PLAQUEMINES PARISH
Parish Offices
8056 Highway 23
Belle Chasse 504-297-5000
https://www.plaqueminesparish.com
Chamber of Commerce
1515 Poydras Street
New Orleans 504-799-4260
https://www.neworleanschamber.org
Distinguished as Louisiana’s southernmost parish, Plaquemines is situated in an area where the mighty Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico. More than half of the residents of this sparsely populated parish live in the community of Belle Chasse near the City of New Orleans. Traversed by waterways and home to a thriving seafood industry, Plaquemines Parish also serves as an operational center for the offshore oil and gas industry and the home of several important military installations. Hours closer to the Gulf of Mexico than the Port of New Orleans, Plaquemines Port and Harbor Terminal District is ideally positioned to serve expanding global markets for grain, chemicals, oil, gas and coal.
Services
The commitment to education is strong in Plaquemines Parish, anchored by a public school system that features an “A” ranked high school—one of the highest performing in the New Orleans area. In addition to engaging in enrichment programs and a wide variety of extracurricular activities, high school students have the opportunity to take college-credit courses for a head start on their higher education. Students of military personnel in the greater New Orleans area also have an opportunity to attend the Louisiana chart school of Belle Chasse Academy. The New Orleans region is renowned for the caliber of its institutions of higher education, from community colleges and career or technical schools to leading universities like Strayer, Concordia, Dillard, Tulane, and Loyola universities. Other options include the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Southeastern Louisiana University, Southern University at New Orleans, the University of New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Our Lady of Holy Cross College.
State-of-the-art healthcare resources and services are available close to home in New Orleans, including easy access to come of the nation’s finest teaching hospitals, including the new $1 billion, 424-bed University Medical Center. Another leading academic medical center, Interim LSU Hospital serves as the teaching hospital for the Louisiana State University New Orleans Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dental Medicine, and Allied Health as well as for Tulane University School of Medicine. The New Orleans area is also home to the prestigious Ochsner Healthcare System, a national leader in medical research and one of America’s largest non-university based physician training centers. Families will be reassured by the presence of Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, providing the most advanced of pediatric care in more than 40 specialties. The all-new University Medical Center in downtown New Orleans is already a model of post-Katrina, catastrophe-resistant architectural wonder. Other hospitals in communities along the West Bank of the Mississippi River that are convenient to Plaquemines Parish include Ochsner Medical Center-West Bank in Gretna and West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero. Within the parish, Plaquemines Medical Center in Port Sulphur provides emergent and routine care while Belle Chasse Community Health Center ensures easy access to primary and comprehensive medical care.
Lifestyle
Newcomers will discover a unique and appealing lifestyle in Plaquemines Parish, a paradise for anglers and sports lovers just 30 minutes south of New Orleans. The Mississippi River Delta’s convergence of fresh water and saltwater habitats create a nutrient-rich nursery for a virtually endless array of aquatic species, supporting one of the richest commercial and recreational fisheries in the world. Marinas dot the length of the Mississippi River along the length of the parish in small, water-oriented communities like Myrtle Grove, Port Sulphur, Empire, Buras, and Venice. Literally at the end of Great River Road south of New Orleans, Venice Marina is just 25 miles upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, welcoming travelers by day and night with a full-service facility, cabin rentals, and a popular café. Plaquemines Parish is equally renowned for waterfowl hunting, with a location at the end of the Mississippi Flyway that provides a winter habitat for more than one million ducks and geese along with millions of other migrating waterfowl.
The abundance of fresh seafood combines with a bounty of fruits and vegetables, dotting the highways with roadside stands and small, convenient commercial centers along Highway 23 to Venice or Highway 39 to Bohemia. In addition to local shopping, residents have easy access to a vast network of shopping plazas and sprawling malls throughout the metropolitan area. The New Orleans Central Business District is only 20 minutes away, including dazzling developments like Riverwalk and the Shops at Canal Place. Within Plaquemines Parish, Fort Jackson is both an historic treasure and entertainment venue, welcoming visitors from across the nation and around the world to the famous Plaquemines Parish Fair & Orange Festival. The parish government complex in Belle Chasse is the site of the Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival, another annual extravaganza that celebrates the area’s rich musical heritage and local cuisine. Belle Chasse serves as the proud home of the Tulane Museum of Natural History, which is not officially open to the public but arrangements can be made for researchers, writers and school groups to tour the facility. For world-class entertainment and cultural attractions, residents can look to nearby New Orleans for everything from major league and NCAA college sports to the mystique of the French Quarter and permanent companies for the performing arts. Regardless of where you choose to settle in Plaquemines Parish, the friendly smiles of the hard-working people who call this beautiful and abundant land their home will have you feeling welcome from the first hello.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
Belle Chasse
Parish Offices
504-297-5000
https://www.plaqueminesparish.com
Chamber of Commerce
504-799-4260
https://www.neworleanschamber.org
The unincorporated community of Belle Chasse is the largest town in Plaquemines Parish, home to nearly half of its population. Situated along the West Bank of the Mississippi River, Belle Chasse is also the community located closest to the bright lights and expanded amenities of New Orleans. Belle Chasse has a strong military presence, home to Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans, the headquarters for the Louisiana Air Force National Guard and the 159th Fighter Wing. Along with developed recreational facilities, fine schools, local shopping, a new YMCA and other community resources, Belle Chasse offers a variety of attractive neighborhoods and subdivisions. Some of the finer homes in this area are nestled in exclusive gated communities off Woodland Highway, where new construction is a common sight. Residents enjoy the best of all worlds in Belle Chasse—a warm and friendly hometown community atmosphere in close proximity to world-class recreation and the unrivaled attractions of New Orleans.
