State History
Learn about the history of Louisiana and find fun and interesting things to do and see all across Louisiana. We've also found the best books, guides, websites, and other resources to make your study of Louisiana fun and educational.
Things to See & Do in Louisiana
New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park was established to celebrate the origins and evolution of America's most widely recognized indigenous musical art form. A story rich with innovation, experimentation, controversy and emotion, the park provides an ideal setting to share the cultural history of the people and places that helped shape the development and progression of jazz in New Orleans. Through interpretive techniques designed to educate and entertain, New Orleans Jazz NHP seeks to preserve information and resources associated with the origins and early development of jazz in the city widely recognized as its birthplace.
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve was established to preserve signifcant examples of the rich natural and cultural resources of Louisiana's Mississippi Delta region. The park seeks to illustrate the influence of environment and history on the development of a unique regional culture. The park consists of six physically separate sites and a park headquarters located in southeastern Louisiana. The sites in Lafayette, Thibodaux, and Eunice interpret the Acadian culture of the area. The Barataria Preserve (in Marrero) interprets the natural and cultural history of the uplands, swamps, and marshlands of the region. Six miles southeast of New Orleans is the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery, site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans and the final resting place for soldiers from the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam. At 419 Decatur Street in the historic French Quarter is the park's visitor center for New Orleans. This center interprets the history of New Orleans and the diverse cultures of Louisiana's Mississippi Delta region. The Park Headquarters is located in New Orleans.
Poverty Point National Monument
Located in northeastern Louisiana, this park commemorates a culture that thrived during the first and second millennia B.C. This site, which contains some of the largest prehistoric earth works in North America, is managed by the state of Louisiana.
Cane River National Heritage Area
Cane River National Heritage Area in northwestern Louisiana is a largely rural, agricultural landscape known for its historic plantations, its distinctive Creole architecture, and its multi-cultural legacy. Historically this region lay at the intersection of French and Spanish realms in the New World. Today it is home to a unique blend of cultures, including French, Spanish, African, American Indian, and Creole. The central corridor of the heritage area begins just south of Natchitoches, the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase, and extends along both sides of Cane River Lake for approximately 35 miles. The heritage area includes Cane River Creole National Historical Park, seven National Historic Landmarks, three State Historic Sites, and many other historic plantations, homes, and churches. While much of the roughly 116,000-acre heritage area is privately owned, many sites are open to the public.
Musée Conti Wax Museum
The WAX tells the fascinating story of New Orleans from her founding to the present day. Experience more than 300 years of history, legend and scandal with the 154 life-size figures displayed in historically accurate settings, plus a haunted dungeon!!
Cane River Creole National Historical Park
Cane River Creole National Historical Park is located within the Cane River National Heritage Area in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. The park includes 44.16 acres of Oakland Plantation and 18.75 acres of Magnolia Plantation. The two park sites include a total of 67 historic structures remnant from 200 years of plantation life.
Teaching Tips & Ideas
How I Teach a Large Family in a Relaxed, Classical Way: History
A look at teaching history across several grades using the classical method of education and a rotation of history every four years.
Knowledge Quest
Knowledge Quest offers historical outline maps and timelines designed for the interactive study of world history and geography.
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Featured Resources

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The Outdoor Life of Children: The Importance of Nature Study and Outside Activities (Charlotte Mason Topics - Volume 2
The methods of Charlotte Mason are popular among homeschoolers. She includes nature study as a crucial element. This work explores the idea of the outdoors as a classroom for children, and gives tips on ways of teaching the sciences, history, literature, music, and art through the use of outdoor space. 
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book Of Homeschooling
The classic work on teaching children at home, updated for today's new laws, new lifestyles, and a new generation of homeschooling parents. Today more than one and a half million children are being taught at home by their own parents. In this expanded edition of the book that helped launch the whole movement, Pat Farenga has distilled John Holt's timeless understanding of the ways children come to understand the world and added up-to-the-moment practical advice. Rather than proposing that pare...
Learning Language Arts Through Literature
Learning Language Arts Through Literature is a fully integrated language arts program that teaches grammar, reading, spelling, vocabulary, writing mechanics, creative writing, thinking skills and more.
The Unprocessed Child: Living Without School
This book shows how school is not necessary for a child to gain learning, socialization, or motivation. It offers a look at radical unschooling, a way of educating children without coercion, curriculum, or control. This look at a child who grows from childhood to adulthood with the experience of self-direction is a celebration of the success of unschooling. Covers topics such as parenting, self-discipline and self-motivation, socialization, and more.