival krewes. The backbone of this Big Easy tradition, different krewes put on extravagant paries and celebrations to commemorate the beginning of the Lenten season. Historic krewes such as Comus, Rex, and Zulu date back generations and have become part of New Orleans' greater history, but today, what was once an exclusive position has widened their reach and new krewes are inaugurated regularly to enrich the flavor of Louisiana's cultural melting pot. Through careful and detailed research of over three hundred sources, author and New Orleans native Rosary O'Neill explores this storied institution, its antebellum roots, and its effects in the twenty-first century.

Join Tulane University Archivist Ann E. Smith Case as she recounts the history of this illustrious university using vintage images.

Tulane University was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young doctors who saw the need for trained physicians in the city of New Orleans. In 1847, it evolved into the public University of Louisiana, also offering law, liberal arts, and science coursework; it became a private institution in 1884 after Paul Tulane's donation. The addition of Newcomb College, the nation's first coordinate women's college, completed the university's basic structure in 1886. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck, forcing Tulane to close for a semester. It emerged from the floodwaters restructured and renewed into the progressive university focused on public service that it is today. The photographs in this book take readers through the collegiate experience of former Tulane and Newcomb students to illustrate the meaning of the Tulane motto, ""Non sibi sed suis""--""Not for one's self, but for one's own.""

Join author Catherine Campanella as she recounts the history of one of the country's largest city parks located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

City Park's 1,300 acres cradle the largest collection of mature live oaks in the nation. Established in 1854, it is one of the country's largest urban parks (457 acres larger than New York's City's Central Park and two years older) and contains the highest earthen elevation in New Orleans. City Park has welcomed as many as 11 million visitors per year who walk among 50 species of trees, including bald cypress, southern magnolia, and pine, and the thousands of ancient southern live oaks. At one mile wide and three miles long, the park's 11 miles of lagoons (the largest in the shape of Lake Pontchartrain) are stocked with a variety of fish. Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts, Mission, and modern architecture complete City Park. It is a precious and beloved jewel.

New Orleans’ Magazine Street has undergone remarkable changes over it’s long history. From an overlooked district of mostly unassuming residences and businesses, it has evolved into one of the country’s most dynamic and attractive business thoroughfares. Once host to neighborhood grocers, druggists, and cleaners, today Magazine has become a destination of fashion boutiques, gift shops, design studios, antique stores, and galleries. It is also one of the most important dining and drinking streets in town. Still home to little neighborhood eateries, Magazine now hosts some of the city’s most renowned restaurants. Yet even with the transformation the street has seen, the soul of Magazine retains its residential charm.

A beautiful coffee table book, The Incomparable Magazine Street traces the history and culture of the road that curves between stately St. Charles Avenue and the river. It speaks to not only how Magazine fits into the urban growth of the Crescent City, but it also highlights what it has become: an enchanting combination of both elegance and the down-to-earth.

A stroll through the book immerses visitors in history and nostalgia while introducing them to the people and places that make the six-mile-long street one of New Orleans’ greatest assets. Glowing photographs capture the small details, the varying streetscapes, and the unique people that make Magazine Street one of a kind. While areas of the city have evolved into a world of visitors, Magazine Street has developed its own character that combines the past and present to become a vibrant community destination.

Explore the social, family, political and religious history of the Italians - one of New Orleans' most remarkable ethnic groups.

Between 1850 and 1870, New Orleans boasted the largest Italian-born population of any city in the United States. Its early Italian immigrants included musicians, business leaders, and diplomats. Sadly, in 1891, 11 members of the large Sicilian settlement in New Orleans were victims of the largest mass lynching in American history. However, by 1910, the city's French Quarter was a Little Palermo with Italian entrepreneurs, laborers, and restauranteurs dominating the scene.

Trace the history of Lake Charles in pictures as it grew from a small town to a a lumber industry center, and to the petrochemical hub and vibrant city it is today.

