Beau Jardin

A brick staircase winds down the bluff to Cane River Lake through terraced levels held by stone landings and ironwork. Waterfalls run down the slope between native plantings and live oaks. At night the waterfalls and plants are lit. Natchitoches was founded in 1714 on the Red River as a French outpost for trade with Spanish-controlled Mexico. When the river shifted course, it left behind a thirty-three-mile oxbow — Cane River Lake — and cut the town off from the Mississippi. Beau Jardin descends to that lake now, its walkways reaching the water that was once a river. The garden is one of the most photographed spots in Natchitoches. Weddings and quiet afternoons fill its terraces. Free and open daily, it sits on the riverbank in the Historic District near Front Street.