River Parishes

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River Parishes

Main building at "Laura" Creole planation, in Vacherie, St. James, 2002 photograph

The River Parishes are those parishes in Louisiana between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that span both banks of the Mississippi River, and are officially part of the Acadiana region. Traditionally they are considered to be St. Charles Parish, St. James Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish. The three parishes also made up an historical area once referred to as the German Coast of Louisiana.

Two of the River Parishes, St. Charles and St. John the Baptist, are also part of the New Orleans metropolitan area, based on the U.S. Census Bureau definition.

The area contains a large number of architecturally significant historic plantation homes.

Ascension Parish, sometimes included as part of the subregion, is home of the River Parishes Community College, which was chartered in 1997.

The three traditional parishes have a combined land area of 1,939.04 km² (748.67 sq mi). They have a total 2000 census population of 112,332 inhabitants. If Ascension Parish is included, the total land area is 2,694.10 km² (1,040.198 sq mi) and the census population is 188,959.

Its four largest communities are all unincorporated census-designated places: LaPlace, Luling, Destrehan, and Reserve. Its two largest incorporated cities are actually located in Ascension Parish, which may not be considered by some to be within the community: Gonzales and Donaldsonville. Another sizable community within the traditional parishes is St. Rose, also unincorporated. Still smaller in population, however, are the largest incorporated towns in the three-parish area: Lutcher and Gramercy.