Louisiana: Visit a Small Town Packed with History
The Caretaker’s Quarters at the Myrtles Plantation may be rented for an overnight stay—if you dare. It has been featured on the TV show “Ghost Hunters.” SCROLL to the bottom to see a gallery of photos!
We made St. Francisville, La., the first stop in our journey across Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana because it is Arla Boudreaux’s hometown and she won’t quit bragging about it. We were skeptical because Arla is known for embellishing her stories, but she didn’t overstate the value of making St. Francisville our priority travel destination. We strongly endorse the city’s slogan: “We love it here.”
BEST PLACE TO START
Located about 35 minutes north of Baton Rouge, St. Francisville offers the charm of a small, quaint southern town with a well-preserved historic district. The smart traveler begins at the West Feliciana Historical Society Museum at 11757 Ferdinand Street. You’ll receive a warm welcome and a ton of valuable information. The admission-free museum includes intriguing historical and cultural exhibits set in a restored hardware store. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and has plenty of parking nearby.
A unique shopping experience awaits at Grandmother’s Buttons on Royal Street in the St. Francisville Historic District.
HISTORIC ROYAL STREET
Your next stop should be a walking or driving tour of nearby Royal Street, which features a beautiful collection of historic homes, fun shops and antebellum period inns. Two unique shops to visit are the Harrington Gallery for art and Grandmother’s Buttons for ingenious, beautiful jewelry featuring antique buttons. At the west end of Royal Street where it connects with Ferdinand Street, visit Mt. Carmel Catholic Church to see its attractive design and to take advantage of its convenient overlook of Bayou Sara and the Mississippi River.
Highlights of Royal Street include Audubon Market Hall built in 1819 as an open-air public market with a magistrate’s office upstairs. After being enclosed in 1868, it has served as a Masonic Lodge, theater and library. From 1974 through 1978, it was the St. Francisville town hall. Today, it is maintained by the Historical Society and has been returned to its historic state. We also recommend visiting the United Methodist Church, which was built in 1899 and features the relocated bell tower of the Methodist Church established in Bayou Sara in 1844.
HISTORIC PLANTATIONS
St. Francisville has three notable plantations on its outskirts:
Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site
The Myrtles Plantation
Greenwood Plantation
We can’t decide which plantation is our favorite, so you should make time to see at least Rosedown and the Myrtles or make St. Francisville an overnight stay and visit all three. Rosedown (built in 1835) is by far the most spacious, with 374 acres and 12 historic building. It also has extensive, diverse gardens. Take a tour of the house to see the impressive collection of home furnishings that include many pieces from Europe. Rosedown is on the national register of historic places and part of the Louisiana State Parks system.
The Myrtles (built in 1796) provides excellent photo ops and there’s no admission fee to tour the grounds. Arla loves the Myrtles because it is internationally recognized as one of the most haunted homes in the world. Her imagination ran wild there when hearing the ghost stories of past owners, staff members and previous guests. These include an apparition caught on film that some believe is a slave girl known as Chloe.
The Greenwood Plantation (built in 1830) features the classic Greek Revival style of architecture that most people think of when it comes to Southern plantations. Hollywood producers share this opinion, which is why the plantation has been used as a setting for movies such as “North and South” and “Louisiana.” There are 28 columns surrounding the restored mansion that remain from the original home that burned in 1960. Many weddings and corporate retreats take place at Greenwood.
Tours of the Rosedown Plantation main house are available for a fee.
The Myrtles Plantation is open for self-guided tours of the grounds and the main house is open to tour groups for a fee.
COME HUNGRY
Road trips in Louisiana come with a benefit not often found in other parts of the United States—great food in unique settings instead of boring franchise restaurants. St. Francisville clearly lives up to that advantage.
Magnolia Café stands out as a great choice because it’s in an old home in the St. Francisville Historical District, the food tastes great, especially the fried catfish and famous Mag Burger, and the friendly staff will make you feel like a local. If you’re adventurous, you could try the fried alligator bites—yep, it’s really alligator meat. Go there on a Friday night (and some Saturdays) for dinner and live music.
If you love large portions of delicious comfort food, dine at Francis Smokehouse and Specialty Meats on Highway 61. Forget the calories and indulge in a beef brisket or pulled pork sandwich with a side of corn pudding. You’ll leave full but wanting to come back soon.
FAMOUS SITES
To feed your brain, you can gather fun facts at three nearby sites:
Audubon State Historic Site and Oakley House
Port Hudson State Historic Site
Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum at Angola
The main feature of the Audubon State Historic Site is the Oakley House, where famed naturalist John James Audubon lived briefly. The house, built around 1806, provides an excellent example of colonial architecture modified to deal with the South’s warm climate. The design allows breezes to blow through the house, but it keeps out rain and harsh sunlight. Besides the house, the site includes gardens, barns, slave cabins, work areas and a nature trail through many acres of magnolia and poplar trees. Learn more about the site and its features.
At Port Hudson State Historic Site, you can walk on six miles of trails around one of the last fortifications on the Mississippi River held by the Confederate army before the Union forces seized control of the entire river in 1863. (The other Confederate stronghold to fall that year was Vicksburg, Miss., which is about 125 miles north of Port Hudson.) This historic site includes original breastworks around Fort Desperate that are in much the same condition as they were during the siege. You can walk around the area on a wooden boardwalk. Don’t skip the interpretive center, which has an excellent museum, observation tower and replica breastworks. You’ll be able to learn about the 48-day siege of the port by the Union Army that led the Confederate soldiers to name the area “Fort Desperate.” The site hosts several living history events each year. Visitors can watch authentically costumed reenactors demonstrate what happened using reproduction Civil War weapons and equipment.
