Family Friendly Activities on Louisiana's Northshore

The painted pelicans that perch around Old Town Slidell have been keeping watch over the city since 2013. Over 180 of them are situated about town, and after spotting a few, cool down with an ice cream at Old Town Slidell Soda Shop. With its charming pastel blue building, red booths, and ice cream scoops lining the walls, the soda shop is a retro-haven. Distinctive local flavors like Creole cream cheese-flavored ice cream pair well with all the ice cream shop classics. Bring the kids for a few rounds of miniature golf at the shop’s 18-hole course just next door (where a hulking Bigfoot statue watches over the games).   

Surrounded by the Northshore’s sophisticated shops and restaurants, it’s easy to forget that in St. Tammany, unforgettable outdoor adventures are never far away. Fontainebleau State Park offers overnight accommodation in well-maintained campsites, where you can start your day with an easy stroll to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. Birds flock to the multiple habitats of the park, and young birdwatchers can spot Pine Warblers or Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Just a few miles east of Madisonville lies Fairview-Riverside State Park, a majestic expanse encompassing ninety-nine acres along the banks of the Tchefuncte River, where the whole family can camp, picnic, and explore.

Film fans will delight to know that the park’s historic Otis House appeared as the family house in Kasi Lemmon’s 1997 film Eve’s Bayou, and more recently in the 2022 drama Where the Crawdads Sing. (Fun fact: if you sign up for one of Louisiana Tours & Adventures’ private boat trips on Madisonville’s scenic Tchefuncte River, Capt. Mike Jones will take you right to the spot where scenes were filmed). The oak-studded grounds at Fairview-Riverside include a pavilion available for event rentals, multiple campsites, and boat tours provided by Louisiana Tours and Adventure. An afternoon on the Tchefuncte River wades through old homes lining the water and quiet stretches of nature with an active wildlife.

If spotting a gator isn’t enough, how about holding one? Insta-Gator Ranch and Hatchery has served as an alligator conservatory since John Price opened it in 1989. Thousands of alligators hatched from eggs here have been re-released into the wild, helping the Louisiana alligator population to recover after years of endangerment while providing educational classes and tours for the public, too. At Insta-Gator, kids who visit during hatching season (in August) can literally experience a baby alligator hatching in the palms of their hands. With guidance, they can help an alligator emerge from its egg and go for its first swim. Sounds wild, right? You’ll just have to come see for yourself.