Thibodaux (Louisiana)

Thibodaux is in Coastal Acadiana and is the seat of Lafourche Parish.

Understand

Known as the Queen City of Lafourche, Thibodaux is like a classic Cajun community, big on fishing and reasons to party. What started as a little trading village near the juncture of Bayou Terrebonne and Bayou Lafourche became an incorporated town centered around sugar cane production in 1830. The temperamental Confederate General Braxton Bragg lived near here, and, during the Civil War, Thibodaux was one of those towns that went back and forth between occupying forces. Later in the 19th century, unfortunate events pertaining to dissolving unionization of sugar cane workers, largely consisting of African Americans, resulted in some 35 being killed and a return to essential disenfranchisement in what is known as the Thibodaux Massacre.

Thibodaux took a bit of a sucker punch from Hurricane Ida in 2021 when the eyewall essentially passed over, but the townsfolk are a resilient people, proud of their institution of higher learning called Nicholls State University.

Get in

Wedged between the Interstate 10 and US Route 90 corridors, Thibodaux is readily connected by LA 1.

See

• St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, 721 Canal Boulevard, ☏ +1 985 446-1387. A Renaissance Revival centerpiece with a rose window in the town that holds the reliquaries of Saint Valérie and Saint Vitalis of Milan, patron saints of Thibodaux, who are the object of prayers for protection against hurricanes. (updated Oct 2021)
• E.D. White Historic Site, 2295 LA-1, ☏ +1 985 447-0915. Tu-Sa 10AM-4:30PM. Historic home of Edward Douglass White Sr., former governor of Louisiana, and Edward Douglass White Jr. (apparently short on name ideas), former US Senator and Supreme Court Justice, who, not surprisingly, was in the majority ruling on Plessy v. Ferguson. (updated Oct 2021)
• Laurel Valley Village Store, 595 LA-308, ☏ +1 985 446-7456. Daily 9AM-5PM. Site of former sugar cane plantation owned by Joseph Tucker that used something on the order of 135 slaves for its operations. (updated Oct 2021)

Eat

• Fremin's Restaurant, 402 W 3rd, ☏ +1 985 449-0333. A popular restaurant for Cajun specialties that is easy to spot on the downtown lineup with its balconies and ironwork railings. (updated Oct 2021)

Sleep

• Carmel Inn and Suites, 400 E 1st St, ☏ +1 985 446-0561. A historic inn with a pool. (updated Oct 2021)
• Dansereau House, 506 St Philip St, ☏ +1 985 227-9937. This establishment with Italianate architecture is very embellished. (updated Oct 2021)