The City of Houma is home to about 40 thousand people, making it Terrebonne Parish's biggest city. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway runs through the town from north to south, and Bayou Cane runs through Houma from east to west.
The Port of Terrebonne has a humid subtropical climate with humid hot summers and mild winters. The city is vulnerable to seasonal hurricanes and tropical storms. Summers bring rain. Temperatures range from an average low of 6°(43°F) in January to an average high of 33°C (91°F) in July and August.
Visitors to the Port of Terrebonne and Houma will want to check out the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum that focuses on wetlands habitats and preserves the area's cultural history associated with seafood and water transportation. The museum tells the story of the relationship between the water and the people whose livelihoods depend on the water. Open Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 5pm, admission fees are very small ($3 and less).
This Port of Terrebonne highlight contains a 14-meter (46-foot) long mural depicting the parish's eco-line (or time-line). Designed by artist Robert Dafford, the mural features the deep waters and barrier islands of the Gulf of Mexico, the saltwater marshes, the freshwater lakes, and the estuaries of the Louisiana coastline.
The Southdown Plantation House is home to the Terrebonne Museum of History and Culture that celebrates the Port of Terrebonne's arts, culture, and history. The 19th Century sugar manor house is open from Tuesday through Saturday from 10am to 4pm with an admission of no more than $6. One-hour tours, the only way to visit the museum, begin every hour.
The plantation's first owners received Spanish land grants for the property in the late 1700s. By 1828, the plantation had been transformed into Southdown Plantation with the major crop of sugar cane. The plantation house was built in 1859 and modified in the late 1800s. In 1975, the plantation was purchased by a big sugar company, and corporate employees still work out of the house.
In 1974, the Port of Terrebonne's Southdown Plantation House was honored by being placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1982, the Terrebonne Historical and Cultural Society opened the Terrebonne museum on the site.
About 19 kilometers (11 miles) southeast of the Port of Terrebonne, the Chauvin Sculpture Garden features the sculptures of resident Kenny Hill who created a collection of over one hundred concrete works of art in a fertile bayou setting. Open during daylight every day, the Garden sculptures mix Bible references, Cajun colors, and personal experiences of the artist. An almost 14-meter (45-foot) lighthouse is the most outstanding work. Made of seven thousand bricks, figures of soldiers, cowboys, angels, the artist, and even God cling to the outside of the lighthouse.
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