18 Abandoned Places In Louisiana [MAP]

Last Updated on March 27, 2022 by Urbex Underground

Hunting for abandoned places in Louisiana? You’re in the right place. Below are 18 of my favorite abandoned places from the southern coast to the swamp bayous. Let’s dive in!

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Abandoned Places In Louisiana

1. Kisatchie High School

31.415537, -93.175459

History:

Near the crossroads of Louisiana Highways 117 and 118, stands the historic Kisatchie High School. The school was founded in 1862 and merged with the Kisatchie Union School and the Shilo School, two nearby institutions, in 1912.

A small secondary school could now be built since there were enough students. The school had outgrown its current structure by 1920, and a new one was required. Members of the neighborhood began creating handmade bricks for the new school in an act of great community spirit. It was truly a communal effort, with even the children contributing. The school was built in 1922, and it is still standing today. Repairs were required by 1931.

Unfortunately, by the 1960s, the number of students enrolled in high school had decreased significantly. In the 12th grade, there were less than 50 students. Because it was no longer financially possible to maintain the school open, it was merged with Provencal High School in 1962.

What’s left?

The structure has been abandoned for more than 50 years and is gradually being reclaimed by nature. Inside is very eerie with empty hallways and old lockers throughout the building.

2. Lindy Boggs Medical

29.97326, -90.09348

History:

Lindy Boggs Medical Center, commonly known as Lindy Boggs Hospital, was once known as Mercy Hospital. Mercy Hospital first opened its doors in the 1920s. Mercy Hospital joined with Southern Baptist Hospital in the 1990s, and the two institutions became Mercy-Baptist Medical Center. Lindy Boggs Medical Center was a 187-bed acute care facility. The hospital was quite modern, and it performed high-level procedures such as organ transplants.

Hurricane Katrina crashed into the Gulf Coast in 2005. In the aftermath, about 1,400 people were killed. The loss of critical infrastructure was a major factor in the deaths of so many people. The Lindy Boggs Medical Center was one of the numerous structures destroyed by the hurricane.

What’s left?

The hospital is covered in graffiti but structurally sound given its abandonment. Lindy Boggs Medical Center is just one of many abandoned places across Louisiana caused by Hurricane Katrina.

3. Charity Hospital

29.95538, -90.07795

History:

Charity Hospital was established on May 10, 1736, thanks to a gift from Jean Louis, a French sailor and shipbuilder who died the year before in New Orleans. His dying will and testament directed that his estate be used to fund a hospital for the poor in the colony of New Orleans. The Hospital of Saint John was the original name of Charity Hospital.

At the time of Hurricane Katrina, Charity Hospital was one of several public hospitals run by the Louisiana State University System across the state. Charity Hospital and the neighboring University Hospital were both connected with the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and served as teaching hospitals (LSUHSC-NO). In 2015, University Hospital, which was afterwards, renamed Interim LSU Hospital, closed.

What’s left?

The building’s owner, the Louisiana State University System, claimed that it had no plans to reopen the hospital in its former site. Charity Hospital was chosen to become part of the city’s new medical center in the lower Mid-City area. University Medical Center New Orleans was the name of the new hospital, which opened in August 2015.

There is still extensive damage to the inside from the storm, especially the lower levels which completed flooded in 2005.

4. The Luling Mansion

29.9826, -90.0862

History:

In 1865, the Luling Mansion was built for Florence Luling, a rich German cotton dealer. The opulent Luling Mansion took two years to build and included 22 nicely fitted rooms. The formal gardens, which lay on 30 acres overlooking the Bayou St. John, contained a lake with its own island. From the rusticated first floor to the second-level entryway, a granite staircase rises. The top balcony is shaded by a hipped roof that extends well beyond the walls and is completed with a parapet cornice and a square belvedere.

Pavilions bordered the house (removed by 1924), which housed a conservatory and a bowling alley and were connected to the house by bridges across the lake. Luling sold his magnificent mansion to the Louisiana Jockey Club before departing for Europe. In 1905, the Jockey Club moved out of the property, which was then converted into individual flats.

What’s left?

