Places hopemch Wants to Go

The above-ground crypts at this Catholic cemetery face north-south instead of the usual east-west.

The tallest monument in a historic New Orleans cemetery was prompted by romance and dash of pettiness.

An abandoned underground bunker not far from downtown New Orleans.

Once the site of a Native American harvest festival, this humble clearing later played an invaluable role in the birth of jazz.

The ill-fated plan to reroute the Mississippi so that Union ships could bypass Confederate fortifications on the river bend.

Every year, a Louisiana town remembers a brief Civil War truce inspired by Masonic brotherhood.

World's largest precision optical instrument used to detect Einstein's elusive gravity waves.

A miscalculation turns a very shallow freshwater lake into a very deep saltwater lake.

A calm and comfortable place to hang out with cats and kittens up for adoption.

Parts of the civil rights movement unfolded in this historic eatery, helmed by the "Queen of Creole Cuisine."

Roadside attraction with more than 1,000 stuffed and mounted animal skins displayed in simulated natural habitats with hand-painted backdrops.

The LSU mascot lived on the college campus in one of the most impressive tiger habitats in the country.

A mysterious find dredged from Louisiana waters.

Religion and personal struggle gave birth to this collection of concrete angels.

The beautiful, fruit-covered facade hints at this building's former life.

This strange example of the Egyptian Revival architecture trend now holds Mardi Gras floats.

This museum chronicles the history of a leprosy quarantine hospital that then became a refuge.

The world-record holder for the longest bridge stretching continuously over water.

Before becoming a public park, this spot was a shell midden, a fort, and an amusement park.

An otherworldly musical haven in The Big Easy.

One of the longest water bridges in the world was built over a supposedly haunted swamp in Louisiana.

The oldest operational cathedral in the U.S. has one shell of a way of projecting speakers' voices.

An abandoned warehouse turned art sanctuary in New Orleans.

A Cajun-style Christmas on the river also involves sky-high pyres and explosives.