William Faulkner kept his beloved estate wild and untamed.

An eerie and beautiful group of columns mark the site of a grand mansion lost to time and fire.

The second-largest ceremonial mound in the United States is an artificial hill that is loosely shaped like a pentagon.

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

A mysterious find dredged from Louisiana waters.

A 19th-century Gothic, castle-like statehouse by the Mississippi River.

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

A museum of unusual collections, mini-towns, and a half-dog, half-alligator.

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.

This knobby, drooping New Orleans oak is a favorite place both for climbing and for meeting giraffes.

An otherworldly musical haven in The Big Easy.

By day this New Orleans square is for pedestrians, but by night it is a kingdom of kittens.

A 200-year-old building in the French Quarter that was to be Napoleon's home in the New World.

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

This New Orleans tree is filled with hidden chimes that produce a carefully tuned melody.

Sleep where gangsters fell amidst smoke and flame, with nary a bullethole to show for the legendary struggle.

Miniature art that tells an enormous story.

An urban laboratory.

A sculpture made of 10 Cadillacs as a monument to the “Golden Age” of the American automobile.

A sprawling collection of over 106,000 toys from around the world.

"I did this all while you were watching TV."

An immersive environment that is part haunted house, part choose-your-own-adventure, and part jungle gym.

A little stop along the Texas highway where Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean stayed while shooting the 1955 film "Giant."