Named after the 40th governor of Louisiana, the Huey P. Long Bridge, just outside of New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, is the longest railroad bridge in the United States. For 15 years after it opened in 1935, it was the longest railroad bridge in the world. Initially conceived in 1892, the "Huey P." was the first bridge to span the deep-draft navigation channel of the lower Mississippi River, opening the path for a southern transcontinental railroad. The highway and pedestrian portions of the bridge provided additional transport, which previously had only been available by ferry. New Orleans...

Scott Heywood discovered oil in Jennings on September 21, 1901, starting a new industry for Louisiana. From the heart of Acadiana, oil fever spread north to Caddo and Pine Island, south to Hackberry and Cameron, east to Barataria and Lafourche, and into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil industry created a worker class in Louisiana that had not previously existed. Towns, complete with schools, churches, and grocery stores, developed in oil fields; in fact, cabins with clothes hanging on the line to dry were adjacent to derricks and open oil pits. Today, families proudly recount the number of their...