Central Louisiana (Cenla), also known as the Crossroads region, is the part of Louisiana that includes the following parishes: Allen Parish, Beauregard Parish, Catahoula Parish, Concordia Parish, Grant Parish, La Salle Parish, Natchitoches Parish, Rapides Parish, Sabine Parish and Vernon Parish.
The five largest communities in the region as of the 2000 Census were Alexandria (46,342), Natchitoches (17,865), Pineville (13,829), Fort Polk South CDP (11,000), and DeRidder (9,808).
Central Louisiana is a land of physical and cultural contrasts. Extensive prairies, piney hill country, minor swamplands and deciduous forests make up its geography. It also has clear streams with sandy bottoms and large rivers that carry waterborne freight.
Read more about Central Louisiana: Metro/Micropolitan Areas
Famous quotes containing the words central and/or louisiana:
“My solitaria
Are the meditations of a central mind.
I hear the motions of the spirit and the sound
Of what is secret becomes, for me, a voice
That is my own voice speaking in my ear.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark
green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
But I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone
there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)