tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-234261902024-03-09T10:59:30.687-06:00Friends in St. Francisville, LaWhat's happening in Louisiana's historic town of St. Francisville; where time slows just enough to enjoy the simple pleasures and unique treasures. Essays, blurbs, observations and photos from a small southern town with charm, history and friendship.Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-91472690431030972422018-03-22T20:16:00.000-05:002018-03-22T20:17:11.002-05:00ROLLING, ROLLING! ACTION! ST. FRANCISVILLE STARS IN YET ANOTHER MOVIE PRODUCTIONROLLING, ROLLING! ACTION! ST. FRANCISVILLE STARS IN YET ANOTHER MOVIE PRODUCTION<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
Photos by Bonnie Marquette<br />
<img alt="Brooks" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-march-movie/HomebySpring_-389.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Pssssssst! Wanna hear a secret? There’s a rumor going around, about that handsome devil Kix Brooks, alleging that he was seen in my bedroom… You know, Shreveport native Kix Brooks, iconic country music star, soulful twang and trademark big black cowboy hat, one-half of Grammy award-winning Brooks & Dunn, multiple recognitions as Country Music Association’s Duo of the Year, singer-songwriter now also into acting, movie producing, wine making, radio show hosting, and a multitude of other ventures.<br />
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And yeah, it’s actually true! Unfortunately I wasn’t present at the time, but it was all part of the most recent movie filming in St. Francisville, a romance called “Home By Spring” set to air on the Hallmark television channel March 31. Besides Brooks, who served as executive producer as well as actor (and yes, he did play his guitar and introduce a new song), other stars include delightful young London-based actress Poppy Drayton, plus Mary-Margaret Humes and Steven R. McQueen who just happens to be the grandson of the late Hollywood action star Steve McQueen. Screenplay was written by Brooks’ son.<br />
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<img alt="Porch" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-march-movie/HomebySpring_-238.jpg" style="float: left; height: 275px; margin: 12px; width: 184px;" />Filmed at Butler Greenwood Plantation and other locations in the St. Francisville area throughout the dreary cold month of February but featuring full-flowered spring settings, with wedding and reception scenes requiring colorful fresh flowers, the production crews spent hundreds of dollars at plant nurseries and florists throughout the St. Francisville area on plants and floral arrangements. They also enriched the local economy with extensive purchases at hardware stores for building sets and props, antiques co-ops, gift shops, art rentals, service stations for gassing up the huge fleet of trucks and transportation vans, restaurants, markets and grocers for prepared prop foods. Extras were also hired to appear in some scenes, like the wedding on the front lawn of Butler Greenwood and for the festival crowd in downtown St. Francisville by the parish courthouse.<br />
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There were location rentals and overnight accommodations for a large crew…actors and directors, producers, production coordinators, script supervisors, camera crew, set lighting, grips, sound technicians, art department and set decorating, props, costumes, makeup, hair, casting, special effects, not to mention an on-site medic and caterer. Staging for the large trucks and trailers was an additional expense, necessitating many loads of gravel in what seemed like incessant rain. Movie scout Bonnie Marquette estimated total local movie spending at $1.8 million.<br />
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<img alt="swing" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-march-movie/HomebySpring_-308.jpg" style="float: right; height: 275px; margin: 12px; width: 183px;" />Says Laurie Walsh, “They do contribute greatly to the community when they are filming here.” Walsh, as director of the parish tourist commission and manager of the St. Francisville Main Street program, serves as film liaison for both the parish as a whole and for inside the town limits. A no-fee film permit is required, as is insurance coverage. Her involvement, she explains, is to assist location scouts in finding properties that fit their project needs, helping arrange scouting and reaching out to the property owners, then stepping out of the picture. She can also reach out to local accommodations to set up initial contacts when film crews need assistance with lodging. If public property or streets are to be used in filming, she helps facilitate that as well.<br />
“We really act as a go-between and we do not get compensated or enter into any negotiations. But we see both direct and indirect impact of the movie footprint here when they rent locations, utilize overnight rooms, and reach out to the community for other goods and services.” Among recent film projects Walsh has worked with are GI Joe 2, Bonnie & Clyde, Magnificent 7, Hap & Leonard, Kamp Kool Kids, Starbright, The Zoo, Underground, Blaze, Backroads, Jeepers Creepers 3, Oblivion, Maze Runner, Beautiful Creatures, Nocturna, Final Girls, and “a bunch of commercials.”<br />
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<img alt="fire" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-march-movie/HomebySpring_-283.jpg" style="float: left; height: 183px; margin: 12px; width: 275px;" />With its picturesque preserved downtown district listed in its entirety on the National Register of Historic Places, St. Francisville is a little town that steps back in time very easily; throw a little dirt on the streets and you’re back in the 19th century. Add to that the wealth of natural resources in the surrounding Tunica Hills, with terrain varying from steep hills and deep hollows, clear-running creeks with sandy beaches and towering bluffs, the Mississippi River, historic plantations and formal gardens, and even that least-likely of tourist attractions the state penitentiary at Angola, and the St. Francisville area can provide just about any setting movie-makers are looking for. Best of all, “Home By Spring” is actually using St. Francisville’s name, promotion you couldn’t put a price on.<br />
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<img alt="Dog and Anne" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-march-movie/IMG_9827.jpg" style="float: right; height: 275px; margin: 12px; width: 184px;" />In 2013, Louisiana was ranked Number One in international film production, even above California. Revisions capping the motion picture tax credit program in 2015 caused a drop-off of some 90%, after criticism of the tax program’s return on investment. But ROI is what the state collects in taxes versus what is issued in tax credits, discounting the ancillary impacts, the trickle-down benefits. Now the film industry is enjoying a steady comeback, because in 2017, according to the executive director of entertainment at Louisiana Economic Development, legislative revisions have made the tax credit program more sustainable and have restored filmmakers’ confidence in it, plus adding incentives for permanent job creation, for local spending and for production throughout the state. In New Orleans alone, three feature films and four television series are currently in production, with three other feature films having wrapped recently and two major features in preproduction. Tom Hanks is filming Greyhound in Baton Rouge, a $50 million production, and other big productions are on location in other areas around south Louisiana.<br />
