While its outdoor recreation receives lots of praise around the region, and rightfully so, Monroe-West Monroe is also home to a hub of cultural attractions profuse with galleries and museums, including a parish-wide public art project.
Local landmark Layton Castle seems to appear straight from the pages of a childhood fairytale, or perhaps the two-hundred-year-old European chateau of your dreams, landing right here in Monroe. Fans of the A&E Duck Dynasty series can take the self-guided Duck Commander Tour at the 10,000-square-foot museum in West Monroe. Filled with memorabilia from the Robertson family's duck-call empire, family photos and artifacts, a set recreation from the hit show, and even a sensorial duck hunt simulation, it's an entertaining look within one of North Louisiana's best-known bearded families.
Along Riverside Drive, the Coca-Cola Museum, housed within the Biedenharn Museum and Gardens, pay homage to the legacy of Joseph Augustus Biedenharn, known for being the first to bottle the famously fizzy drink that had previously only been made in soda shops with carbonated water and syrup. “Mr. Joe,” as he was known around town, bought a Coca-Cola bottling factory in Monroe, which became the beginning of the Coca-Cola franchise we know today. The museum features nostalgic early Coca-Cola memorabilia, including an original five-cent vending machine where you can get a glass-bottle Coke for just a nickel. The museum and historic home also recount the story of Biedenharn's only daughter, Emy-Lou Biedenharn, a renowned opera singer in pre-WWII Europe, who developed the estate's formal English gardens upon her return to Monroe.
Courtesy of Louisiana Travel
Biedenharn Museum and Gardens
The Biedenharn boasts a Coca-Cola museum that reveals the South's role in the invention and growth of the blockbuster soda brand. Memorabilia lovers will get a kick out of all the pieces of tangible Coke lore on hand here. A few doors down guests can tour the Biedenharn home, decorated in the style of its last residents and opening up to an expansive and breathtaking garden and fountains out back.
Housed in the Masur family's former home, The Masur Museum of Art houses a mix of multimedia exhibits within its 1920s Tudor-style walls, and at Chennault Aviation & Military Museum, you’ll find an extensive exhibit on the life of General Claire Lee Chennault, a Louisiana native and leader of the Flying Tigers fighter squadron, in addition to the rich history about the birth of Delta Airlines, which initially began as a regional crop-dusting service.
During your sojourn to Monroe-West Monroe, you'll more than likely encounter a number of larger-than-life painted heron sculptures scattered around Ouachita Parish. The Herons on the Bayou public art installation is a collection of eighty-six different avians (thirty-six more were just added to expand the project's original fifty!) which are sponsored by local businesses and designed by talented area artists. Embark on a heron hunt to see if you can count them all on your trip.
Courtesy of Discover Monroe-West Monroe
Masur Museum of Art
For a little lagniappe to take home with you to remember your sojourn to Monroe-West Monroe, peruse Antique Alley, in the Cotton Port Historic District of downtown West Monroe. Like the name suggests, this coalescence of merchants, antiques shops, specialty stores, and restaurants flanks either side of Trenton Street. You can spend hours getting lost in Traditions, a fine antiques shop with curated items from across the pond; The Spice & Tea Exchange, which serves up specialty hot and iced teas; and Eleven 26, a fabulous retail boutique.
With so much to see and do, you may want to spend an extra day or two exploring everything the Twin Cities have to offer. Lay your head at the historic Hamilton House Inn, a favorite bed-and-breakfast among locals and visitors alike for its luxury accommodations and convenient locale on Antique Alley. monroe-westmonroe.org
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