BEGIN YOUR DAY WITH A PADDLE
Canoe and Trail Adventures offers canoe, paddleboard and kayak rentals from The Chimes restaurant, on the banks of the beautiful Bogue Falaya River. This scenic waterway offers many sandy banks to pull up and splash around on, clear water to spot schooling fish, and your route can bring you under several bridges or to the beautiful Bogue Falaya Park. When you return, freshly shucked oysters, Louisiana specialties like red beans and rice, étouffée, seafood gumbo and an extensive selection of cold brews welcome you at The Chimes, as well as do its ample decks with outdoor seating.
LUNCH AT LOLA
Keith and Nealy Frentz are the chef/owners of this popular little restaurant regarded for its take on contemporary Louisiana food – and as former King and Queen of Louisiana Seafood – royalty around these parts. The Frentzes were both chefs at New Orleans’ beloved Brennan’s (that’s where they met) before hurricane Katrina. Their culinary prowess shows in house-baked bread and desserts, simple Southern comfort foods executed with a deft touch, and craft cocktails. Frosé is a house favorite. The restaurant is in Covington’s old train depot, with the kitchen in a modified caboose. They recently added a refurbished train car to their dining space, a welcome addition adjacent to the outdoor deck.
EXPLORE DOWNTOWN
On the National Register of Historic Places, the St. John District in Covington is thoughtfully laid out in squares, with free parking areas in the town’s historic Ox Lots. This hearkens back to days when schooners came down the Bogue Falaya to trade goods from Covington and surrounding areas to New Orleans. Tradesman brought their wares and parked their oxen in the squares. There are shops, galleries, a little museum, nightspots, and more than 25 restaurants in this walkable historic district. Most shops and galleries are along Lee Lane and Columbia Streets, though some are on side streets. Among the highlights:
HJ Smith & Sons General Store & Museum
Family-owned and operated since 1876, the mercantile houses a free museum with hundreds of unique items from the past. You’ll find things you didn’t know you needed but have to have here, including everything from cast-iron anything to lawn art and gator-claw back scratchers.
Boutiques and antique shops along and near Lee Lane
This little stretch is home to a variety of shops housed in quaint cottages and offering all kinds of shopping temptations. There’s custom jewelry, boutique clothing, and vintage finds.
Art galleries
Galleries include SALADINO Gallery on Boston, across from the Southern Hotel; the Marianne Angeli Rodriguez Gallery on Columbia, across from the St. Tammany Art Association; and Armbruster Artworks, part studio and part gallery, open on select days and events. SALADINO Gallery, operated by respected art dealer Danny Saladino, represents many of the South’s best artists, including Scott Ewen, whose work is among the most popular on the walls of the Southern Hotel.
Popular gathering spot for more than a century, this little park is on the banks of the Bogue Falaya River and has a paddling launch (rentals available nearby at Brooks’ Bike Shop or Kayaks to Geaux), large shady trees for a respite and a statue of Walker Percy, the noted author who called Covington home.
A spot of tea at the English Tea Room
Boasting the largest collection of teas in the Southeast, this elegant eatery is a great spot for a break in the day. Quaint and welcoming, the English Tea Room offers scores of teas, scones, and high-tea settings, lunch, and shopping for tea and tea accouterment.
DINNER AT DEL PORTO
Del Porto Ristorante, on the corner of Boston and New Hampshire Streets is known for its emphasis on seasonal and local, with house-made pasta, soups and antipasti from the kitchen of husband/wife chefs David and Torre Solazzo, three-time nominees for the James Beard Award.
OVERNIGHT AT THE SOUTHERN HOTEL
Built in 1907, the Southern Hotel hadn’t welcomed guests for decades when local attorney Lisa Condrey Ward and family members bought the property and began renovation. The hotel re-opened in the summer of 2014 and quickly became the centerpiece of the downtown historic district. The hotel offers 40 rooms and two suites in the main building and five suites in the Garden House annex. The luxurious boutique property includes the popular Cypress Bar and a restaurant on site, The Gloriette.