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Louisiana’s Economic Development Secretary is excited by the uptick. “Entertainment production is a good fit for Louisiana’s creative culture and skilled workforce,” he said. “Our entertainment program provides jobs and economic activity. For every dollar invested through entertainment tax credits, there is an economic impact of $4.68 across the Louisiana economy.” Not all legislators are on board; one Metairie Republican recently tweeted, “We divert more than $150 million a year away from important priorities like higher education so that we can see Tom Hanks in a restaurant.”<br />
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<img alt="Shades" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-march-movie/HomebySpring_-256.jpg" style="float: left; height: 250px; margin: 12px; width: 167px;" />But to a little town like St. Francisville, to see a celebrity like Kix Brooks dining at The Francis or Magnolia Café or one of the other local restaurants doesn’t just give residents a thrill. It also means an awesome boost to the local economy, where $1.8 million spread among all the little businesses in town sure can help.<br />
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens is open in season and is spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net </a>or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities like the April 1 Easter Sunrise Service at Hemingbough, the Angola Prison Rodeo April 21 and 22, and the Tunica Hills Music Festival April 21 in Parker Memorial Park featuring more than a dozen musical groups like the Fabulous Bagasse Boys, Cupcake Strippers, the Levee Road Review, Chris House, Bonfire Band and more).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-84853102359559202892018-02-20T20:17:00.002-06:002018-02-20T20:17:44.839-06:00St. Francisville, LA Celebrates Audubon & His Birds March 16-18St. Francisville, LA Celebrates Audubon & His Birds March 16-18<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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<img alt="Woodlawn" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-feb-pilgrimage/Woodland.jpg" style="float: right; height: 232px; margin: 12px; width: 350px;" />The forty-seventh annual Audubon Pilgrimage March 16, 17 and 18, 2018, celebrates a southern spring in St. Francisville, the glorious garden spot of Louisiana’s English Plantation Country. For nearly half a century the sponsoring West Feliciana Historical Society has thrown open the doors of significant historic structures to commemorate artist-naturalist John James Audubon’s stay as he painted a number of his famous bird studies and tutored the daughter of Oakley Plantation’s Pirrie family, beautiful young Eliza. A year’s worth of planning and preparation precedes each pilgrimage, and with 47 years of experience under their belt, society members put on one of the South’s most professional and enjoyable pilgrimage presentations. This year’s breath of fresh air comes from never-before-shown properties and enthusiastic new owners of old houses.<br />
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One of this year’s featured country plantations is a remarkable house called Woodland, a story of unexpected twists and turns, intergenerational connections and a fascinating trip all the way across the Mighty Mississippi to the ancestral lands of the present owner in West Feliciana, a journey across hundreds of miles and two centuries. A grand Greek Revival house, Woodland was built in the mid-1800s on a sugar plantation near the steamboat town of Washington, but had been abandoned for years and was facing demolition when Cammie and David Norwood saved it. It took a year to prepare the old structure to be hauled circuitously along 375 miles of back roads and another several years to put it back together. Now the Woodland house has been returned to its original glory, filled with fine family furnishings and anchored to its pastoral site by well-planned landscaping, looking as if it has been there forever.<br />
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<img alt="Greenwood" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-feb-pilgrimage/Greenwood-1-corner-angle.jpg" style="float: left; height: 263px; margin: 12px; width: 350px;" />Another country plantation home with a remarkable history is glorious Greek Revival Greenwood, which has enjoyed more than its fair share of miraculous resurrections. Its story began in 1798, when widowed Olivia Ruffin Barrow journeyed by covered wagon to Spanish Feliciana. One of her grandsons would elope with young Eliza Pirrie, Audubon’s pupil. In 1830 Olivia’s son William Ruffin Barrow engaged prominent architect James Coulter to build a fine home on family property that would grow to 12,000 acres.<br />
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In 1915 Frank and Naomi Fisher Percy restored the house and opened it to the public. Featured in magazines, visited by tourists and beloved by Hollywood, it was called by National Geographic the finest example of Greek Revival architecture in the South. But on the night of August 1, 1960, lightning started a fire and within three hours, there was nothing left but 28 Doric columns and some free-standing chimneys. These ruins touched the hearts of Walton Barnes and his son Richard, who purchased the house site and 278 acres in 1968 and began the enormous effort of rebuilding. In July 2016, along came new owners Julie and Hal Pilcher, recently retired with the energy and enthusiasm to undertake significant improvements to ready the home for its first pilgrimage appearance.<br />
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<img alt="Cedars" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-feb-pilgrimage/The-Cedars-5.jpg" style="float: right; height: 263px; margin: 12px; width: 350px;" />An earlier country home also featured for the first time on the Audubon Pilgrimage this year is The Cedars, its design and first cash crop—tobacco—bespeaking the Virginia background of original owner Simon Hearty, for whom the property was surveyed beginning in 1790. The house was built between 1793 and 1795, and it was said that the artist John James Audubon sketched the birdlife on Cedars Lane and visited with the family there. After Thomas Butler purchased the property from his mother-in-law in 1879, his two daughters, Mamie and Sarah, who stayed in New Orleans after graduating from Newcomb, returned as spinsters to spend weekends in a house enlarged with two-story octagonal additions; subsequent owners, the Fred Kings, raised a family in a home they too improved.<br />
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Today The Cedars is houses a vibrant young family, the Andrew Grezaffis. They have filled it with an eclectic mixture of furnishings imparting the feel of having been lived in by generations of the same family, as all old homes should feel, although the Grezaffis and their five small children have been in residence only a few years.<br />
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<img alt="Lise's Cottage" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-feb-pilgrimage/Miss-Lises-Cottage.jpg" style="float: left; height: 263px; margin: 12px; width: 350px;" />In historic downtown St. Francisville are a couple of featured cottages across from the parish courthouse. Miss Lise’s Cottage was originally built in Bayou Sara, the flood-prone port city on the banks of the Mississippi River. In the late 1800s it was hauled up the hill into St. Francisville, safe from the floodwaters, its two rooms home for the first “telephone girl” whose early switchboard was on the second floor of the nearby bank.<br />
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Until recently a conveniently located attorney’s office, now it puts the WOW factor in this year’s pilgrimage and shows how adaptable these old structures can be in the right hands. The exterior facade retains the traditional Creole cottage character. but oh, that unexpected interior-- all black and white and simply stunning, showing what happens when you turn loose a gifted career architect, Jim Dart, and a frustrated designer of equal talent, David Anthony Parker II, on a charming little historic cottage, where the juxtaposition of antique and contemporary is stunning and a carefully curated collection of modern art strikes a happy balance with treasured family antiques.<br />
