Baton Rouge: Recreation
Sightseeing
Baton Rouge offers a variety of recreational activities. A visitor can experience the city's past by touring the elegant plantations in the area. Among the most beautifully restored are Magnolia Mound, Oak Alley and Myrtles. History has
Baton Rouge features one of the country's finest zoos, the initial funding for which came from children collecting pennies. Its natural habitat exhibits contain more than 1,800 animals and birds. The newest exhibit is the Otter Pond which offers above- and below-water views of a naturalistic otter habitat. Plans are being developed for a new Endangered Tiger Survival Center.
Bus and boat tours are available through various charter companies that offer services ranging from brief excursions in the city to overnight trips through Cajun country. Baton Rouge is about a 1.5-hour drive from the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Arts and Culture
With 18 major arts groups, 25 smaller groups, and a network of artists in the community and at local universities, Baton Rouge is a culturally vital city. A renewed interest in the arts beginning in the late 1980s resulted in large part from the construction of performing arts facilities in the 12,000-seat Riverside Centroplex and the designation of the Arts and Humanities Council of Greater Baton Rouge as the official arts agency.
Theater, dance, and music are available to Baton Rouge's audiences of all tastes. Housed in The Baton Rouge River Center, the Baton Rouge Symphony offers a full season of orchestral programming. The Baton Rouge Opera and the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre also reside and perform in The Baton Rouge River Center; the ballet performs classical and modern works. The Baton Rouge Little Theater is the area's most successful community theater. Among other groups integral to the cultural life of Baton Rouge are the music and drama departments at Louisiana State University (LSU) and Southern University.
Museums and galleries in Baton Rouge also offer variety. At the Louisiana Arts and Science Center Riverside Museum, a renovated railroad station features restored cars dating from 1883 to 1940, the Discovery Depot for young children, and the Lindy Boggs Space Station and Mission Control (reservations required). Historical Baton Rouge firefighting equipment and memorabilia are featured at the Old Bogan Fire Station. A complex of more than twenty buildings reproducing life on a nineteenth-century Louisiana plantation awaits visitors to the LSU Rural Life Museum. The LSU campus also offers and art museum and an art gallery, a natural science museum, historic Indian Mounds, and other interesting attractions.
The Old Arsenal Museum offers a tour of an old powder magazine. The Enchanted Mansion exhibits rare and unusual dolls. Baton Rouge's USS Kidd WWII destroyer and the Louisiana Naval War Memorial is a "Southern Travel Treasure" (a designation given by AAA's magazine Southern Traveler ). Old State Capitol is home to a new interactive audio-visual museum, the Louisiana Center for Political and Governmental History. Baton Rouge's riverfront can be toured on a riverboat, and the Atchafalaya Swamp can be toured by boat.
Festivals and Holidays
February (or March) brings Baton Rouge's best known special event, Mardi Gras, with its Krewe of Mystique Parade and other events. Also in February, the LSU Livestock and Rodeo show takes place at the Parker Agricultural Center on the LSU campus. Other Baton Rouge celebrations are the Jambalaya Jamboree (April), FestForAll (May), Bastille Day and 4th of July Freedom Fest (July), and the Baton Rouge Blues Fest and State Fair (both in October).
Sports for the Spectator
Baton Rouge is also home to the Louisiana State University Tigers and the Lady Tigers, and the Southern University Jaguars. The LSU sports complex, site of National College Athletic Association football, basketball, and track competition, is rated among the best in the country. Southern's refurbished A. W. Mumford Stadium hosts Southwestern Athletic Conference football games.
Sports for the Participant
BREC, the Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge, maintains and operates 184 neighborhood parks with a broad array of facilities and programming. Facilities in the parks include a theatre and cultural center at Independence Park; Cohn Arboretum on Foster Road; the Highland Observatory on Highland Road; four fitness centers; and facilities for golf, BMX, archery, rugby, mountain biking, swimming, tennis, and other athletic pursuits. In 2004, plans were underway for expansions at 12 parks that would enhance each park's level of family programming.
Among the private sports facilities in Baton Rouge is the Country Club of Louisiana, which features an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus golf course, 10 outdoor and 3 indoor tennis courts, and a swimming pool. Riverboat and casino gambling are also popular diversions.
Shopping and Dining
According to the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau, the visitor who has only one free afternoon to spend in Baton Rouge should spend it at the Historic Merchants District on Perkins Road, which has been compared to New Orleans' Magazine Street shopping area. The visitor will find a dozen charming shops and galleries and four restaurants featuring local cuisine, hamburgers and crawfish pies, and possibly the best Italian food in town. Downtown Baton Rouge offers shopping opportunities for those interested in fine art, gifts, designer furnishings, stained glass, and other novelties. The new Mall of Louisiana offers quality stores on two levels. Baton Rouge offers unique shopping at several locations, including The Royal Standard on Perkins Road, where more than two dozen merchants offer international wares.
Baton Rouge's numerous restaurants satisfy any dining taste, from fast food to gourmet continental, served in casual or elegant settings. Specialties include Cajun and Creole cooking and fresh seafood from the Gulf of Mexico.
Visitor Information: Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, 730 North Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70802; telephone (225)383-1825; (800)LA-ROUGE; fax (225)346-1253