Kentwood, LA

Kentwood is a Tangipahoa Parish town near the Mississippi line whose working history moved from lumber to dairy and then bottled spring water. Amos Kent helped lay out the town, which was chartered in 1893; the old lumber boom made Kentwood a regional center before the town became known as the Dairy Capital of the South. Kentwood Springs later gave the local economy another recognizable product. The town is also the childhood home of Britney Spears, a fact that puts a pop-culture footnote on an otherwise agricultural corner of Louisiana. Kentwood sits near the Tangipahoa River, with parish schools and highway roads tying it to the Hammond area.