Mathews, LA

Mathews is a census-designated place along Bayou Lafourche in central Lafourche Parish. The 2020 census counted 2,273 people. Louisiana Highway 1 and Louisiana 308 run along the bayou through the long, low parish landscape, with Lockport and Raceland close by. Bayou Lafourche began as a fork of the Mississippi River, and that old watercourse still sets the local pattern: homes, small fields, bridges, and parish roads gather in a narrow band beside the water and do not spread across a conventional town grid.

Mathews also carries a regional civic role. The Lafourche Parish Government complex on Highway 1 provides offices and services for the central part of the parish, including permits and planning, public works, emergency preparation, recreation, Head Start, and the Council on Aging. Residents use the Lafourche Parish school system, with some school boundaries reaching Lockport. Mathews is best understood as a bayou community whose daily life is connected to the parish network: the road follows the water, and parish business arrives at the same places as local errands.