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<img alt="Dart" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-feb-pilgrimage/Kilbourn-Dart-Law-Office.jpg" style="float: right; height: 350px; margin: 12px; width: 263px;" />Some of the best-loved pieces descend from Dart’s grandfather, an engineer and attorney whose law office next door to Miss Lise’s Cottage is now home to Kora, Grezaffi and Levasseur Capital Management (yes, the same Grezaffi whose home The Cedars is another pilgrimage feature). Built in 1842, it has housed such notable barristers as Uriah B. Phillips who was blown up in a mid-1800s steamboat explosion, and Louisiana’s last antebellum governor Robert C. Wickliffe.<br />
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Besides these featured historic structures, pilgrimage visitors are welcomed at Afton Villa Gardens, Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, three 19th-century churches in town and beautiful St. Mary’s in the country, as well as the Rural Homestead with lively demonstrations of the rustic skills of daily pioneer life. Audubon Market Hall hosts an impressive exhibit of more than sixty of Audubon’s Birds of America done in the Felicianas, Audubon State Historic Site features morning explorations of nature photography and birding programs (led by C.C. Lockwood and Dr. Tom Tully) augmented by a bird walk at Oak Hill (home of artist Murrell Butler). There will also be floral arranging demos, and this year the hills are alive with the sound of music as special performances are scheduled for each featured home and throughout downtown St. Francisville in tribute to the late father of this year’s chairman. Daytime features are open 9:30 to 5, Sunday 11 to 4 for tour homes; Friday evening activities are scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday soiree begins at 7 p.m.<br />
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The Historic District around Royal Street is filled during the day with the happy sounds of costumed children singing and dancing the Maypole; in the evening as candles flicker and fireflies flit among the ancient moss-draped live oaks, there is no place more inviting for a leisurely stroll. Friday evening features old-time Hymn Singing at the United Methodist Church, Graveyard Tours at Grace Episcopal cemetery (last tour begins at 8:15 p.m.), and a wine and cheese reception at Bishop Jackson Hall (7 to 9 p.m.) featuring Vintage Dancers and young ladies modeling the pilgrimage’s exquisitely detailed 1820’s evening costumes, nationally recognized for their authenticity. Light UpThe Night, the Saturday evening soiree, features live music and dancing, dinner and drinks beginning at 7 p.m. For tickets and tour information, contact West Feliciana Historical Society, Box 338, St. Francisville, LA 70775; phone 225-635-6330 or 225-635-4224; online <a href="http://www.westfelicianahistory.org/" target="_blank">www.westfelicianahistory.org</a>, email <a href="mailto:wfhistsociety@gmail.com">wfhistsociety@gmail.com</a>. A package including daytime tours and all evening entertainment Friday and Saturday is available. Tickets can be purchased at the Historical Society Museum on Ferdinand Street.<br />
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<img alt="festivals a walk in the park" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-feb-pilgrimage/walk-park.jpg" style="float: left; height: 300px; margin: 12px; width: 194px;" />Other events planned for March in St. Francisville include A Walk in the Park on Saturday, March 3, from 9 to 4, bringing a festive gathering of musicians, artists and craftsmen to oak-shaded Parker Park.<br />
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net </a>or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<br />
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-62266181290342024412018-01-28T21:59:00.001-06:002018-01-28T22:03:37.070-06:00Steamboats & St. Francisville: A Match Made in Heaven<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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<img alt="steamboat coming" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-jan-steamboats/American.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />“Steamboat’s a’coming!” That excited cry from plantation landings and municipal wharves heralded the first sighting of one of the big, fancy floating palaces of the 19th century coming around the bend. Traversing that era’s main transportation corridor--the Mississippi River, the boats were lifelines to the world for isolated little communities, bringing news and mail, passengers, trade goods and fine furnishings, and picking up the all-important cotton crop for shipment to markets around the globe. All through the 1800s these vessels came and went, until the coming of the railroad and safer overland transportation options put them out of business.<br />
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But now, in the 21st century, that cry rings out once again in St. Francisville. Several companies operate fleets of attractive riverboats enticing passengers to cruise the Lower Mississippi River and rivers in other parts of the country as well. The little town of St. Francisville welcomes them back with open arms, and not just for the nostalgic charm. While tugs and barges handle most of the commercial shipments along the river now, the steamboats and river cruises provide an economic boost to every little port city they visit.<br />
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<img alt="steamboat" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-jan-steamboats/rail-boat.jpg" style="float: left; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" /> It’s a win-win situation. The well-travelled passengers come from all over the globe, but they all say that St. Francisville’s charming downtown is one of their very favorite stops along the river. The entire downtown area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District, and it is also a Main Street community as well, participating in the National Trust program designed to recognize significant early downtown areas across the country. Over the years, the mix of residential and commercial structures has given St. Francisville a 24-hour presence downtown, important in keeping it alive and vital, and visitors are impressed with its cleanliness and friendliness as well as its sense of place and appreciation of history.<br />
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The local Tourist Commission greets each arriving passenger at the landing below St. Francisville’s bluff, providing a cheery welcome and a roomy canvas shopping bag with maps and discount coupons, stenciled with the town brand: “St. Francisville: We LOVE it here,” plus the admonition to fill it up! The motorcoaches that follow the boats on land offer continuous complimentary Hop On Hop Off circuits throughout the downtown area, stopping at intervals so passengers (some days as many as 300!) can jump on and off to shop and tour.<br />
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<img alt="" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-jan-steamboats/shanty.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />St. Francisville’s wonderful little shops say the boat customers mean the difference between surviving and thriving. With the advent of online shopping, overall retail stores across the country have suffered tremendous losses; in 2017 nearly 70,000 retail jobs disappeared and big-name department stores closed as did many malls. But surprisingly, the little independent retailers are seeing a resurgence of business. It’s the personal attention, unique inventory and proximity to other venues that have kept customers patronizing these mom-and-pop stores.<br />
