Louisiana is a unique place—but did you realize how unique it truly is? We’ve gathered some of the most fascinating facts from around the state. Some of these are simply amazing. You’re going to want to read all about them. 🙂

1. Winnsboro, LA calls itself the “Stars and Stripes Capital of Louisiana” and has been named one of the most patriotic cities in all of America.
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On special occasions, the city flies 350 flags along its Highway 15.
2. Marie LaVeau (Voodoo Queen) of New Orleans is entombed in St. Louis Cemetery #1 at the foot of Basin St.
Facebook.com / Marie LaVeau’s House of VooDoo
Her daughters are named after her of the same name and she has grand children and great grandchildren alive to this day!
3. The French Opera House in New Orleans was the center for social life in the city between the Civil War and WWI.
Wikicommons / Infrogmation
After opening in 1859, the opera house burned to the ground in 1919.
4. The parish in Louisiana with the highest population is Jefferson Parish.
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Home to Metairie, Kenner, and 432, 552 people.
5. In Louisiana, you can get a $500 fine if you order a pizza for a friend and didn’t tell them about it first.
Flickr.com / pinke
I wonder if it is illegal if your dog does the deliveries?
6. Louisiana has a number of record-holding bridges, the well known Causeway Bridge as well as the Huey P. Long Train Bridge (world's longest over land & river) and the even longer Norfolk-Southern Lake Pontchartrain Bridge (world's longest RR trestle over water) constructed in 1935 and 1884, respectively.
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7. New Orleans is home to the largest bug museum in the United States, the Audubon Insectarium.
Facebook.com / Audubon Insectarium
Found on Canal Street in Downtown New Orleans, the Insectarium regularly hosts cricket cooking events and has an entire exhibit devoted to butterflies.
8. Po-boys were invented during a streetcar workers strike.
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The story goes that Benny and Clovis Martin were former streetcar conductors who owned a New Orleans restaurant. They served the striking streetcar workers sandwiches while calling the strikers "poor boys". Soon the sandwich adopted the name.
9. One of the earliest patents in Louisiana was Tabasco Sauce, patented by Edmund McIlhenny in 1870.
Other notable Louisiana inventors include William Edenborn, who patented a machine which simplified the making of barbed wire and cut the unit price of production from 17 to three cents per pound.
10. The image on the Louisiana state flag is actually a medieval myth.
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Real pelicans don't pick their own skin off to feed their young in tough times.
11. While many praised the unique Old State Capitol building in Baton Rouge, Mark Twain hated it.
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He's quoted as saying, "It is pathetic ... that a whitewashed castle, with turrets and things ... should ever have been built in this otherwise honorable place."

How many of those facts did you already know? What was new for you? Do you have any special or fun facts of your own to share? We love to hear from you.

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