St. Francisville, LA

We left Captain Ted and Cajun Encounters and headed north to spend the night with my cousin, Lee Ann. Now, before we move on to our visit with Lee Ann and her family, I want to interject and say we really did enjoy our swamp adventure with Captain Ted and Cajun Encounters. We chose this particular company over others from a video review Kelly Ripa gave from a tour she took with her family. This company was on top of their game and they really delivered the goods. Brian and I give Cajun Encounters “two thumbs up” even with chatty Captain Ted as our guide.

 

Ferry across the Muddy Mississippi

We said goodbye to Lee Ann and Bubba, boarded the ferry to cross the Mississippi River and headed north to St. Francisville, LA.

Yummo!!

Lunch was at The Magnolia Café which is a little hole in the wall with great food. Brian ordered the muffuletta and knowing I was soon leaving the state, once again ordered the red beans and rice. Both dishes were fantastic and if you’re ever in St. Francisville make sure your stop includes The Magnolia Café.

Rosedown

While in St. Francisville, we toured the Rosedown Plantation and Gardens. The Rosedown was built in 1835 at a cost of $13,109.20 and included 3500 acres with 450 slaves. The plantation was quite self sufficient in it’s day as the grounds included vegetable and herb gardens, a greenhouse, a kitchen (which in 1835 was a separate structure from the main house), and an orchard. The owner of Rosedown even built a doctor’s office on the plantation when his youngest son passed away from yellow fever in 1844. A local doctor was hired to take care of the family, slaves and visiting guests. In the gardens of Rosedown is a Loblolly Pine, one of the oldest trees at Rosedown and one of the oldest pines in the state. They estimate it to be over 300 years old and has a lightening rod at the top to protect it from lightning strikes.

Formal  Gardens at Rosedown

We were told by our guide that the movie, Big Valley, is due to film at the plantation in a couple of weeks. They will be filming the outdoor scenes at Rosedown with the indoor scenes filmed at another plantation in St. Francisville. In fact, as we were leaving, a crew was installing the wrought iron gates for the movie. I can only imagine what it would be like to live in such a beautiful house back in 1835.

I want to finish our “adventure” in St. Francisville saying how much we appreciate the staff at Rosedown. Since we had our little dog, Emma, with us and she wasn’t allowed inside the house, they were kind enough to watch her in their office while we toured the home. And since Brian and I were the only 2 people in our specific time slot for the home tour, we were able to learn so much more than had we been in a large group. Our guide, Sasha, answered every question we had and told us many stories about the family, property and every day life on the plantation. A big thank you to the wonderful staff at Rosedown.

We’re now heading to Mississippi to visit my mother and her husband. See you there!!!