Three Amtrak routes serve Louisiana: City of New Orleans, Sunset Limited, and the Crescent.
Major airports in Louisiana include: Alexandria International Airport, Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Lafayette Regional Airport, Lake Charles Regional Airport, Monroe Regional Airport, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and Shreveport Regional Airport.
Flag of Louisiana:
The flag of Louisiana consists of a “pelican in her piety,” the heraldic charge representing a mother pelican “in her nest feeding her young with her blood, on an azure field with the state motto reworded to “Union Justice Confidence.” This version of the flag was first adopted in 1912 and it was last modified in 2006.
Prior to 1861, the state of Louisiana had no official flag, though a flag similar to the present one was often used unofficially.
In January 1861, after declaring secession from the United States but before the formation of the Confederate States of America, Louisiana unofficially used a flag based on the flag of France with seven stars on the blue stripe.
In February 1861, Louisiana officially adopted a flag with a single yellow star in a red canton, with thirteen red, white and blue stripes.
This was used through the end of the American Civil War, though the Pelican flag and Flag of January 1861 remained in use unofficially.
The mother pelican’s head and outspread wings covering the three pelican chicks nestled below her form a stylized fleur-de-lis, another emblem of similar significance often depicted in Louisiana. This symbol, emblematic of Christian charity (and of Catholicism), is also found on the state seal.
In November 2010, the current flag design was revealed. It featured a more detailed pelican, inclusive of the explicit three drops of blood,and removed the word “and” from the ribbon.
Multiple other flags have flown over Louisiana territory including several related to former colonial powers.
State Nickname:
The nickname for Louisiana is The Pelican State.
The brown pelican is the state bird and appears on Louisiana’s state flag, great seal, the official state painting (along with many other symbols and icons of Louisiana), and is one of three Louisiana symbols displayed on the U.S. mint’s bicentennial Louisiana quarter.
