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Area Attractions
Madisonville is a great place to raise a family and do business in one of the fastest growing communities in Louisiana. The town offers a diverse business climate with a growing number of architects, law offices, bankers, accountants, and more. It’s not surprising since the town offers a relaxed, yet progressive pro business environment with a school system that consistently ranks tops in the state.
Madisonville has a number of interesting and historic attractions that should be on your itinerary to visit. Here are a few:
Maritime Museum - Madisonville is home to the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and Research Center. This state of the art river front facility boasts a huge collection of beautifully restored motors dating back to the 1940’s and the first boat engines used in World War II. The exhibits skillfully displays the significance of marine technologies developed for the war and how it impacts the commercial and recreational boaters of today.
Madisonville Museum - Visit the Madisonville Museum, which is housed in the town’s historic courthouse built in 1911. Madisonville’s history and Civil War History are displayed here too. And while you’re here pick up a map of the town which offers a self guided walking tour of the Madisonville’s historical houses and buildings.
Walking Tour - The walking tour through the town of Madisonville starts at 800 Water Street, originally the home of General David Morgan. Other stops along the way include several historic homes on Main Street, several cottages on Pine Street and the Hopewell Baptist Church built in 1905.
Fairview Riverside Park - Once you strolled under the moss-draped oaks, water skied on the smooth, clear Tchefuncte River, or wet a line in the waters of nearby Lake Pontchartrain, you’ve begun to sample the many outdoor opportunities offered by Fairview Riverside State Park. Located across the Tchefuncte Rover from Madisonville, the park offers 81 camping sites (all with electricity and water hook-ups), picnic tables and shelters, a playground and comfort stations.
When you enter the park, you will notice a large home facing the water. This is the Otis House, originally built in the 1880s as the family home for sawmill owner William Theodore Jay and now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Otis House Museum is open for tours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday except for major holidays.
Madisonville Jail - Lots of New Orleans-bound visitors detour to Madisonville, LA just for a chance to “go to jail”. With good behavior, though, they’re out in time for a great seafood lunch or dinner at one of the great restaurants lining the scenic Tchefuncte River.
Visitors to the area know that for the real lowdown on local history and lore, it’s necessary to go “directly to Jail”. That’s because “Jail” is a quaint little Courthouse/Jail built in 1911 that’s now the town museum. Folks get a kick out of stepping inside one of the fully functional cells and hearing the old steel-barred door clink shut behind them. Then they get a kick out of being able to get the heck out!
The museum is shaded by a huge oak tree at 201 Cedar Street and the old one-room Courthouse above the jail is now the repository of all things old and noteworthy about the community. There you’ll find exquisite carvings of local waterfowl, artifacts from Indian and civil War days, tales of the local ghost (the Silk Lady of Palmetto Flats), and an ancient canoe named Alice that’s the oldest known wooden craft to have traveled the length of the Mississippi River.
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