If you’ve seen “Dead Man Walking” or “The Farm: Angola, USA,” you’ll want to visit the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum at Angola. It’s located about 20 miles from St. Francisville and sits next to what was once described as the “bloodiest prison in America” and was also known as the “Alcatraz of the South.” Now, the prison is commonly referred to as “Angola.” The museum includes exhibits such as “Gruesome Gertie,” the state electric chair. Another exhibit, “The Wildest Show in the South,” describes the annual rodeo that involves Angola inmates.
ARLA’S SHOCKING MOMENT
Arla: My walk through the 18 acres of Rosedown Plantation’s ornamental gardens led me to wonder what might happen within the shadows of the tall, thick hedges. Somebody could get lost in here. Or, even murdered by a hidden assailant. Another scenario could be a supernatural encounter with a past gardener.
When I arrived at the garden’s edge farthest from the main house, I nearly bumped into an electrical fence. What’s this doing here? It looked like the fences in Jurassic Park to control the dinosaurs. The Rosedown fence stood much taller than needed to keep out any human intruder—and it’s electrified. What are they afraid of? Are they trying to keep something out or keep something from escaping? Strange things must be happening here—a mystery to be solved. And my first concern is that somebody could get electrocuted here. Look out!
Arla wonders why the Rosedown Plantation has tall electrified fences. This scene reminded her of Jurassic Park.
LINDA’S TAKEAWAY
Linda: We met at least a dozen people during our St. Francisville tour, and all greeted us with kindness and courtesy, but what really stood out for me was how much hometown pride they had. I enjoyed hearing them praise their city. You often don’t find that depth of loyalty and satisfaction in other places, large and small. I left impressed that St. Francisville is an ideal road trip destination and would be a great place to live.
DOUG’S HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHT
Doug: I love finding historical connections that go beyond the routine. Our visit to St. Francisville delivered a fascinating history lesson through an exhibit about its former city sister of Bayou Sara at the West Feliciana Historical Society Museum. Established in the 1790s, Bayou Sara was a rough and rowdy riverboat town on the banks for the Mississippi River that sat below the bluff where present day St. Francisville is located. The town grew and become a thriving trading center for many years despite being burned by the crews of Union gunboats during the Civil War.
While its position on the Mississippi River gave Bayou Sara a key business role in the region, the same river flooded the town many times and eventually destroyed it. The flood of 1912 engulfed Bayou Sara and left it unable to recover. Visible from Catholic Hill in St. Francisville, you can see the area that is now marked by weeping willows, not homes and businesses.
OUR DISAPPOINTMENT
We wanted to visit Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, but the Mississippi River shut down that plan by washing out the road to get there. We plan to go back when possible. It sounds like a fascinating place to hike and explore and is only 10 miles west of St. Francisville. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages Cat Island and offers updates about accessibility through the refuge’s website: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/cat_island/ and Facebook page.
A Cat Island highlight that we want to see is the largest tree of any species east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The island’s famous cypress tree is 96-feet tall and has a diameter of 17 feet and circumference of 56 feet. You can easily understand why we were disappointed about not being able to visit this impressive colossus. Viewing the tree is possible by hiking the Big Cypress Trail, which is an easy three-quarters of a mile roundtrip on a flat trail through a mixture of bottomland forest. The Cat Island trail is at the top of our travel agenda as soon as the mighty Mississippi River cooperates.
Stately oak trees surround the Rosedown Plantation main house.
ARLA’S TRAVEL TIPS
When planning your St. Francisville visit, use the local tourist commission website for lodging, shopping, dining and exploring info. The site provides plenty of details about the area’s attractions. For example, the exploring category grabbed our attention. As travelers who love to stay active, the options under “exploring” included biking and cycling, birdwatching, boating, gardens, golf, hiking, hunting, parks and sports.
If you’d like an interesting place to spend the night at a reasonable rate, we recommend the 3V Tourist Court next to the Magnolia Café because you’d be in a cute cottage on the National Register of Historic Places. The 3V Tourist Court (built in 1938) features one- and two-bedroom cabins. Go to the Tourist Court website to see photos of the cabin interiors.
Other places to stay if you’re tired of the national chain motels include the Francisville Inn at 5720 Commerce Street (https://stfrancisvilleinn.com/) and The Myrtles at 7747 U.S. Highway 61 (https://www.myrtlesplantation.com/). Both feature beautiful settings that would provide a unique lodging experience. Staying in the Caretaker’s Quarters at The Myrtles would be an unforgettable experience.
GEE WHIZ FACTS
Established in 1809, St. Francisville is the second oldest incorporated town in Louisiana. It is the seat of West Feliciana Parish and has approximately 1,700 residents.
It began as a burial ground. Spanish monks, who lived across the Mississippi River, used the dry bluff where St. Francisville now sits to bury their dead. This story reminds Arla of the movie “Poltergeist,” where building a subdivision on a cemetery led to a problem with angry ghosts.
St. Francisville took its name from the patron saint of these monks—St. Francis.
The town has 146 structures in its National Register Historic District, which makes it an incredible road trip destination.
At one time, St. Francisville was called “the town two miles long and two yards wide” because of how it occupies a narrow ridge overlooking the Mississippi River.
