Dorothy was right.  Oz was a fabulous place to visit but there really is no place like home.  So, if you are giving serious thought to leaving the big city, the noise and the fast pace, Natchitoches welcomes you back home where life is simpler, kinder, slower.  Where the air is clean and the outdoors still beckons you with countless sporting opportunities.

There aren’t many places in this country where a 36-mile river meanders through town, or places that are surrounded by clear-water streams, bayous, rivers and lakes.  Fishing and boating, trapping and hunting, tubing and swimming – all right in your backyard.

Depending on when you left Natchitoches, you may not be aware of all the sporting activities that Kisatchie National Forest now has to offer. Hundreds of thousands of acres of forest, open flatland and gently rolling hills provide endless hiking trails, camping, birdwatching, biking, hunting, horse trails and many other activities. Natchitoches has two golf courses now – one public and one at the Natchitoches Country Club, many tennis courts, a shooting range, bowling alley and skating rink.

If you are interested in going back to school, or learning a new trade, you can do it right here in Natchitoches. Louisiana Technical College (LTC) offers a vast number of classes and programs that teach the high demand skills needed to get a job, to cross-train for different positions, or retrain for a new career.  With the rebuilding efforts of the Gulf Coast, skilled construction workers are in higher demand than ever.   Whatever your interest – from accounting to computers, cosmetology to industrial electronics, office systems technology to practical nursing - your options are limitless at LTC.

Northwestern State University (NSU) offers over 50 different graduate and undergraduate programs of study in a variety of fields.  Its football, baseball, softball, basketball, track and field, tennis, volleyball, soccer and rowing teams provide ample opportunity for you and your family to come out and support your local team.  Some of the best art, music and theater in central Louisiana can be found right here on the NSU campus.  The university has an ongoing program of cultural and artistic activities that includes a symphony, dinner theater, plays and musical recitals.

The civic and community leaders of Natchitoches know that, if we are to continue to grow and flourish as a city, we must do all that we can to get young people and their families to move back home.  We want to attract a talented and educationally diverse group of new residents. That means college graduates, people with skills in the technical and non-technical areas and entrepreneurs looking to start a new business.  And, we celebrate the cultural diversity of our citizens.  It is one of the things that makes our town so unique.

We hope you remember what a quiet, peaceful place Natchitoches is, and the amazing number of diversions there are to occupy your time. Housing is very affordable and the cost of living is roughly 15% below the national average.

Plenty of job opportunities await you here in Natchitoches.  So, if your heart is still in central Louisiana, come on back to the area where you were raised.  We will be here waiting for you, ready to welcome you and your family back home.