Isolated from the main transportation routes during the early 19th century, Lake Charles was a backwater of 500 people when incorporated in 1867. The arrival of the schooners and the railroad integrated it into the corridor between Galveston, Houston, and New Orleans, and Lake Charles grew rapidly after the Civil War. Streams of migrants from Europe, nearby communities in Texas and Louisiana, and northern states moved here and built a booming lumber industry. Though beset by fires, storms, and floods, the city rebuilt many times, and in the 20th century, Lake Charles and its environs became an important petrochemical center. Today, the city sponsors annual festivals that celebrate its heritage. Lake Charles supports many fine public schools, a regional university, and artistic endeavors of which it is justly proud, including a symphony, a community band, and a variety of choruses, theater associations, and dance companies—all of which are pictured within the pages of Images of America: Lake Charles.

Beyond the façade of stately Louisiana platations are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest.

After sixteen workers chopped down most of the Houmas House's ancient oak trees, referred to as the Gentlemen, eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez's Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim's spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

Metairie was the first suburb of New Orleans; an outgrowth to the west by young families seeking larger lots, open air, and affordable new housing.

Those suburbanites shared much in common with previous generations of New Orleanians who had migrated westward from the original town (now the French Quarter) to high land along the Mississippi River and the Metairie Ridge. When Jefferson Parish was established in 1825, it included all New Orleans faubourgs west of Felicity Street--what we now know as Uptown New Orleans. These would become the first cities in Jefferson Parish: Carrolton, Jefferson, and Lafayette. By the early 1900s, the westward expansion continued into what we now call Old Metairie and Bucktown. During the mid-20th century, Metairie boomed and is now one of the largest communities in Louisiana. While many residents consider themselves New Orleanians, even those born generations after their families moved to the suburb, Metairie has its own unique history.

From the American Railroad to Space - Discover the fascinating history of the Michoud Assembly Facility.

After an auspicious beginning as a royal land grant from French king Louis XV to a wealthy French citizen of New Orleans in 1763, the land Michoud Assembly Facility occupies remained in private ownership until 1940, when it was sold to the US government. Prior to World War II, the site was used to grow sugar, hunt muskrat, and build railroad and telephone lines. In 1941, the world's largest industrial site was built, covering 43 acres of unobstructed, low-humidity, air-cooled space under one roof to construct C-46 cargo planes. The Korean War required the assembly of Sherman and Patton tanks there, while the space race compelled the design and assembly of the colossal Saturn I, IB, and V rocket boosters for the Apollo program that reported directly to Dr. Wernher von Braun. The 1970s saw the fabrication of the enormous external tank for the Space Shuttle program. Today, Michoud Assembly Facility continues to support the US space program by building major components for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (or MPCV).

Using materials from the vast university archives in the Edith Garland Dupré Library, Drs. Zachary G. Stein and Michael S. Martin trace the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's dynamic history.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) welcomed its first classes in 1901. Originally a vocational school, the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, it has since grown in physical size from a small parcel of former farmland to a campus of more than 1,300 acres and a student population of a handful of students to over 19,000 enrollees. Under the leadership of six presidents across more than 120 years, UL Lafayette’s students and faculty have overcome devastating adversities and ushered in dynamic changes. They provided relief amid the Great Flood of 1927, built military training programs during World War II, and developed among the nation’s earliest computer science labs and classes. Dozens of Black students made history in 1954 by being the first cohort to desegregate a previously all-white public college in the Deep South. Today, as an R1 institution, UL Lafayette continues to expand its reach through pathbreaking research, technological and environmental innovation, and dedication to its region’s unique cultures and history. 

While the name of the city New Orleans itself implies reinvention, among its traits most beloved by residents and visitors alike in the 21st century are the things that have not changed much over time. Jazz, flavor, celebration, and a warm welcome are always on the menu.  Lifelong resident and author Troy Broussard recounts the more than three-century story of a city as familiar with rebuilding and rebirth after tragedy as it is with revelry.

In St. Landry Parish, Native American, European, African, and Acadian cultures have melded for three centuries to produce zydeco music, great food, and welcoming people.

St. Landry Parish, one of the oldest European settlements in Louisiana, has a fascinating history and culture. By the 15th century, the Appalousa Indians were known to be in residence. In 1720, the French established le Poste des Opelousas. Traditionally an area of settlement by French Creoles and Acadians, the parish was named for St. Landry, an early bishop of Paris. In the late 1700s, les gens de couleur libres (free people of color) began arriving to take advantage of Spanish land grants. Soon, the government post developed into a commercial center. In the present-day parish, Native American, European, African, and Acadian cultures have melded for almost three centuries to produce world-famous zydeco music, great food, and welcoming people. It celebrates its heritage at the Creole Heritage Folklife Center, one of the destinations on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.

