Photos courtesy of the town of Livingston, Louisiana

By Steve Sears

“We don’t have any lodging or anything. It’s a small town,” says Jonathan “JT” Taylor, Mayor of Livingston, Louisiana. “But the parish – I can tell you all kinds of things with the parish.”

Livingston is the seat of Livingston Parish, Louisiana, and Taylor has been mayor since January 2021. The town was established in 1955. There were two communities, Doyle and Livingston, which combined to make one town. “Livingston was started kind of from the lumber industry. It was called Lyons Lumber Company. The lumber industry was real big here with pine trees and things like that, and it was a logging community. Livingston was just west – and when I say ‘west,’ it just butted up to Doyle. So, Doyle was on the east side and Livingston was on the west side. In 1955, the two towns combined, creating just the town of Livingston. Everybody else is a county, but we’re the parish seat of Livingston Parish. This is where all the government entities are. Our school boards, police departments, and government entities are here in our town.”

Livingston, New Jersey checks in with almost 29,000 residents, while its Louisiana “sister” has about 2,000. There are highway 10s that run east to west through both communities, although Livingston Louisiana’s is an Interstate highway that becomes Interstate 12 for a period before becoming Interstate 10 again. 

“Most people kind of relate South Louisiana to great food, hospitality, and nature,” Taylor says. “People say, ‘You can’t come see an alligator in the town of Livingston,’ but we’ve caught a few. We don’t have any major waterways running through the town of Livingston, but within 10 miles you could be on the 400 miles of rivers that we have in Livingston Parish.”

In the town of Livingston, Louisiana, there are a few small town, old-time burger joints that are enjoyable. G&J Drive

Inn and Snow Top Drive Inn are both on Florida Boulevard (also known as Route 190). “If you want to get your Cajun fix and good seafood, Hilltop Inn (in nearby Maurepas) or Duke’s Seafood & Steakhouse (Denham Springs) are located in our parish. And Duke is actually a three-time world champion oyster shucker.”

As for nature, there are those 400 miles of waterways in Louisiana Parish, but there is also Tickfaw State Park. “They have a birding trail,” Taylor says, “and part of the birding trail at Tickfaw State Park is along our waterways. Another really cool place that we have here that’s just outside of town, but their address is in Livingston, is a science facility called LIGO. They discovered the gravitational waves, which proved (Albert) Einstein’s theory of relativity. They (Barry Barish, Kip Thorne, and Rainer Weiss) actually won a Nobel Prize in science. It’s a really cool facility that most people around here take for granted. They don’t really even know it exists.” And then there’s V. Watts Trade Day. “This event takes place in our town every second Saturday,” Taylor says. “Approximately 150 vendors from around Louisiana and neighboring states set up booths with antiques, crafts, and other treasures. This event brings a couple thousand people to our town every month.”

The Livingston school system is one of the best in Louisiana, and the town is, in Taylor’s words, a “bedroom community.” “People work in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and we’re kind of in between both. We’re just east of the capital city of Baton Rouge, but then also New Orleans is less than an hour drive from Livingston. But we have great public schools, some of the top of the state, and that’s really one of the main attractions to our town and to our parish is because of our school system. People live here so they don’t have to pay an outrageous amount of money to send their kids to private school.”

One notable resident is Laine Hardy, the 2019 winner of the popular show, American Idol. “His sister lives here in town, and he still lives here in the parish. As a matter of fact, I saw him last on Fourth of July. He was here in town.”

Per Taylor, South Louisiana, the town of Livingston included, is a fascinating place. “It’s like a different country,” he says. “Like I said, I think the number one reason people come to Louisiana is for food. That’s funny to say, but it is a unique experience. And we have some great places to visit. That’s one thing about Livingston itself: we are kind of a hub and spoke where you could be here in Livingston, and then drive to New Orleans or Baton Rouge. You’ll see plantation homes and things like that. We’re close to a lot of things that a lot of people like to see. Sometimes we take it for granted, but I know people that come from out of state love it.”