Avery Island, Louisiana, is home to world-famous Tabasco pepper sauce. It’s also home to a beautiful 170-acre lavish garden oasis in the middle of a cypress swamp and an amazing wildlife preserve where thousands of snowy egrets visit year to year. Tabasco, and the factory tour showcasing its history and production, is the backbone of the island’s offerings, but there’s much more to see. To the families that have lived and worked on the island and are continuing to run the operation, grow the commercial business, and maintain the natural aspects, Avery Island is more than a tourist destination. It’s been home for close to 200 years and is a natural haven for them as well.

“We’ve been stewards of the land and taken care of it for a long time,” said Paul McIlhenny, chairman and CEO of the McIlhenny Company, the company that produces Tabasco sauce.

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