Avery Island, Louisiana: The Not-Actually-an-Island That Gave the World Its Hot Sauce

Welcome to Avery Island, Louisiana, a place that has a name, a ZIP code (70513), and a geography problem. It's sold as a tropical paradise surrounded by water, but it is neither tropical nor, technically, an island. RoastMyTown.com took a flamethrower to it, and we're here to tell you: some of it was deserved, and some of it is just a really good bird story.

It's Not an Island, But It Is a Mountain of Salt (Sort Of)

Let's start with the roast's big complaint. Avery Island is, in the words of 64 Parishes, not an island in the traditional sense. It sits a few miles inland from open water and only appears insular because of its height and the wetlands encircling it. In reality, it's a salt dome. It sits near Vermilion Bay, which opens onto the Gulf of Mexico.

But before you demand a refund on your "island getaway," consider the flex. The dome rises to about 163 feet above mean sea level, making it one of the highest of Louisiana's coastal salt domes. In Louisiana, 163 feet counts as Everest with a gift shop. And the salt underneath? The tract sits atop a deposit of solid rock salt that reaches thousands of feet down. Your backyard pool, with respect, cannot say the same.

The Tabasco Factory: Three Ingredients, 195 Countries

The roast called Tabasco a "one sauce wonder." Fair, except that sauce is on the table of nearly every diner in America. Edmund McIlhenny began growing peppers in the 1860s and used salt from the mine plus a little vinegar to create the recipe still used today. It really is just three ingredients: salt, vinegar, and peppers. Minimalism, but make it flammable.

The scale is a little absurd for a place with a tiny population. Tabasco is shipped to 195 countries and territories. Somewhere, a duke is shaking Avery Island onto his eggs.

Is the factory tour thrilling? The roast says it's people watching conveyor belts. We'll counter with the actual itinerary: a museum, a pepper greenhouse, the cooperage where sauce ages in salt-sealed barrels, and the blending and bottling facility. Also, the peppers grown here are picked by hand, which is more labor than most of us put into dinner. And yes, there's a TABASCO Restaurant 1868 on site, where you can eat your way through the brand's flavor catalog.

Logistics note: ride-sharing services don't pick up from Avery Island, though a local taxi service runs Monday through Saturday. Plan accordingly, or you'll be living here, which would raise the population.

The Nutria Incident (Yes, We're Going There)

The roast's sharpest card is about nutria, and we'd be bad travel writers to dodge it. The history here is murkier than a bayou. Wikipedia's careful version: McIlhenny, for reasons unknown, released an unknown but probably large number of nutrias into the wild from Avery Island, and from there they fanned out and proliferated. Tour guides don't hide it either, noting that despite a reputation for environmentalism, McIlhenny is credited with causing Louisiana's nutria problem.

The irony is thick. The same family earned a reputation as conservationists, and for good reason, which brings us to the birds.

Bird City, a Buddha, and a Very Small Crowd

The roast joked that the birds show up seasonally before flying somewhere more interesting. Rude, and also the best part of the island's story. In 1895, Edward "Ned" McIlhenny established Bird City to preserve the dwindling snowy egret population, which had been nearly wiped out by plume hunters. He raised young egrets in captivity and released them in the fall, and they returned the next spring with other egrets, a pattern that has continued for generations. By 1910, McIlhenny estimated more than 100,000 egrets on the island.

Even a president noticed. Theodore Roosevelt praised the rookery. Ned also made a silent film of Bird City that some believe to be among the earliest conservation films. Not bad for a guy whose family business is condiments.

Then there's Jungle Gardens, the 170-acre semitropical estate open to the public since 1935. The roast says it has more bamboo varieties than residents. We can't verify that headcount, but we can confirm the bamboo is dramatic: stands of giant bamboo surround a glass pagoda housing an 11th-century Buddha statue. Wildlife-wise, alligators, white-tailed deer, river otters and more live on the island. So the "population: twelve" joke undercounts the gators.

Plan Your Visit to Avery Island, Louisiana

Avery Island is about 140 miles west of New Orleans, so it's an easy day trip if you can handle a drive through sugarcane country. Bring cash for admission, a camera for the egrets, and a tolerance for heat that matches the sauce. Between the factory, the gardens, and a historic salt dome that's survived hurricanes (the family built a levee and installed backup generators after Rita), there's more here than a conveyor belt.

Is it an island? No. Is it worth the drive? Embarrassingly, yes.

Think we were too nice? See the full roast on RoastMyTown.com.