Lying on both banks of the mighty Mississippi River, Ascension Parish is your stopping place between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. We offer a gumbo of all the cultures unique to South Louisiana French, Acadian, Italian, Spanish, German, African-American, English, and more. Our food, our festivals, our architecture, our history, and our way of life reflect this rich mixture, which we are proud to share with our visitors.

Ascension Parish, with a population of 107,215 and growing, covers approximately 300 square miles that span the Mississippi River. Twenty percent lies on the historic west bank, encompassing Donaldsonville, Bayou Lafourche, and Louisiana Highway 1, sometimes called "the longest main street." The remaining eighty percent on the east bank includes Gonzales and Sorrento. Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 61 serves as its major thoroughfares. Visitors find museums, plantation homes, gardens, shopping, and dining from casual to exquisite within our boundaries, and over 850 hotel rooms. And you'll never find friendlier, more hospitable folks than those you meet when you visit us.