As the Luling Mansion, hidden from view, slides quietly into ruin, the southern upper class of the Jockey Club can no longer dance the night away on its balconies and cultivated lawns.

5. Six Flag New Orleans

30.05126, -89.93442

History:

The Jazzland amusement park, which opened in 2000 on 140 acres of land in east New Orleans, included attractions that paid respect to music and the city’s history.

Two years later, it was sold to Six Flags and renamed Six Flags New Orleans, with additional attractions and sections themed after DC Comics and Loony Toons. Six Flags oversaw the addition of extra covered places as well as a slew of new flat-spinning rides. Six Flags was rebranded, and the “it’s fun!” motif was adopted, complete with a dancing elderly guy dubbed Mr. Six.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the park, flooding it and submerging it for a month in up to 7 feet of water. Many of the rides were made dangerous due to lengthy exposure to saltwater, and the park was declared a complete loss by Six Flags.

What’s left?

As of 2017, there appeared to be a strong plan in place to revive the site as an amusement park , a symbol of the area’s revival and expansion however as of 2019, media sources reports it will be destroyed.

Expect to find numerous rollercoasters, rides, and blown-out shops. The part is heavily watched and police have been instructed to arrest anyone found on the property. Six Flags is one of the more dangerous abandoned places in Louisiana with crocodiles, coyotes, and wild boars that roam the property. New explorers should avoid this location.

6. Market Street Power Plant

29.93031, -90.06436

History:

It’s up the river from the Crescent City Connection and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on the Mississippi River. The plant was built in 1905 and stopped producing electricity in 1973, while it was owned by New Orleans Public Service, Inc. The New Orleans Railway and Light Company built the power plant, which began providing electricity for the city of New Orleans in 1905. It was remarked as “the largest power producing facility in the South” by a local newspaper. With its twin smokestacks and deteriorating industrial façade, the massive brick structure spans over 160,000 square feet.

Market Street, which had been providing power for more than 65 years, stopped producing power in 1973 and became a backup supply. The facility was sold in foreclosure to developer Joe Jaeger in September 2015 after the projected construction of a residential, retail, and entertainment hub never happened.

What’s left?

The factory has been utilized as a filming setting for movies and television series in recent years. The plant is patrolled regularly and outfitted with silent alarms.

7.  Fort Massachusetts

30.21236, -88.97214

History:

Fort Massachusetts is a fort on the Mississippi Gulf Coast of the United States, located on West Ship Island. It was constructed with brick walls between 1859 and 1866, following the War of 1812. During the building of the fort, no permanent guns were installed. The fort was only partially equipped once it was completed in 1866, getting just 17 of the 37 guns.

Major General Winfield S. Hancock called the structure Fort Massachusetts in 1884, despite the fact that it never got an official Army name. This is the first time in an official document that it has been referred to by that name. Later, the Union Ship that retook the island in the fall, the fort on Ship Island became known as Fort Massachusetts.

What’s left?

It remained operational till 1903. Within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, it is now a historical tourist destination. The fort is roughly halfway down West Ship Island’s north side, near a boat pier. The fort is a great place for a casual explore, and one of the more interesting abandoned places in Louisiana that are legal to check out.

8. Keachi Female College Historic Site

32.18975, -93.90959

History:

Keachi Woman’s Institution was established in 1856 in Keachi, Louisiana, and remained a women’s college until 1879, when it allowed men to enroll. The institution acted as a field hospital and morgue during the Battle of Mansfield in 1864. Confederate troops who died in combat or as a result of wounds received after the war were buried in a nearby pine forest in numerous rows with headstones.

The name of the institution was changed to Keachie Male and Female College in 1879. The institution was still run by the same people, but the students were educated and lived in separate facilities until both men and women were finally taught in the same classrooms.

Then, in 1880, a tornado struck, destroying the buildings, injuring President Tucker and his family, and killing the language instructor. The institution was converted into a K-12 school and remained operational until the 1920s.

What’s left?

The school burned down in the 1920s and was rebuilt as a smaller school, according to many statements from locals. An abandoned farm home can be found nowadays on the property. The home was transferred to its current position by the historical society 20+ years ago. Ruins of the building are still there, but are at risk of getting demolished soon.

