TERREBONNE PARISH
Parish-City Offices
809 Barrow Street
Houma 985-873-6591
https://www.tpcg.org
Chamber of Commerce
6133 Highway 311
Houma 985-876-5600
http://houmachamber.com
Terrebonne Parish is so closely aligned with the leading City of Houma that the two now share a consolidated government. A number of other unincorporated communities dot the rural landscape, but Houma is the undeniable center of business, healthcare, education, culture, and entertainment. The oil industry remains the primary economic engine, although the Houma-Terrebonne region also accounts for more than 20 percent of Louisiana’s seafood production. The parish employment centers draw so many commuters from a four-parish region that the work-day population more than doubles that of permanent residents. Resources like the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Houma Navigation Canal, the Port of Terrebonne, and the Houma-Terrebonne Airport and Industrial Park ensure the parish of continued economic growth and development.
Services
Newcomers will be pleased to find outstanding educational opportunities in and near Terrebonne Parish, including the Terrebonne Parish public school system, two alternative secondary schools, a training school, and the Stella Learning Center dedicated to working with autistic children. More than 3,000 children in the parish are taking advantage of alternative learning environments available in private or parochial schools. Although the parish provides convenient access to 17 public and private colleges and universities, the closest is Nicholls State University located in Thibodaux, enrolling more than 7,000 students in undergraduate and graduate degree programs. One of the newest additions to NSU is the Allied Health and Continuing Education building, situated within the boundaries of Terrebonne Parish. The new building offers Terrebonne students teleconferencing capabilities with the main campus in Thibodaux. Fletcher Technical Community College provides career and technical education to residents of South Louisiana with its main campus in Schriever along Highway 311 and three facilities in Houma, including one for Allied Health and the Louisiana Marine & Petroleum Institute. Unitech Training Academy and Blue Cliff College both maintain a presence in Houma, offering a variety of career programs and specialized training opportunities. The region surrounding the parish is home to an impressive list of respected public and private colleges and universities. Nearby Baton Rouge offers the sprawling campus for Louisiana State University as well as Southern University. The New Orleans area features Strayer, Concordia, Dillard, and Loyola universities; the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Southeastern Louisiana University, Southern University at New Orleans, Tulane University, the University of New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Our Lady of Holy Cross College.
Compassionate, caring, and highly advanced healthcare services are available close to home in the Terrebonne-Houma area, anchored by Terrebonne General Medical Center. This full-service, acute-care facility offers more than 320 licensed beds for inpatient care as well as a Women’s Center and Women’s Diagnostic and Breast Imaging Center, cancer care services, an outpatient surgery center, diagnostic imaging services, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and emergency care services. Distinguished as the largest community-based hospital in the tri-parish area of Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary, the medical center employs more than 1,300 and maintains a medical staff of more than 150 skilled physicians in every major specialty and most subspecialties. The nationally recognized Ochsner Health system maintains the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in Houma, opening its doors in 1978 as a teaching hospital and consistently receiving Louisiana Hospital awards from the Louisiana Health Care Review. Houma is one of several locations for the Cardiovascular Institute of the South, bringing together some of the nation’s most respected cardiologists in every specialty of heart and vascular medicine. Nearby Thibodaux Regional Medical Center in Thibodaux is one of the fastest-growing centers in the South, recently recognized among the top one percent of healthcare facilities in America for patient satisfaction and earning the J.D. Power and Associates Distinguished Hospital Award for outstanding inpatient and outpatient experiences. Should the need for highly advanced care ever arise, the nationally and internationally recognized teaching hospitals in New Orleans are easily accessible, including Children’s Hospital.
Lifestyle
Quality of life is more than a concept in Terrebonne Parish, drawing together authentic Acadian culture, abundant wildlife and picturesque landscapes, magnificent plantation homes, delicious food, and a location convenient to New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette. Residents are only an hour’s drive from the world-famous French Quarter or minutes away from airboat tours over a pristine swamp. Louisiana’s second largest parish in terms of land mass, Terrebonne has been a center of Cajun culture since the 1700s and more than 10 percent of its residents still speak French at home. Residents enjoy living in a truly unique environment that blends the finest of 21st century advantages and amenities with the flavor, spirit, and wild nature of Louisiana’s wetlands. Terrebonne Parish provides a distinctive way of life that blends the land with cultures and traditions, drawing upon the richness of diversity for its undeniable strength. A location in Louisiana’s far southern region, the parish claims a wonderful climate that encourages year-round sports activity and outdoor enjoyment. World-class fishing and hunting, cycling, birding, and photography are all popular pastimes. Colorful festivals, seasonal celebrations, parades, and special events from Fais Do-Dos to rodeos fill the calendar with reasons for friends and family to join throngs of visitors for great music, family fun, and lively entertainment. An active Parks & Recreation Department ensures first-rate facilities along with leagues, programs, and activities that engage residents of every age.
The cultural hub for the parish is the multi-purpose Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, providing the parish and surrounding communities with a 5,000-seat arena for sports events, family shows, and musical concerts. Historic treasures await around every corner, from rustic 18th century trapper cabins to stunning antebellum plantation homes where Cajun history and heritage spring to life. Art fairs and art galleries are abundant in this richly creative environment, highlighted by the Chauvin Sculpture Garden and Nicholls State University Art Studio. The Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum honors the economic, social, and historic culture of the parish, while St. George Observatory invites groups to learn about and view the wonders of the heavens. Other popular treasures are Southdown Plantation and the Terrebonne Museum, a military museum, and the Terrebonne Folklife Cultural Center that offers classes on Cajun dancing, cooking, crafts and decoy carving. The Martin Luther King Boulevard shopping district in Houma anchors the retail scene with hundreds of name-brand and specialty shops. Other popular destinations are Southland Mall and the St. Charles Shopping District lined with wonderful boutiques. Newcomers will find a wide variety of housing choices and residential settings in Terrebonne Parish, from long-established neighborhoods in the heart of the city to handsome newer construction, historic properties, and available acreage for custom builds. This sprawling parish truly provides a most unique blend of unspoiled landscapes with the best that urban development has to offer.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
Houma
City-Parish Offices
985-873-6591
https://www.tpcg.org
Chamber of Commerce
985-876-5600
http://houmachamber.com
The bustling City of Houma is the very heart of Terrebonne Parish, providing all of the urban amenities and first-rate services for which the parish is known. In fact, the city plays such an integral role in parish life that the parish and city governments became unified to better manage regional growth and development. Houma’s historic Downtown District is a favorite destination, drawing visitors and residents alike to charming streets that showcase centuries-old architecture. Ardoyne Plantation is another treasure from yesterday, a grand-scale Victorian Gothic sugarcane plantation home on the National Register of Historic Places where descendants of the original owner still live today. The cultural and entertainment heart of the city and the entire parish is the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, drawing regional crowds to a variety of events. Creativity flourishes throughout the city, evident in the colorful downtown murals and the Chauvin Sculpture Garden with more than 100 life-size concrete statues from artist Kenny Hill. Houma’s enigmatic marshlands, enchanting scenery, and relaxing atmosphere still inspire writers, artists, and musicians. Houma showcases some of the most pristine swamps in the Atchafalaya Basin, providing fascinating swamp tours by airboat, pontoon boat, canoe—and even by small airplane.
