Location

Assumption Parish is located in South Louisiana, just west of the Mississippi River and the industrial corridor that stretches along the river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  Assumption Parish is therefore conveniently situated near the industrial activity of both the Mississippi River region and the Gulf of Mexico coastal area surrounding Morgan City to the south.  top of page h

Topography

Much of Assumption Parish is laced with bayous. The highest land in the parish is located along the banks of Bayou Lafourche where the elevations range from 15 to 20 feet above sea level, forming a natural levee. Bayou Lafourche is 107 miles long and is presently navigable from Thibodaux to Belle Pass at the Gulf of Mexico. Lake Verret, Grassy Lake and Lake Palourde form the western boundary of the parish. top of page h

Municipal Summaries-  There is only one incorporated and several unincorporated municipal areas in Assumption Parish.  top of page h

Napoleonville

The only incorporated community in the parish and its seat of government.  Napoleonville, located on the banks of Bayou Lafourche, was originally settled by both French and Spanish, but was later named by a French settler who had fought under Napoleon.  top of page h

Bayou L’Ourse

A community in the southern tip of the parish with a population of 1700, Bayou L’Ourse is home to McDermott Fabrication.  top of page h

Labadieville

Another community situated on Bayou Lafourche, Labadieville was once a central site for the Washi Indians, who inhabited before colonial settlers arrived.  top of page h

Pierre Part

One of the largest communities in Assumption Parish, Pierre Part is located in the rural western part of the parish.  top of page h

Paincourtville

One of several communities along Bayou Lafourche, Paincourtville is home to over a thousand inhabitants.  top of page h

Supreme

A community of about a thousand, Supreme was home to Supreme Sugar, once one of the largest private employers in the parish. top of page h  

Additional smaller communities include Belle River, Brule St. Martin, Brule St. Vincent, Bayou Corne, Klotzville, and Bertrandville.  top of page h

Economy

Industrial Base

A hard-working  labor force, abundant raw materials, location near a corridor of significant industrial activity, and land for commercial and industrial development make Assumption Parish an ideal prospect for business investment.  Although agriculture dominates the local economic base, related industrial activity, including sugar processing and refining, also impact the local economy.  Also, J. Ray McDermott, Inc. has a prominent presence in the parish with its fabrication plant in Bayou L’Ourse.

Major Industries

Fabrication, Sugar, Food Products, Agriculture, Fishing

Quality of Life

Climate

Semi-tropical.  Assumption Parish enjoys a complete seasonal cycle with beautiful spring and fall seasons.  Louisiana’s pleasant climate throughout the year gives way to a variety of year round sporting activity.  Winter months are usually mild with cold spells of short duration:  the average January temperature is 54 degrees Fahrenheit.  The summer months are quite warm with an average daily temperature  in July of 82 degrees Fahrenheit.  Annual precipitation averages 54 inches. 

Medical Services

Assumption Community Hospital, located in Napoleonville with 39 beds, and Assumption Parish Health Unit, a state-operated clinic, provide skilled medical care for the residents of Assumption Parish.  In addition,  a large number of regional medical facilities, including Riverview Medical, Ascension Hospital, Prevost Memorial Hospital, Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Earl K. Long Memorial Hospital, East Jefferson General Hospital, Oschner Foundation Hospital, Thibodaux Health and Hospitals and Touro Infirmary, offer excellent medical care alternatives.  

Recreation

There is an abundance of recreational activities available to local residents and visitors to Assumption Parish.  Resources include ball fields, tennis courts, swimming pools, golf courses, parks, and challenging locations for hunting and fishing.   top of page h  

Cultural Life

The cultural life in Assumption Parish encompasses:

Libraries

The Assumption Parish Library, located in Napoleonville, has four branches within the parish.  The approximate number of volumes is 49,564, with nearly 250 additions per month.  The facilities offer reading and reference materials, including periodicals, film and audio materials. 

Parks

Lake Verret, Bayou Lafourche, Belle River, and Pierre Part provide abundant hunting, fishing and water sports opportunities for residents and visitors to Assumption Parish.

Festivals

The Madewood Arts Festival, held in the spring on the grounds of the Madewood Plantation features lectures, exhibits, art shows, ballet, concerts, and many other activities.  In addition, an antebellum Christmas celebration is also held on the Madewood grounds in early December.  top of page h

Surrounding Area Resources

Like much of Louisiana, Assumption Parish has roots buried deep in the traditions of the past. 

Madewood Plantation, considered one of the grandest of Louisiana plantation homes opened to the public, features intricate interior woodwork and plasterwork, as well as six majestic fluted Ionic columns which line the home’s upper and lower galleries.   

Belle Alliance, a private 32-room Greek revival home nested among oaks and magnolias, was built as a country manor in 1847.   

Area churches also have a long and somewhat colorful history, offering a glimpse of art as well as religion. 

The St. Elizabeth Catholic Church is noted for its unusual frescos (painted  in 1916 under the supervision of a refugee priest who fled Mexico to escape religious persecution) depicting the Church battling various forms of heresy. 

