The name Baton Rouge, in French means Red Stick. Supposedly, Baton Rouge, Louisiana was named by the explorer Sieur D'Iberville when he saw a stick that had animal parts stuck to it. This bloody stick was supposed to have served as a marker between the different tribes of the area, indicating the boundary of a tribe's hunting territory. So, it was from this that the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana got its name.

The city has existed under the rule of five different coutries, France, Spain, England, the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. Today, it stands as a beautiful river city, quite progressive in its nature and capital of Louisiana.

Among the things in and around Baton Rouge that may be of interest to the visitor is the Atchafalaya Swamp Basin. A nineteen-mile-long bridge located west of the city on Interstate Highway 10, crosses it. The Huey P. Long bridge crosses the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge. It's located on old U.S. Highway190 and its narrow and steep lanes take the driver to a high elevation above the Mississippi River.

The Louisiana State Capital Building is where Governor and later, Senator Huey P. Long was shot to death on September 8, 1935 by Dr. Carl Weiss. Immediately following the shooting, Weiss was shot a total of sixty-one times by Long's bodyguards. Long survived for two days before dying of internal bleeding.

The capital building was also the workplace of Governor Jimmy Davis, who had a hit song, "You Are My Sunshine" in the nineteen-fifties.

ATTRACTIONS:

There are no less than sixty-one museums in the Baton Rouge area, some quite unique. Click here to learn more.

For Baton Rouge's music venues, click here.

For a tour of the beautiful Atchafalaya Swamp, check out Cajun Jack's website.

For more of Baton Rouge's sights, click here.