Columbia

With fewer than 1,000 residents, Columbia is truly a small town. But since the 1950s, it's gotten a lot bigger each fall, when it becomes home to the Louisiana Art and Folk Festival. Held in downtown Columbia, the festival showcases one of Louisiana’s Main Street communities. Visitors discover a beautifully preserved and maintained old town.

A focal point is the Schepis Museum. With its trademark statues of Christopher Columbus and George Washington, the circa-1916 Schepis building highlights the town’s heritage as a settlement for entrepreneurial Italian immigrants. Situated on the Ouachita River in Louisiana’s cotton country, Columbia developed as a bustling riverboat town. Today, there are spectacular views from the Riverwalk.