9. Charles Boldt Paper Mill

29.99725, -91.80037

History:

Built in 1920 and fully operational in 1921, the Charles Boldt Paper Mill produced cardboard from rice straw harvested by local farmers. DeRise explains, “Chaz Boldt had other mills across the nation and opted to establish this one here.” “Everything was completed in a year and with strong cement structure, as you can see, ” Nowadays, doing so would be too expensive.”

What’s left?

Although it was a modern business at the time that was supposed to improve the local economy, which it most likely did for a time, it was closed in 1938 due to the Great Depression and has been abandoned ever since. The mill has been stripped of all of its goods and most of its adornments since it closed.

Although not many artifacts are left, Charles Boldt Paper Mill is still an amazing spot, especially when its overgrown in the springtime.

10. Laurel Valley Plantation

29.81155, -90.77279

History:

Etienne Boudreaux, a French Acadian, better known as Cajuns in the south, was the valley’s first known inhabitant. After being banished from Nova Scotia, he was one of the hundreds of small-town residents who migrated to southern Louisiana.

J.W. Tucker arrived with slaves, tools, and supplies to start converting the area into a sugar plantation. During his tenure as plantation owner, the plantation grew to about 5,000 acres, dozens of structures were built, including a sugar mill, and his staff rose to roughly 130 slaves.

While Tucker’s main home was destroyed during the Civil War, the site still has shotgun houses (slave quarters) and Creole cottages. The mill ceased operations in the 1930s and was severely damaged during Hurricane Betsy in 1965.

What’s left?

The property was damaged by Hurricane Ida in 2021, and several of the old structures were destroyed. Still, dozens of old cottages remain throughout the property. The site is one of many abandoned places in Loisuianna that date back to the days of slavery.

11. EA Conway Memorial Hospital

38.64248, -90.20888

History:

The hospital first opened in 1941; however it was decommissioned in 1987 to make way for the present structure. Louisiana State University took over operations in 1979 after the structure was used as a state charity hospital.

In 1976, Confederate Memorial joined the LSU System, becoming our Institution of Medicine the first state school in Louisiana to run its own teaching hospital. In 2003, EA Conway Medical Center became part of the LSU Health Sciences Center, enhancing patient care and medical education options in north Louisiana.

What’s left?

The hospital is falling apart but is still a great place to explore. If you’re looking for abandoned places in Louisiana with a rich history, don’t pass up on Conway Memorial Hospital.

12. Pirates Cove Water Park

30.24904, -92.9557

History:

As you pass through Southwest Louisiana around Jennings on I-10 east or west, you can’t help but see the waterpark off to the side. The massive slides that protrude from the grass and trees can be observed. It is the Pirates Cove water park that has a strange story to tell.

After hurricanes, floods, and ice storms, we’ve arrived in 2022. The park is still there, but no one has seen it from the inside. The mystery lingered until Unknown Ventures, a group of YouTubers, entered the area. They were passing through Louisiana when they came to the park. Obviously, they are unaware of the park’s history.

They refer to it as “abandoned” and “out of service,” but they have no idea that it was never in service. They take a tour of the park’s interior, filming along the way with some incredible drone footage and inside various buildings within the waterpark. It’s both incredible and terrible to see the amount of effort that went into the park only to have it never come to fruition.

What’s left?

Today the unfinished park is totally vacant. The slides and a few structures remain. While it isn’t the biggest abandoned location, it’s definitely one of the more interesting abandoned places in Louisiana.

13. Degaulle Manor Apartments

29.92919, -90.02481

History:

In Algiers, New Orleans, DeGaulle Manor was a low-income housing project. The 450-unit apartment complex, previously called as “Bridge Plaza,” first completed in 1964 with twelve 5-6 story mid-rise buildings. The Federal Housing Administration rented the majority of the 200 units in the early 1970s, while the Red Cross oversaw and subsidized others. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, 135 of the 364 apartments were vandalized. Hundreds of families remained in the flats until thanksgiving, when they were evicted.

What’s left?