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While shoppers will no doubt continue to get their cases of toilet paper from Sam’s or Costco, small downtown retailers across the country are proving the most resilient of brick-and-mortar survivors, according to one newspaper columnist who insists “Main Street shops (are) not dead yet.” Books can be ordered online, sure, but indie book stores like the one in St. Francisville can offer much more than a book, with author book signings, comfy seating for book club meetings, children’s programs, and personal recommendations. Clothing can also be ordered online, but can it be tried on for fit, can the fabric be felt and the cut observed close-up, can the buyer look in the mirror and see if it actually lives up to the online promise as shown on a six-foot 100-pound professional model?<br />
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<img alt="shops" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-jan-steamboats/shoppers.jpg" style="float: left; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />This year there are more than 100 steamboat stops scheduled for St. Francisville. These upscale riverboats offer their passengers a cultural learning experience and a more relaxed way to travel than the enormous ocean-going cruise ships overflowing with rowdy young funseekers.<br />
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The American Queen is the largest riverboat ever built, capable of hosting 400 guests in fine accommodations with onboard amenities like topnotch entertainment and a grand dining room with 20-foot ceilings. Owned by the American Queen Steamboat Company, the vessel actually can still use steam power. A second all-suite luxury vessel called the American Duchess has joined the fleet this year, and one or the other of the AQ boats will be stopping in St. Francisville several times a week, offering not only Hop On Hop Off shore excursions but also premium tours to sites of historic interest (outlying plantations or the Louisiana State Penitentiary, unlikeliest of tourist attractions but a fascinatingly different tour). In 2012 another organization, American Cruise Lines, launched the Queen of the Mississippi and then added the America and yet another boat, newest fleet of river cruise ships and paddlewheelers on the Mississippi.<br />
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<img alt="boat" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2018-jan-steamboats/steamboat_053112_1947.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Both of these, American Queen Steamboat Company and American Cruise Lines, hire local guides whose knowledge of area history and attractions enhance the experience of visitors going on the premium tours and guided shore excursions. This expands the economic impact of riverboat passenger visits beyond the downtown shops, providing additional reward for area plantations and attractions as well as local residents serving as bus guides. Additionally, the motorcoach drivers often spend the night as they follow the boats on land, providing income for local overnight accommodations, restaurants and gas stations.<br />
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St. Francisville’s Main Street manager and Tourist Commission director comments that the influx of visitors from steamboats has had an extremely positive impact on the community. Sales tax collections are up, and there is also the promise of future visits by boat passengers, who often return on their own for longer stays in an area they had time to enjoy only briefly on cruise stops. Says one docent at the local historical society museum and visitor center, “The riverboat visits mean very good sales, and they love our town, just like we do.”<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.<br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-80822979204289958992018-01-14T19:25:00.002-06:002018-01-14T19:30:18.807-06:00What's Old is New Again<strong>St. Francisville’s Surrounding Plantation Country: What’s Old is New Again</strong><br />
<strong>By Anne Butler</strong><br />
St. Francisville has been the center of culture, government and religion since it was settled in the opening years of the 19th century, but the little port city of Bayou Sara along the Mississippi River just below the bluffs was the center of commerce, while the surrounding plantation country provided the economic driver for both communities. Today, Bayou Sara is no more and St. Francisville has become the center of commerce as well as culture, but there remain a number of recently rejuvenated historic plantations that attract visitors seeking an understanding of what life was like in the Cotton Kingdom.<br />
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<img alt="oakley" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-dec/oakley.jpg" height="225" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="300" />One of the most significant and earliest of Louisiana’s state historic sites, Oakley Plantation and its surrounding hundred wooded acres reopened with an old-time Christmas celebration the first weekend in December after being closed for nearly a year for lead abatement. During that time the house underwent a complete exterior restoration and was repainted in the original colors, white with darker green trim, plus interior paint touch-ups and furniture conservation. Popular as the central focus of the Audubon State Historic Site for more than half a century, Oakley is a splendid West Indies-style three-story structure with jalousied galleries and has a fascinating visitor center/museum, picnic facilities and hiking trails, detached plantation kitchen reconstructed on original foundations with weaving and wash rooms, a barn full of horse-drawn vehicles and farm implements, and several rustic slave cabins.<br />
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These dependencies are periodically utilized to augment the house tour with demonstrations of early practical skills and fascinating living-history events; weekends in January the highlights will be “Time Travelers” featuring the thunder of cannon in 1810 (January 6); “The Boys of ’61” replicating conditions on the eve of war as civilians become soldiers (January 20); and “Open-Hearth Candle Making” (January 21).<br />
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Oakley Plantation was responsible for artist John James Audubon’s fruitful stay in 1821, when he was hired to tutor Eliza, the young daughter of the Pirrie family, and painted dozens of his Birds of America studies in the area. His pupil would enter into marriages that tied Oakley to other early plantation families. Her first marriage was to a dashing young Barrow cousin who contracted pneumonia on their honeymoon and died before the birth of their first child; her last was to an attorney called by her friends “a trifling sponge,” lured away by the Gold Rush and absent when she died of childbed fever.<br />
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It was her second marriage, to the eminently respectable first rector of Grace Episcopal Church, that produced the descendants who were still struggling to keep Oakley going into the 20th century; it also united the plantation with another state historic site, Rosedown, when Eliza’s son James Pirrie Bowman married the daughter of Rosedown’s Barrow/Turnbull family.<br />
