In 2022, my friend Brockie and I took a month-long road trip.
We stopped in Baton Rouge after a day in New Orleans, before heading to Texas.
Whereas New Orleans felt like a suffocating grid of narrow streets, Baton Rouge offered plenty of room to breathe—wide lanes, greenery, and ample parking (that’s a miracle right there).
My Day in Baton Rouge
Brockie and I started off the day by finding some place with wifi so I could get some online work done (like working on this blog). We settled on Coffee Joy, a bright and minimalist coffee shop conveniently located just off of I-10.
After an hour or two of sipping on a lavender cold brew (it was ok) and doing some work, we left the coffee shop and decided to find a bookstore. We stopped by Red Stick Reads, a small boutique bookstore with a cool owner and seemingly random selection of both used and new books. 10/10 would visit again.
Work and shopping out of the way, we drove into downtown.
Downtown & 100°F Heat
Brockie and I parked down at the Mississippi River Park and spent some time walking along the river. In hindsight, considering how much walking we ended up doing, I would suggest parking somewhere closer to the center.
After some time at the river, we headed for the prettiest building we saw. That building happened to be the Old State Capitol. (Baton Rouge was not originally in our itinerary, so we had 0 plans or landmarks figured out.)
After touring the Old State Capitol, we spent some time just walking around downtown and taking pictures of old churches. The streets were surprisingly empty for a Saturday, or maybe Baton Rouge is just a really quiet, chill city. Either way, it was a welcome break from the loudness and busyness of New Orleans.
It may have also been the heat. It was pushing 100°F and we’d left all of our water in the van. We ended up turning to a cafe out of necessity.
We stopped by The Vintage for a late lunch and beignets. Apparently it’s the place to be in downtown Baton Rouge, because it was the liveliest café we found—coffee shop, café, and bar all wrapped into one.
To wrap up our day in Baton Rouge, we made a quick visit to the ‘new’ State Capitol building. Completed in 1931, it replaced the Old Capitol we had toured earlier in the day.
City Highlights: the State Capitol buildings
The Old Capitol building
The old Baton Rouge State Capitol building looks like a castle. Unfortunately, the beautiful building was only in use for about 12 years, when the interior was burned during the Union occupation of Baton Rouge in the Civil War.
After the building was restored in the 1880’s, the Old Capitol was in use once more, although it suffered another interior fire in 1906. In 1930 Louisiana began construction on a new Capitol, and the Old was eventually converted into a museum.
As of 2022, the Old State Capitol is open for free self-guided tours. The bottom floor contains several historic exhibits, while the second floor is open for you to walk through. (Third floor is off limits.) You can stand in the chamber where Louisiana officially seceded from the Union, and marvel at the colorful stained glass ceiling and windows. While most of the old building has been restored, there is one window where they left a portion of the original frame, and you can see the contrast between the restored wood and the charred wood.
As for the New Capitol, I guess Louisiana decided they needed to go big to top the Old…because it’s the tallest Capitol building in the USA! At 450 feet, it stands out from the rest of downtown Baton Rouge and forms an impressive landmark.
The State Capitol features a garden in the front and a lake in the back, surrounding the tall building with greenery. You can stroll through the gardens and take a walk around the lake before circling back to downtown.
Together, the Capitol buildings are the main highlights of downtown Baton Rouge. Along with several old churches in the city, the historic buildings make Baton Rouge worth the visit. Just maybe pick a day that isn’t pushing hell temperatures.