Before being shut down in 2012, the complex had a bad reputation for crime and was one of the city’s oldest and most troublesome housing projects. It became a rubbish dump, then a work of art when it was turned into a graffiti show in 2014.

14. Loews State Palace (State Palace Theatre)

29.955469, -90.073400

History:

The State Theatre debuted in 1926 as part of the Loew’s Theatre chain. It is situated on the uptown lake’s intersection of Canal and Rampart Streets. On Canal Street, the Saenger Theater is right across from the State Palace. The State Theatre was tripled in 1976.

The divider was removed after the State Theatre closed as a movie theatre in the late 1980s, and the State Theatre was refurbished and renamed the State Palace Theatre, playing vintage movies and hosting concerts. The State Palace was temporarily shuttered in 2005 because the basement flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. Due to fire code issues, the theatre was forced to close permanently two years later.

What’s left?:

Today the theatre is sealed and its fate is undetermined. Although the property is in limbo there still might be hope for saving this structure.

15. The Touro-Shakespeare Home

29.94169, -90.02854

History:

The Touro-Shakespeare Home was relocated to General Meyer Avenue in Algiers, on the Mississippi River’s west bank. Due to popular interest in Touro’s initial almshouse, a second structure was built in Uptown in 1895, sponsored by Mayor Joseph A. Shakespeare’s gaming tax.

As the neighborhood grew in population, the uptown site was split into houses in 1927, and the facility was transferred to Algiers. The three-story structure would have four prominent columns at its main entry, and its 194-foot facade would be adorned with diamond-patterned brickwork. The almshouse could accommodate 200 people.

What’s left?

The structure held a city-run nursing facility for more than 70 years until being devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

16. General Laundry Building

29.96869, -90.08132

History:

The General Laundry Building, constructed in the 1930s, is an example of Art Deco architecture. The structure was used for more than just washing clothes, as its artistic exterior reveals. The vibrant color and elaborate drawings popping out from beneath vines and weeds indicate that this Art Deco treasure was no ordinary washing facility.

Following the destruction of his former building by fire, Robert Chapoit, president of General Laundry, Cleaners, and Dyers, commissioned the architectural team of Jones, Roessel, Olschner, and Wiener to design this stunning Art Deco structure.

What’s left?

The facade was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but little has been done to maintain or restore this one-of-a-kind structure.

17. Civil Defense Control Center Bunker

30.01743, -90.11439

History:

The Louisiana Legislature established the Civil Defense Agency in 1950 and permitted each municipality to form a local civil defense group in line with the state plan. In 1952, the New Orleans Office of Civil Defense was established to “prepare for, organize, and carry out all emergency measures other than military.”

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Civil Defense kept an active program in place to educate individuals on what to do in the case of a nuclear strike.

What’s left?

On the neutral ground between West End and Pontchartrain Boulevards, the bunker is still abandoned and in disrepair. The bunker is sealed and flooded inside, making it more of the more difficult abandoned places in Louisiana to explore.

18. NSA New Orleans Complex

29.9605, -90.03152

History:

The Naval Support Activity (NSA New Orleans) is a large complex of three six-story buildings that rise over the Mississippi River’s East Bank. It was the largest military post in the metropolitan area of New Orleans. It hosts events for other branches of the military and other agencies. The naval facility was fully operational until June 1933, when it was placed on repair by the United States Army.

In the mid-1960s, there was a growing naval presence in the lower Mississippi Delta. The New Orleans Army Base was turned over to the United States Navy in June 1966. To reflect the station’s shifting mandate, the Headquarters, Support Activity, and Naval Support Activity New Orleans were renounced in July 1966.

What’s left?

Today, the building is completely abandoned. The NSA Complex is one of the largest abandoned places in Louisiana, but don’t expect to find too many cool artifacts or anything of interest inside.

Go out and explore!

That concludes our list of abandoned places in Louisiana, but that doesn’t mean that’s all there is to find. Take the back roads, follow train tracks, and find some places for yourself. There are plenty of places I kept off this list so get out there and explore.

If you’re having trouble finding abandoned places, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Finding Abandoned Places, or explore abandoned places near you.