Hidden · Avery Island, Louisiana, United States
Avery Island
A dome of rock salt rising above the Louisiana marsh, where Tabasco sauce began and where a family rebuilt a colony of egrets.
A hill of salt in the middle of the bayou.
Avery Island, in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, is not really an island. It is a huge dome of rock salt, about three miles long and two and a half wide, pushed up by ancient salt deposits buried under the Mississippi River Delta region. Bayous, salt marsh and swamp surround it, about three miles inland from Vermilion Bay and roughly 130 miles west of New Orleans.
At its highest point it reaches 163 feet above sea level and covers around 2,200 acres. It is one of five salt dome islands that rise above the flat Gulf coast, the others being Jefferson, Weeks, Cote Blanche and Belle Isle. Its earlier name, Petite Anse, means "Little Cove" in Cajun French. A small community lives on the island, and the whole place is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Salt, sugar, pepper sauce and rescued birds.
Native peoples found the salt first. They boiled the island's briny spring water and traded the salt to other groups as far away as central Texas, Arkansas and Ohio. By 1818 the island belonged to John Craig Marsh, who ran a sugar plantation on its fertile soil. His son-in-law Daniel Dudley Avery, a jurist from Baton Rouge, became sole owner in 1855 and gave the island the name it carries today, and Edmund McIlhenny joined the family by marrying Avery's daughter.
In 1868 McIlhenny founded the McIlhenny Company and began making Tabasco pepper sauce. He received a patent for his processing formula in 1870, and the same basic process is still used today. Around 1895 his son Edward founded a bird colony, later called Bird City, after plume hunters had killed egrets by the thousands for hat feathers. He raised eight young egrets, released them in the fall, and the following spring they came back with others of their kind. The migration continues. The family also planted azaleas, camellias and other non-native plants, and when oil was found in 1942 he made sure crews avoided the live oaks.
Not every story from the family's era is a happy one. In 1938 Edward set up a nutria farm on the island and later released a large number of the animals into the wild, from where they spread. After Hurricane Rita in 2005 the family built a levee 17 feet high, with pumps and generators, to protect Tabasco production from future storms.
Avery Island in pictures.
Practical notes.
Before you go.
Is Avery Island really an island?
Not in the usual sense. It is a salt dome, a huge mass of rock salt about three miles long, rising above bayous, salt marsh and swamp. It is one of five salt dome islands on the Louisiana Gulf coast.
What is Avery Island known for?
It is the source of Tabasco sauce. Edmund McIlhenny founded the McIlhenny Company here in 1868, and the same basic process is still used today.
What is Bird City?
A bird colony founded around 1895 by Edward Avery McIlhenny after plume hunters had killed egrets by the thousands. According to the island's history, egrets return each spring.
Can you visit Avery Island?
Jungle Gardens and Bird City have been open to the public. Access is by a road that is technically a very low toll bridge. Check the official websites for current hours, entry rules and any fees.
Around Louisiana
Walking tours, day trips and experiences around this area, on GetYourGuide.