This is a review for the city itself, not the government…read more I finally made it to this quaint little town. After all the times I had visited Louisiana, I never had the opportunity to come. Well, now I did and I was not disappointed. Natchitoches is the oldest settlement from the Louisiana Purchase. It's also where the film Steel Magnolias was filmed. Besides that, this town is brimming with Creole influence. Much of the architecture comprises of this style. The people are very friendly too. I was reading in one of the town newsletters that Natchitoches is considered one of the best places to retire. In addition, Natchitoches is known for their famous meat pies. Several restaurants tout they are the best or the home of the original. What I liked best about this town is that there is so much character and history here. Around every corner, there is an historic building either open for tours or being used as a bed and breakfast. There is a lot of pride in this town. There are plenty of plantations in the area too. One day I'd like to go back to the Festival of Lights. It's an annual festival of holiday lights (from mid-November to early January) along the Cane River shore along with food booths. The entire Front Street area is transformed. When I was here, they were just setting up for it and it was a few weeks before the festival was even to begin. On my next trip to Shreveport, I hope to make it back to this town for the day. I loved it, the food, and the people.

Great town. Locals are nice. The best food and shops. Love the river tour or lake. Learned about…read morenew French sauce I don't remember the name. It had cheesy dip with mud bugs in it. Sorry I'm from Texas. All we have is Steak and Whataburger

Nice walking tour. Historical tour and folk life and art of Clemetine Hunter art topped it off.read more

The Cane River National Heritage Area is a United States Heritage park area in my beautiful home…read morestate of Louisiana, the wonderful place of my birth, the fun place of my youth. This lovely little park is located in downtown Natchitoches, a beautiful old small historic town, it's really beautiful & great for a day trip or family picnic as it's small riverfront offers "little Mississippi River" like boat rides. It's just a very cool little area kinda like right out of "Gone with the Wind" the movie. It's located in a really gorgeous historic plantation-home type area of northern Louisiana that features really cool creole architecture, and you know I got a thing for history & architecture, so this is one of my favorite places on earth ;) Cane River National Heritage Area is roughly around 116,000 acres. It begins just south of Natchitoches and extends south & west for about 35 miles along cane river lake & I49 to Monette's Ferry. It's a great area for photo ops, you will also find lots of local fresh seafood, all kinds of tasty local cajun culinary treats dotted throughout the area & tons of places to go fishing & exploring. Something for everyone. A great place to spend a romantic or girls weekend at a lovely local historic B&B. It is very hard to chose as you will find, one is more gorgeous than the next. If you love antiquing this area is fantastic for vintage finds, it will surely keep you busy & entertained. Founded way back in 1714, it is the oldest community in the territory covered by the Louisiana Purchase. Wonderfully preserved, a beautiful must see bucket list worthy historic place in my home state of Louisiana. I hope you visit soon & love it as much as I do. Highly recommend.

Four of us took a guided tour with Dee and Megan and both young ladies were exceptional. They were…read moreknowledgeable, polite and very patient with all of our questions! We are so fascinated with the history of the plantation and enjoyed every part of the tour!

I stopped by this national park site on a road trip. The entrance was a gravel road that wasn't the…read moremost obvious. The small farm was not a happening place, with not a soul in sight on the day I visited. An enclosure was playing some video content that came on without warning in the way that a horror movie would do trying for a cheap jump scare. There were several buildings, but none were open. There are tours, but they are at very limited times, and just walking the grounds didn't offer much. There is some interesting history to be discovered, but without the tour it isn't anything impressive. This was not a working farm kind of exhibit, with no actual animals and not a ton of meaningful exhibits. It's nice that the site is preserved, and maybe if you visit at the right time there's more to get out of it. However, I do recall when I was last in Shreveport I considered an hour road trip both ways to see this place, and I'm quite glad that I didn't.

Meghan Schill gave us an excellent, very interesting and historically vibrant tour of the…read moreplantation. Thank you so very much, Meghan! We really enjoyed it!

Free, yes History, yes…read moreNot a lot to see but it's my first plantation to visit. We saw the Magnolia Plantation featured on a favorite show of ours and had to see for ourselves when headed back home to Texas. Simple place yet incredibly interesting. I'm fascinated with history and/or possibly haunted. Anyway wish we could have spent a wee bit more time. Here's our pics from our short and sweet visit. Stop by if you get a chance!!

This is one if the three islands located in Hodges Gardens State Park. It is the only island…read moreaccessible by car or foot. The island has a platform where several flagpoles are located surrounded by stone benches with a map on the ground in the center. Even though these structures are falling into disrepair with the map coming up off the ground and a few benches crumbling, it possess a certain charm with it's metal structural supports for the roof structure (above the benches) and breathtaking views. My favorite photo from our trip was taken here among the metal structural supports.

This library has the friendliest staff that will do their best to assist you and learn your…read moreindividual book references.

The library is clean, spacious, modern, and has a wide selection of books and educational…read morematerials. Staff is courteous and knowledgeable.

First of all, whenever I paid of the books that I lost they still would not let me check out books…read moreeven when I paid for it. Don't like the place, would rather buy books from Walmart

Being a Texan, It was not at all what I expected, and it will be no fair if I wrote this review…read moreholding Natchitoches, responsible for not living up to my expectations, so here goes. The hall is huge, games are very reasonable in price with the highest no more than $19, goes super quickly since there are only a few games that require you making a distinctive design. Most of the games are only plain, four corners, diagonal or across. Pots are none to slim, most no more than $50.

The sheer fact that these men are doing this purely as volunteers and giving the proceeds to…read morecharity is a plus in my book.