Welcome to Louisiana, Now What?
I have lived in Louisiana my entire life. I have also lived in a combo of Sulphur and Lake Charles for this entire trip in the world. I feel like I have done and seen a lot of cool things in Louisiana. Now, I haven't been everywhere, but I feel I am well versed in things to do. Well, that was until I decided to research some off the beaten path types of things to explore.
Vacations are expensive. Sure, you can go stay at a casino or go do some fishing or hunting, but maybe you want to step out of all of that. I did some sneaking around and found some jewels of things to do, not only in SWLA, but Louisiana in general. They might not be the most popular, but I can guarantee they are the most unique.
Kenny Hill Sculpture Garden - Chauvin, Louisiana.
Kenny Hill rented some property in the 1990s. He was a bricklayer and randomly began building a lighthouse on the property. He started making concrete statues as he went but refused publicity or any real explanation as to why he was doing it. The statues were life-sized, with Hill often adding himself into the work. After working on the works of art for more than a decade, Hill abandoned the property, knocked the head off of one of his statues of Jesus, and disappeared. The site is now home to an art center and small museum.
Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum
Located in Shreveport, the museum contains over 1,000 large and small animals that are mounted for display. The museum is so large, they say it takes hours to actually view the entire thing.
Singing Oak, New Orleans City Park
An old oak tree in the park is the home to wind chimes. Lots of wind chimes. It is considered to be the largest wind chime sculpture in America and it isn't that hard to believe. The chimes are tuned to a pentatonic scale, which is a nod to the music that formed New Orleans with Gospel, Jazz, and African music.
Marie Laveau's Tomb
Considered the most powerful voodoo priestess in New Orleans, her tomb resides in the St. Louis cemetery. It was a tradition up until 2014 for visitors of the princess to make a mark on her tomb with a wish. If the wish came true, you were to return to her tomb and finish the mark to form an "X" on it. The tomb was restored in 2014 and there is now a heavy fine in place if you are caught writing on her tomb. Voodoo practice also has no mention of any sort of ritual actually existing.
All of the activities are free to go and check out in Louisiana and it is certainly not your normal gambling, hunting, or fishing types of outings. If you do happen to go see Princess Laveau, tell her I said hello and thanks for the wish.