Today three towns and five villages are located in north Caddo Parish, while the memories of 10 historic communities remain strong.

In 1835, the United States purchased close to one million acres of land from the Caddo Confederacy of Native Americans; the Louisiana portion became known as Caddo Parish. The Indian agency's protection of that land delayed the settlement of the parish for 25 years or more after it began in other parts of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. The Red River logjam that existed for a few hundred years backed up bayous, which in return created navigable streams and lakes. The uplands contained massive stands of virgin timbers and bountiful fruit, berries, fish, and game. The first land patents were sold in 1841, and by 1850, the area was known as Caddo Prairie. For a majority of the next 100 years, steamboat traffic, homesteaders, plantations, subsistence farmers, logging operations, entrepreneurs, and a building boom brought on by the railroad and oil industries uniquely melded to define local, cultural history.

In The Jewish Community of Shreveport the rich history of this influential and vibrant citizenry is chronicled by well-known Louisiana historian Eric J. Brock, archivist of Shreveport's B'nai Zion Temple. Nearly 18 decades of Jewish life in Shreveport are depicted in over 200 vintage images, many of which are previously unpublished. Both of the city's synagogues, B'nai Zion and Agudath Achim, are represented, as are many of the rabbis, business leaders, political leaders (including three mayors), and laypeople from the community's long history.

Louisiana's famous Cajun Country is a place where today's travelers can still experience the rich heritage and traditions that began in the eighteenth century.

From foodways and folktales to music and festivals, Acadiana offers something you can't get anywhere else. Journey through this historic and unique part of the state with travel writer and historian Cher Coen as your guide Experience Cajun Country through its exceptional cuisine, area events, and historic attractions.

Check out the town of Houma, Louisiana's local and internationally-known industry, homes, churches, schools, events, people and more within these pages.

Houma is a name derived from a tribe of Native Americans who settled in what is now Terrebonne Parish, or ""Good Earth."" The town's residents come from French, German, Italian, Scotch and English ancestry. This mix makes for an interesting cross-section of cultures in a charming Louisiana community. Fifty miles southwest of New Orleans and easily accessible from U.S. Highway 90, also known as ""The Old Spanish Trail,"" Houma is also bisected by the Intracoastal Waterway. It has been dubbed the ""Venice of North America,"" because it is the epicenter of six bayous, all of which were at one time tributaries of the Mississippi River.

Houma and the surrounding communities have become known throughout the world for an abundance of seafood, including dried shrimp. The process of drying shrimp is truly unique, as it is only done in this area of the country. Indeed, a dried shrimp packing plant still operates on Main Street in downtown Houma. The production of sugar and other agricultural products, and later the oil industry, also played major roles in Houma's rich history.

Discover the rich heritage and history of Union Parish, Louisiana as preserved by local author W. Gene Barron.

In the late 1830s, prominent local settlers Peter J. Harvey, John Taylor, Col. Matthew Wood, Philip Feazle, Daniel Payne, Stephen Colvin, and Mills Farmer of upper Ouachita Parish Wiley Underwood petitioned the Louisiana Legislature for the creation of a new parish. Created by the legislature on May 13, 1839, it was given the name Union, supposedly because Daniel Webster stated, ""Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable."" By the 1850s, settlers streamed into the parish from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Most came by steamboat, landing at a point on the Ouachita River, which became known as the Alabama Landing since many Alabamians arrived there. Agriculture always dominated the Union Parish economy, evolving from cotton and corn in the 1840s to the 1950s to cattle, timber, and poultry today

Author and historian Chris Dier reveals the horrifying true story behind the St. Bernard Parish Massacre.

As African American men gained the right to vote, white Democrats of St. Bernard Parish feared losing their majority. Armed groups mobilized to suppress these recently emancipated voters in the hopes of regaining a way of life turned upside down by the Civil War and Reconstruction. Days before the tumultuous presidential election of 1868, the parish descended into chaos. Freedpeople were dragged from their homes and murdered in cold blood. Many fled to the cane fields to hide from their attackers. The reported number of those killed varies from 35 to 135. The tragedy was hidden, but implications reverberated throughout the South and lingered for generations.

