Capitol Park Museum

The state's most comprehensive single collection of Louisiana cultural artifacts sits one block from the State Capitol — Poverty Point stone tools, Louis Armstrong's childhood bugle, 21st-century Mardi Gras Indian suits, and the Bayou St. John submarine under one roof. The Capitol Park Museum is a branch of the Louisiana State Museum system, which also operates the Cabildo and Presbytere in New Orleans, but this building holds the widest sweep. A full-scale reproduction of a Louisiana bayou ecosystem spans an entire gallery — a shrimping boat, a pirogue, and mounted wildlife. The exhibits cover Huey Long's political career, Louisiana music from zydeco to jazz, the petroleum industry, and the 1927 flood. New Orleans–based design studio Eskew Dumez Ripple designed the building to echo the industrial architecture of the nearby railroad and river corridor. Christopher Chadbourne & Associates created the exhibits. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9am to 4pm. Admission charged. The museum sits at 660 N. 4th Street, a short walk from the capitol where much of what's on display was either made law or made necessary.