Experience The ‘Emptiest’ Place in Louisiana – Have You Been?

(KMDL-FM) Life in Louisiana is supposed to be a balance. And while we have a reputation for letting the good times roll and almost always being in "party mode," there are more than a few of us who enjoy the solitude that portions of Louisiana have to offer. If you crave the quiet and aren't afraid to be by yourself, here are some suggestions you might want to consider.

Before we move forward with our findings concerning the "emptiest place in Louisiana," we probably need to set some ground rules so you can better understand our findings. First and foremost, we aren't using the word "empty" in a negative connotation.  In fact, for many of us who are social introverts, these places might be just the areas of the state we need to get to know a little better.

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We are also defining "empty" to mean void of general public connection. In other words, off the beaten path but not desolate and devoid of basic services such as power, water, internet, and telephone service. Although you won't find much of those in most of these places.

Louisiana Places That Seem Empty But Have a Lot of Visitors

At first blush, you might think areas of the Atchafalaya Basin or along some of our coastal marshes would have to be the "emptiest" places in the state. And while many of those areas are void of permanent population, the constant stream of outdoorsmen, sportsmen, and nature enthusiasts often makes these places among the most visited in the state.

Our online inquiry in regard to this question also brought the names of more than a few small communities to the forefront. One such area of the state is Bayou Gauche. That's a very small community, and it's surrounded by water, so there is a bit of isolation.

If you're not familiar, Bayou Gauche is a few miles south of Boutte, Louisiana. Most of you know Boutte as the town where Highway 90 meets I-310. It's the turn off to take the "back way" to the airport in New Orleans, or just avoid I-10 traffic through Baton Rouge.

As unique as the physical location of Bayou Gauche is, it's still not the "emptiest place" in Louisiana, at least based on our search criteria. For the next "empty places we'll need to go west and a lot north from Bayou Gauce.

Louisiana Parishes Where the People are Few but the Farming is Great

If you've ever driven through northeastern Louisiana, you have probably noticed there is certainly a lot of farm land. Those parishes, Tensas, Catahoula, and Caldwell, not only have vast expanses of land used for crops, but they also have vast expanses of land that no one is using in particular. Perhaps that's why that part of the state has earned a great reputation for hunting, deer hunting in particular. But still, they are not the "emptiest place" in all of Louisiana.

Alright, here is where we stir the pot and reveal the "emptiest place in Louisiana" as determined by criteria such as isolation, connection to public roads, connection to highways, overall population, and the large expanses of land that are more than one mile from the nearest paved road.

The Unique Irony of Louisiana's 'Emptiest Place"

This place is also home to Louisiana's largest land-based casino resort. So, not all of it is empty and isolated. Heck, there is even a federal prison complex in this place that, based on Internet search results, comes back as the "emptiest place" in Louisiana.

If you haven't already figured it out, the place that is considered to be the "emptiest" in all of Louisiana is Allen Parish. If I were the tourism people for Allen Parish, I would use this to my advantage. Where else could you get away from it all and still get away to it all? Only Allen Parish has that. And yes, I am referencing the Coushatta Casino Resort and not the prison as the must-see destination.

I also find the lack of other people and traffic, and public chaos, to be very refreshing. I bet you can count all the stars on a clear night in Allen Parish. And while to the "influencers of the Internet," Allen Parish might seem empty, if you know what you're looking for and can sit quietly enough to find it, chances are it will come to you in Allen Parish.

Oh, and the place in Louisiana that's full of it? That's got to be Baton Rouge, in particular, the area around the state capitol. Yeah, that's the most full of it spot I could think of.