About Us

Assumption Parish is located in the south-central portion of Louisiana in an irregular shape. It is approximately 30 miles south of Baton Rouge and 60 miles west of New Orleans, with the southern tip of the parish being about 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The parish is bordered by Iberville and Ascension Parishes to the north, St. James and Lafourche Parishes to the east, Terrebonne and St. Mary Parishes to the south, and St. Martin and Iberia Parishes to the west. It has a total area of 236,962 acres, including 21,654 acres of water. The highest elevation in the parish is 23 feet above sea level along the high natural levee of Bayou Lafourche near Donaldsonville, while the lowest elevations are near sea level in the swamps south of Lake Verret.

The population of Assumption Parish was 19,654 in 1970. The first permanent settlements in the region were established by the French and Spanish in the middle of the 18th century along the Lafourche, between the present towns of Donaldsonville and Napoleonville. The population grew from 1755 to 1765 with the immigration of the exiled Acadians, who cleared the land and built homes. Many of their descendants still live in the parish. Assumption Parish was created as the 8th parish of the territory by an act of the legislature of Orleans territory in 1807. Napoleonville, located on Bayou Lafourche, is the parish seat.

Assumption Parish has alluvial soil divided into three classes: sandy loam, mixed soil, and black land. Much of the flooded soils are in woodland, and the most valuable land lies along Bayou Lafourche. Sugarcane is the main crop, with the parish producing more sugar in proportion to its area than any other parish in Louisiana. The parish's loamy soils are well suited to the production of truck and vegetable crops, although commercial crops are not produced extensively at present.

Bayou Lafourche is an important Mississippi River distributary that flows from Donaldsonville southward through the parish. It is 107 miles long and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The parish is also linked with many navigable bayous on the west side through the Intracoastal Waterway. Louisiana Highway 1 (LA 1) runs along the western bank of Bayou Lafourche, known as the longest street in the world, with many houses built close to each other for almost the entire 107-mile length. Several bridges connect Highway 1 and Highway 308 on the opposite bank. U.S. Highway 90 passes through the extreme southern part of the parish. Assumption Parish also has landing strips for small aircraft but no commercial air stations.