Donaldsonville sits at the junction of the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche, about 80 kilometres southwest of New Orleans. It is a small town with genuine historical weight: in the early 19th century it served briefly as the Louisiana state capital, and its compact historic downtown still holds a run of well-preserved commercial buildings from the antebellum boom years. Today it is the most useful base for exploring the River Road, the stretch of LA-18 that threads past Nottoway, Houmas House, and a string of other plantation houses between here and New Orleans — a landscape that tells the story of Louisiana sugar wealth and the enslaved labour that built it.
South of town, Bayou Lafourche cuts deep into Cajun country. The bayou towns — Thibodaux, Napoleonville, Labadieville — offer a more lived-in Louisiana than the polished plantation circuit. Donaldsonville itself is serious food territory: Chef John Folse, one of the definitive authorities on Cajun and Creole cuisine, built his reputation here at Lafitte's Landing at Bittersweet Plantation. The surrounding region rewards a slow pace and a willingness to eat well.