Northshore/St. Tammany Parish
Watch for (Northshore):
- A 150-room luxury property hotel with meeting space is in the planning stages.
- The $200 million Colonial Pinnacle Nor du Lac center is to open in 2009.
Want to shake up a meal function?
Have brunch at Historic Benedict’s Plantation, an elegant country home built in 1882 near the historic lakefront in Mandeville that has seven dining rooms.
Want creative meeting facilities?
Hold an evening event at the Global Wildlife Center, aglow with Christmas lights. Attendees can feed the exotic animals as they stroll through the largest, free-roaming preserve in the country. For history and boating buffs, The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum can accommodate groups of up to 350. Located on the site of the Jahncke Shipyard, which built 300-ft.-long wooden ships for the U. S. Navy during World War I, it tells the history of the region’s vanished waterways and wooden boat building. Picnics under a canopy of cypress, live oaks and pines are popular at the Quail Farm, set on 53 rural acres in Abita Springs; there also are three ballrooms available for more formal functions.
Want unusual group events?
Learn about alligators at Insta-gator Alligator Ranch & Hatchery, a working alligator farm that is home to more than 2,000 gators. Enjoy a private wine-tasting tour, or join a summer Jazz’n the Vines Concert at the award-winning Pontchartrain Vineyards.
Want an offbeat cultural experience?
The Abita Mystery House is billed as Louisiana’s Most Eccentric Museum. The folk art emporium and roadside attraction in historic Abita Springs features a vintage service station, a 90-year-old Louisiana Creole cottage, an exhibition hall of memorabilia, and the House of Shards with thousands of found objects and homemade inventions.
Want spousal or team-building events?
Take spouses or guests on a shopping or architectural scavenger hunt tour around downtown shopping centers. Many of the historic homes in picturesque Covington have been restored as antique and specialty shops, and art galleries. The H. J. Smith’s Son General Store and Museum is in an authentic 1870s store. Honey Island Swamp tours are an opportunity to view wildlife in one of the least-altered river swamps in the country.
Want to add some nightlife?
Ruby’s Roadhouse in Mandeville, named “One of the Top Ten Roadhouses in the United States” by Car & Driver Magazine, is a classic rhythm and blues roadhouse. Established in the 1930s, it features all types of live music. The historic Dew Drop Dance & Social Hall in Old Mandeville is an old-style dance hall, where all the jazz luminaries played. Live music and an eclectic atmosphere can be found at several taprooms in Historic Downtown Covington. The Columbia Street Tap Room, which features 30 beers on tap, is one of the stops for a block party held on the last Friday of every month.