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<img alt="rosedown" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-dec/rosedown.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />A glorious double-galleried Greek Revival structure embraced by the surrounding 28 acres of formal gardens, the house at Rosedown was constructed in the 1830s and remained for more than a century in the original family. Now owned by the state, it is not only a State Historic Site but also a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its enormous significance. A number of original outbuildings remain, and as at Oakley they are often used to illustrate various facets of early plantation life, as are the grand gardens.<br />
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Another important Greek Revival structure is Greenwood Plantation, which has recently found new owners and a new lease on life, having enjoyed more than its fair share of miraculous resurrections. Its story began in 1798, when widowed Olivia Ruffin Barrow arrived with 50 wagons full of possessions, 150 slaves, six children (some grown), and the wealth with which to build a new life in a new land. One of her grandsons became the first and short-lived husband of Audubon’s pupil Eliza Pirrie.<br />
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Another grandson, William Ruffin Barrow, in 1830 built his home on family property that would eventually grow to 12,000 acres. Nearly 100 feet square, the Greenwood house was completely surrounded by 28 Doric columns of brick, rising more than 30 feet from a porch set 5 feet above ground level, supporting an intricately detailed entablature and solid copper roof topped by a belvedere from which Barrow could survey his cotton and sugar cane fields being tilled by some 750 slaves.<br />
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The Civil War brought tragedy, but in the early 1900s the plantation was purchased by Frank and Naomi Fisher Percy, who restored the house and enjoyed sharing it with the public. Surrounded by live oaks, Greenwood was called the finest example of Greek Revival architecture in the South, featured in magazines, visited by thousands of tourists, and beloved by Hollywood as a movie setting. And then on the night of August 1, 1960, tragedy struck again; lightning started a fire that destroyed everything but columns and chimneys. Eventually the house was rebuilt as close to the original as possible, and now new owners have brought new enthusiasm, sharing the home with visitors for tours and special events as well as overnight stays.<br />
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<img alt="myrtles front" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-dec/myrtles_front.jpg" height="225" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="300" />Yet another plantation house that has found new energy and enthusiasm with a new generation is The Myrtles, which has its own connections with Oakley Plantation and Audubon’s pupil Eliza. Eliza’s mother Lucretia Alston Pirrie’s first husband was Ruffin Gray; her sister Ann Alston was the wife of early settler Alexander Stirling, and their son, born in 1795 and named Ruffin Gray Stirling for his uncle, purchased The Myrtles in 1834.<br />
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The plantation, originally known as Laurel Grove, was established in the late 1790s by General David Bradford, who represented Monongahela Valley farmers opposing an excise tax levied on their corn whiskey by US authorities. As one of the ringleaders of the so-called Whiskey Rebellion, Bradford narrowly escaped with his life to Spanish territory and built the north section of the house on a land grant of 650 arpents. After yellow fever epidemics in 1823 and 1824 killed the wife and two young children of the next occupant of The Myrtles, the property was sold, along with improvements and slaves, for $46,853.17 to Ruffin Gray Stirling. After a succession of owners, it was purchased in 1992 by the Moss family, and now a new generation, son Morgan, is implementing a long-needed restoration and re-landscaping with big plans for the future of this popular tourist destination.<br />
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Other plantations, the early Cottage Plantation which remarkably resisted gentrification through the generations of the same family, and Catalpa Plantation which has family ties to Rosedown and Oakley, are open only on weekends (The Cottage) or by appointment (Catalpa). Greenwood, Myrtles, and Rosedown are open to the public daily except holidays, while Oakley is open Wednesday through Sunday. Together they present a good picture of early life in the Felicianas, when pioneering families were joined together by blood, marriage, economic necessities and history, and they continue to hold much interest for the steady stream of tourists enjoying the St. Francisville area.<br />
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<img alt="greenwood" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-dec/greenwood.jpg" height="225" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" width="300" />Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs .<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.westfeliciana.us/" target="_blank">www.westfeliciana.us</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-60513005884544079982017-11-10T19:28:00.000-06:002017-11-10T19:28:03.123-06:00Christmas in the Country Dec. 1-3, 2017St. Francisville’s Christmas in the Country December 1-3<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
<img alt="christmas parade" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-dec-cic/CIC-parade.jpg" style="float: right; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />The 1700 residents of the little Mississippi River town of St. Francisville sure know how to throw a party. Flags flying for every special occasion, they host fun festivals throughout the year, but the holiday weekend called Christmas in the Country, this year December 1 through 3, is the most enjoyable. Spectacular decorations, with millions of white lights gracing gallery posts and tracing soaring Victorian trimwork, turn the downtown Historic District into a winter wonderland, and carefully planned activities provide fun for the entire family.<br />
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The theme of the Sunday afternoon Christmas parade, Don’t Stop Believing, sets the tone for the whole weekend and is highly appropriate for a safe, small-town celebration of its bedrock beliefs---in the goodness of people, the beauty of nature, and the strength of community and faith. Plus it’s just plain fun!<br />
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Friday evening, December 1st, Christmas in the Country is kicked off around St. Francisville’s Town Hall as the children’s choir Voices in Motion sings at 5:30, followed by jovial longtime mayor Billy D’Aquilla lighting the town tree and hosting a reception complete with fireworks. Twilight Shopping is offered until 7 p.m. by a variety of unique little shops throughout the downtown area and spreading out into the outlying district, offering seasonal decorations, great gift items and extended hours. Visitors should not miss a single shop, and vendors in Parker Park will also observe late shopping hours.<br />
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<img alt="breakfast with Santa" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-dec-cic/santa-present.jpg" style="float: left; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Saturday, December 2nd, begins with 7:30 a.m. Prayer Breakfast at the Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, followed by Christmas on the Run for the Relay for Life supporting the American Cancer Society, with a one-mile fun run beginning at 8 a.m. and the 5-K run at 8:30 a.m., both starting at Parker Park. Little ones can enjoy Breakfast with St. Nick at Grace Episcopal Church’s Jackson Hall; sponsored by the Women’s Service League, three seatings are available at 8, 9:15 and 10:30, with reservations encouraged and tickets available online. The Women’s Service League also offers fresh wreaths and cookbook sales on Ferdinand St. daily all weekend.<br />
