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Donaldsonville is located in south Louisiana at the juncture of the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche.
Situated on highway LA-1, Donaldsonville is about a one hour drive from either Baton Rouge or New Orleans.
The Sunshine Bridge provides access to the East Bank of the Mississippi River.
Donaldsonville is the parish seat of Ascension Parish, and has a population of about 8,000 residents.
Area communities include Labadieville, Paincourtville, Thibodaux, Plattenville, White Castle, and Napoleonville.
Donaldsonville is a great starting point from which to visit nearby plantation homes such as Oak Alley, Nottoway, San Francisco, Houmas House and Laura Plantation.
Nearby is Lake Verret, a popular fishing spot in Assumption Parish near Pierre Part, Louisiana. Here some episodes of the hit TV reality show "Swamp People" are filmed. The show follows a group of alligator hunters during the 30-day Louisiana alligator season in various areas of South Louisiana, including the huge Atchafalaya Swamp in the Atchafalaya Basin in south central Louisiana.
Other segments are shot around South Louisiana, including Bayou Sorrel, Pecan Island, Bayou Pigeon, Morgan City and Houma and other locales.
"Choot 'em" is a phrase heard often on Swamp People, voiced by gator hunter Troy Landry of Pierre Part, a small community in the swamp close to the cities of Donaldsonville and Thibodaux, and Lake Verret. Our family roots are from nearby Paincourtville, Napoleonville, Plattenville and Labadieville, where my grandfather worked in the sugar cane fields along Bayou Lafourche.
Bayou Lafourche is a 106 mile long waterway which stretches from Donaldsonville, at the Mississippi River, to the Gulf of Mexico. From Donaldsonville, it flows through Paincourtville, Napoleonville, Labadieville, Thibodaux, Raceland, Larose, Cut Off, Galliano, Golden Meadow and finally into the Gulf near Leeville and Port Fouchon.
Originally called the Chetimachas River, it flows through Ascension Parish, Assumption Parish and Lafourche Parish. Many of the early Cajuns settled along the bayou. On the west side of the bayou is Louisiana Highway 1, and on the east bank is LA 308.
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