The Christ Episcopal Church is a red brick Gothic structure in Napoleonville, featuring glowing stained-glass windows that were vandalized by federal troops during the Civil War and later repaired. 

The St. Philomena Catholic Church has a monument and tomb in the cemetery behind the church containing many victims of the yellow fever epidemic of 1878.  top of page h

History of Assumption Parish 

Assumption Parish is situated in the serene bayou country in the south-central portion of Louisiana.  It is an irregular-shaped parish and is located about 30 miles south from Baton Rouge and 60 miles west of New Orleans.  It is bordered on the north by Iberville and Ascension Parishes, on the east by St. James and Lafourche Parishes, on the south by Terrebonne and St. Mary  Parishes, and on the west by St. Martin and Iberia Parishes.  The southern tip of the parish is about 25 miles and an extreme width of about 18 miles.  The total area of the parish is 236,962 acres, of which 21, 654 acres is water.

The soil of the entire parish is alluvial and divided into three classes – sandy loam, mixed soil (a mix of sand and humus), and black land (contains little or no sand).  Many thousands of acres are flooded, however, because of their low elevation and lack of adequate outlets.  Most of the flooded soils are in woodland.  The most valuable land of the parish lies along Bayou Lafourche, extending back some 80 to 100 acres; no better land than this is to be found in the state. 

Sugarcane is the main crop.  In proportion to this area, Assumption Parish produces more sugar than any other parish in Louisiana.  Most of the soils in the parish not subject to flooding have been used in the production of sugarcane.  There are many home gardens since the rich loamy soil is well suited for vegetable crops. 

The original inhabitants who lived along the banks of our Bayou are said to have been the “Chetimatches Indian Tribe”, “Washas” and “Chawashas”.  For the archeologist, there are the mysterious Indian mounds still found in this parish in the interior of Lake Verett.  These were said to have been in existence at least 4,000 years ago.  These Indian Tribes used the lakes and bayous for hunting and fishing in their hand-made dugout canoes.  Villages were located near the bayous and lakes.  Houses were constructed round with walls of a mixture of clay and Spanish moss.  Roofs were made of layers of palmetto leaves carefully applied to prevent leakage.  Within the village were large thatched “temples” that housed the Chief of the Tribe.  Sentries were constantly on guard against invaders with their stations as lookout towers that were placed on stilts at outlying positions near the village.  top of page h

Assumption Parish was the eighth parish created by the state in 1807, five years before Louisiana entered the Union.  Its recorded history dates back to 1699, when French explorers under Bienville were the first white men to explore the Bayou Lafourche valley.  The three Indian tribes were the only inhabitants of the area at that time and Bienville named the stream running through the center of the valley “the River of the Washas” after reaching the chief Washa village, where Labadieville is now.  The French later re-named the stream “Lafourche of the Chitamatchas” for the tribe located where the bayou connects with the Mississippi River. 

French and Spanish colonists established the first permanent settlements in the middle of the 18^th Century.  French Acadians, exiled from Nova Scotia, settled here between 1755 and 1765.  Germans eventually joined them from the “German Coast” of the Mississippi River along with a large number of Spanish immigrants about 1778 while Louisiana was under Spanish rule. 

Early settlers stayed close to Bayou Lafourche but, after Louisiana achieved statehood, many Anglo-Americans bought large farms and came to the parish with their slaves.  One such family, the Pugh’s of North Carolina, arrived in the 1820’s.  They acquired 18 plantations and built magnificent homes such as Madewood near Napoleonville, one of the most important historical structures in the parish. 

As the land’s use changed from the small, individual plots farmed by the Acadians to large plantations run by the Anglo-Americans, use of the parish’s lifeline – Bayou Lafourche – was likewise altered.  Pirogues and flatboats had been used since the first settlements were established in the 1700’s, but in 1812 the first steamboat appeared on the Mississippi River and within a decade others made their way to Bayou Lafourche. 

Assumption Parish was the scene of a skirmish during the Civil War in October 1862.  A Union army of 3,000 troops was confronted at Georgia Plantation near Labadieville by a smaller Confederate unit.  Out-manned and out-maneuvered, the Confederate unit was quickly overcome.  Other Union forces later camped in Napoleonville. 

Napoleonville has always been the parish seat.  In 1832, Louis Monginot bought a quarter-mile square of land along the bayou for $2,000 and subdivided it into town-like markings.  Legend has it that Monginot had been a solider under Napoleon Bonaparte and named the community in honor of the “Little General.”  However, records suggest that the town was probably named for the Napoleon family, which was instrumental in the community’s early development. 

The first courthouse was built in 1818, but it was destroyed by fire, as was the second building.  The present courthouse was built in 1895 and features Spanish architecture seldom seen in such structures in south Louisiana. 

The Catholic religion of the people of Assumption is interwoven with the history of the parish itself.  The focus of the community’s Catholic faith is visible in the beautiful churches in each of the parish towns. 

Perhaps the most historic of Assumption’s churches is Christ Episcopal Church in Napoleonville.