30 April: Louisiana Admission Day

Louisiana was admitted as the 18th US state on 30 April 1812.

1. Louisiana was named after King Louis XIV. The capital, Baton Rouge, gets its name from a pole in the town which had the heads of dead animals attached to it. The pole marked the boundary between tribal hunting grounds. Baton Rouge is French for "Red Stick". The town of Jean Lafitte was named after a pirate.
2. It is the only state in the USA to have parishes rather than counties.
3. Louisiana is the only state that still acts under Napoleonic code.
4. Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the United States (450 feet tall with 34 floors) and the two longest bridges over water in the world. At number two is the Manchac Swamp Bridge at 22.80 miles (36.69 km). The swamp it crosses is said to be haunted. Number one is the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, at 23.83 miles.
5. Several popular cocktails were invented in New Orleans, including the Sazerac and the Hurricane, but the state beverage is Milk. Magnolia is the state flower, the bald cypress is the state tree, and the eastern brown pelican is the state bird. The state also has an official Dog (The Catahoula Leopard Dog) and bear (the Louisiana black bear, which is endangered - there are only about 600 left).
6. Louisiana has the longest coastline of any US state (15,000 miles) thanks to having a lot of bays and sounds. 41% of the wetlands in the US are here, and one of the highest alligator populations in the US. There are about half as many alligators as people. There are also lots of bayous here - this word is French and means slow moving river.
7. Several towns have claims to fame: Rayne is "The Frog Capital of the World"; Breaux Bridge is the “Crawfish Capital of the World”; Dubach is the “Dog Trot Capital of the World”; Mamou is the “Cajun Music Capital of the World”; and Gueydan is the “Duck Capital of America”.
8. Famous people born in Louisiana include Louis Armstrong, Truman Capote, Anne Rice, Britney Spears and Lil' Wayne. At the other end of life, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed about eight miles south of Gibsland, and Nicholas Cage has bought himself a pyramid shaped tomb in the state.
9. Things you'd better not do in Louisiana if you don't want to fall foul of the law include tying an alligator to a fire hydrant, rob a bank and then shoot the cashier with a water pistol, gargle in public or have a Pizza delivered to a friend without telling them first. Biting someone with false teeth is “aggravated assault” but if you bite someone with your own teeth is it “simple assault”.
10. The highest point in the state is only 535 feet above sea level, and its lowest, the city of New Orleans, is the second-lowest point in the US at eight feet below sea level. Because of the low elevation people put their dead in mausoleums above ground rather than burying them.

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