Plaquemine

Plaquemine is the seat of Iberville Parish in the River Parishes area of Louisiana.

The languid streets of this town hugging the Mississippi River seem to belie its booming entrepreneurial cotton market of the past, or the ugly race riot here of 1963 where white law enforcement descended upon a group of black protesters with horses and cattle prods, trying to root out a leader of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) named James Farmer. But it is a tranquil setting along the river, especially when visiting its main attraction, the Plaquemine Lock, and witnessing the grandeur of water and engineering.

Plaquemine sits along the Great River Road (in this case Hwy 1), and is an easy 15 mile drive south of Baton Rouge, just past the sprawling Dow Plant.

Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site

• 🌍 Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site, 57730 Main St, ☏ +1 225 687-7158. Designed in 1909 by Colonel George Washington Goethals, who went on to design the Panama Canal, this structure is great fun to check out even though it's no longer operating: you can walk along the precipitous edges of the lock and still imagine how freight vessels were conveyed from Bayou Plaquemine to the Mississippi River. (updated Oct 2021)

• 🌍 Best Western Plaquemine Inn, 23235 LA-1 S, ☏ +1 225 385-4388. Practical, with pool and breakfast bar. (updated Oct 2021)