Barataria, LA

Barataria is a Jefferson Parish census-designated place of 1,057 residents in the 2020 census, on the west side of Bayou Barataria just east of Lake Salvador. Across the bayou are the town of Jean Lafitte and the community of Lafitte, so waterway names and local boundaries overlap here. The place sits within the New Orleans metropolitan area, but its daily geography is marsh, canals, boats, and the long road through the bayou country.

Fishing and harvesting from the estuaries built the communities along Bayou Barataria. Shrimp, crabs, oysters, and finfish have supported households in Barataria, Lafitte, and Jean Lafitte, while the surrounding wetlands provide habitat and storm-water storage for the lower delta. The Barataria Preserve unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve carries the area's older landscape into public view, with trails through swamp and marsh near the community. Barataria is a place where a named bayou does more than divide neighborhoods: it sets the route, the work, and the character of the whole settlement.