Across the Mississippi River Bridge, a little ways down Highway 190, there’s a river that is really a lake. This is False River, so named because it was once a branch of the Mississippi before it was cut off in the 1700s. Along the curve of its oxbow you can find the small town of New Roads.
It’s less than an hour’s drive from Baton Rouge, which is a small price to pay for cool water and good food, two of the New Roads area’s main attractions.
Personally, I’ve been making that drive for nearly 15 years now—my family has kept a camp on False River since I was in high school. So over the course of a dozen sun-soaked summers, I’ve learned a bit about the town’s ins and outs. It’s a quiet, slow-moving town draped in moss and history, and if you know where to go, you can make some memories of your own.