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In Parker Park from 10 to 4, vendors offer everything from food and music to jewelry, photos, honey, paintings, t-shirts, calendars, hair bows and more. Main Street Band plays in the park gazebo from noon to 2.<br />
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<img alt="Christmas in the Park" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-dec-cic/CIC-park.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />The Polar Express train transports visitors through the downtown area from 10 to 2, with a Polar Express movie and fun in the Town Hall meeting room.<br />
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St. Francisville’s shops and art galleries are the enthusiastic sponsors of this special weekend, offering a wide variety of inventory, from antiques and art (both original and prints), decorative items, one-of-a-kind handmade crafts, custom jewelry, housewares, artisanal foodstuffs, clothing for every member of the family. Plus there’s something new this year called the Candy Cane Shopping Card, featuring discounts and “I Shopped St. Francisville” t-shirts for purchases over $100.<br />
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<img alt="Ferris House" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-dec-cic/Ferris-House.jpg" style="float: left; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />From 10 to 4 on Saturday, the Friends of the Library sponsor the popular annual Tour of Homes benefitting library programs, showcasing four homes showcasing innovative architecture and eclectic décor. Abby and Doug Cochran’s downtown Ferdinand St. home is a farmhouse-style cottage built in the early 1900s from salvaged lumber, with cypress cabinets and a broad front porch. The Plantation Drive home of Chuck and Heather Walters is in the architectural style called Mediterranean Transitional, with soaring ceilings, old cypress beams, three fireplaces, even a glass staircase. Located on LA 421, the Acadian-style home of Greg Ferris and Wendy Phillips overlooks a 10-acre lake and replicates the understated elegance of area historic homes with exposed beams, old brick, heart-pine floors and old New Orleans accents. Justin and Charlotte Peno’s home in downtown St. Francisville on Fidelity St. began as a simple cottage, later renovated to its current Acadian appearance; it was the 1940s townhouse of Peno’s great-grandfather, widely respected LA senator W.D.Folkes.<br />
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<img alt="Walters House" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-dec-cic/Walter's-House-with-bushes.jpg" style="float: right; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Saturday evening entertainment begins at 5:30 at Oakley Plantation’s Colonial Christmas at Audubon State Historic Site, with candlelight tours, period music and wassail until 8:30 p.m. From 6 to 7 United Methodist Church hosts a Community Sing-Along. First Baptist Church (LA 10 at US 61) has a Living Nativity of seven scenes inside the church from 6 to 8, a real Christmas journey—travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem and rediscover the miracle of the birth of Jesus; children love the petting stable, crafts, and hot chocolate and cookies. Participating homes in St. Francisville’s National Register Historic District along Ferdinand and Royal Streets permit visitors to Peep Into Our Holiday Homes from 6 to 8 p.m.<br />
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On Sunday, December 3rd, Candy Cane Shopping Card opportunities continue from 10 to closing. Vendors are in Parker Park from 10 to 4, with music noon to 4 by Angola Travelling Band. Sunday’s highlight is the Women’s Service League Christmas Parade beginning at 2 p.m., travelling along Ferdinand and Commerce Streets, with floats, bands, marching groups, dignitaries and lots of throws, all under the theme of Don’t Stop Believing.<br />
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<img alt="Christmas with Santa" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-dec-cic/group-table.jpg" style="float: left; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures and many offering extended evening shopping during the holiday period, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-13078300362167163422017-10-08T20:59:00.001-05:002017-10-08T20:59:08.793-05:00<img alt="Turnbill" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-oct-rosedown/turnbill.jpg" style="float: right; height: 193px; margin: 10px; width: 150px;" />Fall in the Felicianas: Glorious Gardens, Gallivanting Ghosts, and a Gathering of Artists<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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On her honeymoon Grand Tour through Europe in 1835, 18-year-old bride Martha Barrow Turnbull fell in love with the gardens of Versailles and other continental landscapes, gleaning the inspiration for formal plantings to complement the stately double-galleried plantation home being built on her cotton plantation back home. Thus began a sixty-year love affair with the 28-acre gardens of Rosedown, meticulously preserved in near-daily diary entries that later proved invaluable in restoring the property.<br />
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Blessed with rich land, long growing seasons, a felicitous climate and unlimited labor, Martha Turnbull became one of the great horticultural innovators of her day, the Rosedown gardens serving as early proving grounds for the exotic flora of the Orient. Camellias, for example, were thriving in gardens in Japan and China centuries before they were first seen by Europeans. It was only after trade with the Orient was opened in the early 1500s by the Portuguese and their Black Ships that trading groups like England’s East India Company began importing spices, silks, porcelains and other Oriental treasures. The medical officers of those trade companies first studied the native plants for their medicinal propensities, and the camellia japonica was introduced to England by the 1700s and then crossed the ocean to the East Coast. By 1830s invoices among the Rosedown archival papers show camellias, azaleas and other plants being purchased from nurseries in New York and Philadelphia.<br />
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<img alt="rosedown" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-oct-rosedown/camellia_rosedown.jpg" style="float: left; height: 279px; margin: 12px; width: 175px;" />Testament to the hardiness of early plantings, many of the heirloom plantings of Rosedown survive or have been propagated, even though the post-Civil War era brought great hardship. Martha Turnbull applied for a widow’s pension (she received $8 monthly) and initiated a Civil War claim covering property taken from Rosedown by federal troops in 1863 that included 300 hogsheads of sugar, 600 barrels of molasses, 200 mules and 100 horses, 700 head of cattle, 80 wagons, 300 hogs, 6000 bushels of corn, 50 bales of cotton. The third-generation descendants of Martha Turnbull who struggled to maintain the property were spinster sisters who sometimes had to pay with cotton bales their accounts at the local mercantile, the invoices of 1896 including such varied goods as a tub of lard, nails, syrup, lap robe and whip, spectacles, and a metallic casket for $100, presumably for their grandmother who died that year.<br />
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It would be the surviving plantings that saved Rosedown when a Texas oil heiress, herself a great horticulturist, passed through on a national garden club tour in 1956 and saw the potential beneath the rampant jungle growth outside and cracked peeling plaster inside. Purchasing the property from Martha Turnbull’s great-grandchildren, she began the ten-year restoration of house and grounds that turned Rosedown Plantation into one of the country’s premier historic tour destinations.<br />