With its multitude of diverse heritage and various successful industries, Iberia Parish of Louisiana is the true American melting pot.

In the mid-1700s, the French explored the area that is now Iberia Parish, and by 1765, many Acadians had arrived, and the Spanish settled along the Bayou Teche in 1779. They named the area Neuva Iberia after the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. Though sugarcane plantations along Bayou Teche attracted English and American settlers, along with their enslaved laborers, by the mid-19th century, French had become the dominant language of the area. By the end of Reconstruction, distinctions between Acadians and neighboring groups had blurred, giving rise to a new people--the Cajuns. Today, Iberians stay true to the agrarian roots, and Iberia Parish is known as the hottest (tabasco), sweetest (sugarcane), oiliest (oil drilling), and saltiest (salt mines) place on Earth.

In this captivating collection of vintage images, the history of navigation on the Red River unfolds.

Known by the French settlers of the eighteenth century as the Fleuve Rouge, the Red River boasts a fascinating history in Louisiana. It is the state's historic highway along which plantations were built, and upon which their wares went to the great markets of New Orleans and the rest of the world.  Flowing some 1,300 miles through four states, the Red River is the eighth-longest river in the continental United States. Despite numerous disasters, regular navigation occurred on the river for over a century. Huge craft loaded with North Louisiana cotton plied the river between Shreveport and New Orleans, and packet steamers carried mail and passengers to dozens of stops along the river's path. The showboats traveling along the river brought a new form of entertainment to the cities and towns that lined its banks. Included in this volume are views spanning the Great Raft, the opening of the river to navigation and commerce, the role the river played in the Civil War, and the twilight of commercial steam navigation. The first photographic tribute to the river ever published, Red River Steamboats captures a bygone era in Louisiana's history.

Louisiana is perhaps best known for its distinctive French heritage, a legacy visible in the street names and architecture around the state.

The truth is, Louisiana has one of the most culturally diverse populations in the nation, with not only French and Anglo-American settlers, but the Native Americans who lived there already, and the enslaved Africans the new colonists brought with them into Louisiana Territory. A chapter of Louisiana history that tends to be forgotten however, is when the area fell to Spanish control in the late 1700s. Coaxed by promises of new opportunity, thousands of Canary Islanders of Spanish descent relocated to Louisiana, where they established four settlements. Generations of Isleños, that is the ethnic group of descendants from the Canary Islands who have intermarried with other communities, have overcome the challenges of an evolving American society, as well as the devastation of storms that have ripped through their land. Through it all, the Isleños have preserved their unique heritage, traditions and culture for more than two centuries.

In 1887, local businessmen and promoters secured a minor league franchise for the city of New Orleans in the newly formed Southern League, beginning the city's 73-year love affair with the New Orleans Pelicans. From Shoeless Joe Jackson, to Hall of Famers Dazzy Vance, Joe Sewell, Bob Lemon, and Earl Weaver, to today's stars such as Jeff Cirillo and Lance Berkman, the road to the majors brought many notable players through New Orleans. From these early beginnings to the present-day New Orleans Zephyrs of the AAA Pacific Coast League, local fans have continued the tradition of baseball in New Orleans.

Minden thrived commercially, with economic gain centralized in Bayou Dorcheat, which was composed of separate landings acting as shipping points for goods coming from much of northern Louisiana. Industries like cotton farming and the Minden Lumber Mill, formed in 1901 as one of the largest mills in the United States at the time, caused the town's population to nearly double in just ten years. Under the leadership of great men like E.S. Richardson, Minden also became a model for other towns of similar size in the field of education. At the same time, disastrous fires, a catastrophic tornado, and the devastation of the steamboat trade on Bayou Dorcheat by the coming of the railroad challenged the community in the ever-changing twentieth century.

The Ebarb and Toledo Bend area of Louisiana has a fascinating and colorful history.

Founded in 1716, the French Fort St. Jean Baptiste was the first settlement in the area, followed soon after by the Spanish Fort Los Adaes. Many have called this part of Louisiana home, including invading Spanish conquistadores, French trappers, and both Spanish and French missionaries. The area is also home to many Native American tribes who further contributed to the melting pot of customs, religions, food, and folklore that is so prevalent in the area's history.