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<img alt="Stark" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-oct-rosedown/stark.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 157px;" />A century after Rosedown was built in 1834, author Stark Young used it as a picturesque setting in his acclaimed Civil War novel So Red The Rose, saying, “Of all the houses in the world it seemed to be the beloved of its own trees and gardens.” That charm and appeal continues unabated today, the house folded in the embrace of its 19th-century gardens and live oaks grown to immense size.<br />
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Now it is a state historic site and national historic landmark, its fall and winter-blooming camellia sasanquas and japonicas grown to tree-size, and serves as one of the most inviting features of the 29th annual Southern Garden Symposium.<br />
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Set for October 20 and 21 (registration deadline October 13), the symposium combines top-quality expert speakers and glorious garden settings with engaging social events and historic venues to attract gardening enthusiasts from across the south. Gourmet lunch in the ruins gardens of Afton Villa Plantation, speakers’ gala at Rosale Plantation, afternoon tea at Dogwood complement carefully chosen presentations on everything from orchids to medicinal marijuana, from Thomas Jefferson’s botanical laboratory at Monticello to the challenges of invasive species. Morning and afternoon sessions explore Martha Turnbulls’ grand gardens at Rosedown so participants can admire centuries-old camellias, live oaks and other plantings as well as hear about present-day efforts to ensure that the gardens continue to thrive into the future. Online information on schedules and tickets is available at www.southerngardensymposium.org. Proceeds fund such projects as scholarships to LSU’s School of Landscape Architecture and garden enhancements at state historic sites.<br />
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<img alt="camellia" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-oct-rosedown/camellia_Inn125.jpg" style="float: left; height: 250px; margin: 12px; width: 200px;" />The sheer beauty of the cultivated landscapes and the verdant wild woodlands in the St. Francisville area have inspired creative artists ever since John James Audubon painted a number of his famous bird studies in the area, and the arts scene is growing just as prolifically as the glorious gardens. The Yellow Leaf Arts Festival, Saturday and Sunday, October 28 and 29th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., is sponsored annually by Arts For All (the local arts umbrella agency whose name says it all). The weekend celebrates that rich tradition of artistic inspiration by filling St. Francisville’s downtown oak-shaded Parker Park with an incredible selection of music and art and food and fun.<br />
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Featured artist this year is versatile Acadian artist-naturalist Jim Jeansonne, whose colorful woodcut of butterflies graces the Yellow Leaf poster. He will be in the park gazebo. One of the original founding artists of the Baton Rouge Gallery, Jeansonne’s creative endeavors run the gamut from printmaking to sculpture, furniture making, and photography. Festival musicians performing include the Fugitive Poets, Wilder Janes, Nancy Roppolo, Bill Romano and others, while local farmer Jerry Landrum and his family offer sweet potatoes in many forms plus great barbecue.<br />
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<img alt="movie" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-oct-rosedown/movie.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Other events in October include the Angola Prison Rodeo every Sunday throughout the month; grounds open at 9 with inmate arts/crafts, food and music, rodeo starts at 2 (visitors should remember that this is a penitentiary and they would be well advised to follow regulations to the letter). Halloween activities include The Myrtles Halloween Extravaganza every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in October beginning at 5 p.m. and guaranteed to scare the pants off visitors touring this “most haunted house in America” (call 225-635-6277 for information); Movie in the Park from 6 to 8 on Friday the 13th is The Incredibles, with snacks and drinks (bring your own lawn chair or quilt); “Trunk or Treat” at the West Feliciana Sports Park beginning at 6 p.m. on October 26 with costume and trunk decoration competitions (call 225-784-8447 for information on candy distribution and decorating trunks); and Trick Or Treating through downtown St. Francisville from 6 to 8 on Halloween.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (Oakley’s main house is temporarily closed for lead abatement, but the wonderful visitor center/museum remains accessible).<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit www.westfeliciana.us, www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com, www.stfrancisville.net or www.stfrancisville.us (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-55356406800616273012017-09-04T00:05:00.000-05:002017-09-04T00:05:04.567-05:00West Feliciana Woods Beckon as Walden Once DidWest Feliciana Woods Beckon as Walden Once Did<br /> By Anne Butler<br />
<br /> Distraught? Distressed? Disturbed? Weary of worrisome world affairs?<br /> <br /> <img alt="kayak" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-sept/patrick-kayak.jpg" style="float: right; height: 263px; margin: 12px; width: 350px;" />Take a tip from Henry David Thoreau, born in the summer of 1817, who despaired of seeing his fellow men leading “lives of quiet desperation” and sought solitude in the woods by Walden Pond. There he “wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”<br /> <br /> Now Walden Pond is operated by Massachusetts as a state reservation, complete with solar-powered visitor center and half-a-million hikers, boaters, swimmers, sunbathers or skiiers annually. But there are closer areas beckoning those wishing to commune more quietly with Nature. Strolling through St. Francisville’s 19th-century landscapes and formal gardens or wandering unhurried along the little rivertown’s bricked streets beneath overhanging moss-draped live oaks can impart the feeling of being a million miles away from the urban hustle and bustle, and the surrounding area has plenty of unspoiled wilderness accessible to the world-weary public.<br />
<br /> <img alt="tree" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-sept/tunica-tree.jpg" style="float: left; height: 350px; margin: 12px; width: 233px;" />Just south of St. Francisville on Highway 965 are several child-friendly hiking venues. Audubon State Historic Site has short trails through the hundred-acre park surrounding historic Oakley Plantation house (the house itself is temporarily closed for lead-abatement, but visitors are welcome on the grounds). Nearby Mary Ann Brown Preserve, 109 acres donated to The Nature Conservancy as a memorial, has interpretive trails as well as facilities for scout or school groups to picnic and camp with advance reservations.<br /> <br /> The West Feliciana Parish Sports Park, extensive manicured complex of ballfields, tennis and basketball courts, rodeo arena and music stage, is open from 7 a.m. to dusk and hosts organized sports, camps and activities for all ages. Particularly popular is the aptly named Beast, rugged 6.5-mile hiking and mountain biking trail through the challenging terrain of typical Feliciana hills and hollows, providing great exercise for both advanced and intermediate hikers and bikers. There’s also a tamer walking path around the fishing pond. Hikers and bicyclers (who are required to wear bike helmets on the trail) should sign in at the trailhead; no horses are allowed.<br /> <br /> The Tunica Hills State Preservation Area and Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area offer thousands of wooded acres encompassing rare land formations found only in a narrow strip from St. Francisville northwest along the Mississippi River into Tennessee. Cool deep shady hollows and steep forested hills harbor rare plants and animals found nowhere else in Louisiana. The Office of State Parks has grand plans for the state preservation area, 700 acres along the river with loessial bluffs and bayous, steep wooded ravines and such a diverse ecosystem that this promises to become one of Louisiana’s most unique tourist destinations once funding is provided to fulfill the master plan. At present, this area and the wildlife management area which is actually two separate tracts of several thousand acres each operated by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, offer unmatched opportunities for hiking, photography and birdwatching, hunting in season (LDWF), horseback riding and just plain appreciation of unspoiled nature. Admission to the wildlife management area is free, but visitors must fill out daily self-clearing permit cards at entrance stations; the South Tract along Old Tunica Road is open year-round, while the North Tract along Farrar-Davis Road is closed March through September.<br /> <br /> <img alt="mary ann brown" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-sept/maryannbrown.jpg" style="float: right; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Also in the Tunica Hills but entered just above the Mississippi state line is the popular Clark Creek Natural Area with challenging trails leading to a series of waterfalls. This area is reached from St. Francisville via US 61 north, left onto LA 66, right onto Hwy. 969 (Pinckneyville Road), then left onto Fort Adams Road at the old Pond Store (well worth a visit). A nominal contribution is payable at the trailhead parking area. The first two falls are reached by established trails; the rest require some challenging hiking.<br /> Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge is currently closed to the public (including parts accessible by boat) awaiting parish road repair after wash-outs rendered Creek Road impassable during the Great Flood of 2016, but Bayou Sara Kayak Rentals (with or without guides) can access similar areas via the lazy waters of the creek with its swimming holes and sandy beaches.<br /> <br /> One resident with a well-documented appreciation for Feliciana’s pastoral reaches and verdant woodlands was, of course, artist John James Audubon, who in the 1820s found inspiration for dozens of his famous bird studies while staying at Oakley Plantation. Just over a century after his stay, what was called a “Bird Fete” first celebrated his tenure in the parish with a presentation of scenes from his life, historic homes open “for inspection,” and a colonial ball. Noted writer Stanley C. Arthur was master of ceremonies, and Audubon relics, portraits, prints and letters were on exhibit at the local library, sponsored in the 1930s by the Drama-Library League. The West Feliciana Historical Society for the last four decades has carried on the tradition with its springtime tour of historic homes and related activities known as the Audubon Pilgrimage.<br /> <br /> <img alt="hummingbirds" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-sept/dueling_hummers.jpg" style="float: left; height: 267px; margin: 12px; width: 400px;" />Today the area still celebrates its huge population of both resident and migratory birdlife with an annual event highlighting the unique hummingbird feeding and breeding habitat that entices ruby-throats to linger awhile in the months between late March and early September as they migrate between South/Central America and Canada. The Hummingbird Festival is set in two private gardens for Saturday, September 9, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., when there should be an abundance of migratory hummers on their way south for the winter. Vendors offer hummingbird-attractive plants and equipment, while hummingbird biologists Linda Beall and Nancy Newfield capture and band birds, giving visitors the rare opportunity to observe the tiny creatures up close as they are being weighed and measured. The banding sites are the homes of Carlisle Rogillio on Tunica Trace (his 400-acre National Wildbird Refuge sponsors the event this year, the 17th festival) and artist Murrell Butler on Oak Hill Road, both of which usually attract dozens of hummingbirds.<br /> Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (Oakley’s main house is temporarily closed for lead abatement, but the wonderful visitor center/museum remains accessible).<br /> <br /> <img alt="tunica falls" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-sept/tunicafalls.jpg" style="float: right; height: 350px; margin: 12px; width: 233px;" />The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br /> For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<br /> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-41300659732673525812017-08-08T20:58:00.001-05:002017-08-08T20:58:20.623-05:00St. Francisville Floods: A Tale of a Travelling HouseSt. Francisville & Floods: A Tale of a Travelling House<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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<img alt="flood" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-aug-lise/zfloodstreet.jpg" style="float: right; height: 222px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />While St. Francisville developed on a high ridge overlooking the river, the port city of Bayou Sara was established in the late 1790s right on the banks of the Mississippi. Center of commerce for the surrounding plantation country, with a mile of warehouses to store cotton plus extensive residential and commercial sections, Bayou Sara was one of the 19th century’s most important river ports.<br />
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But just about every spring, as ice and snow melted upriver, a raging torrent of water raced downstream and through crevasses in flimsy levees to destroy everything in its path. This included Bayou Sara, but its residents, resilient souls that they were, came back year after year after year, at least until the 1920s.<br />
In 1890 the New York Times described a levee break that inundated the entire town, stopping all business and compelling the abandonment of stores and homes by its 10,000 residents. Again in 1892 another flood put 10 feet of water into town, with considerable loss of property. Resourceful shopkeepers put merchandise on top shelves, tried to hold back floodwaters with mud boxes, and built raised wooden walkways and gangplanks so shoppers could keep their feet dry. But it was the flood of 1912 that was most devastating, with rising waters sending Bayou Sara residents rushing into the hills as large cracks appeared in the levee.<br />
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Beulah Smith Watts of Solitude Plantation vividly recounted the experience. “The rainy season began in the early spring of 1912. The melting ice and snow from the north began to swell the river. The Mississippi River began to rise and flood the low land. The levee which protected the town became threatened. Rains and winds caused alarm. The citizens of Bayou Sara worked day and night in the rain, filling sand bags to bank the levee in weakening places. School boys worked with them. Sand boils began to appear. Citizens of Bayou Sara were ordered to move livestock and possessions to higher lands. The rains had stopped, but the winds were high…The school was in St. Francisville. On May 2, 1912, before classes had started, whistles began blowing, and bells began tolling. We knew what had happened! School was dismissed, and we pupils ran to Catholic Hill to see the water rushing in, swallowing the town of Bayou Sara. The roar of onrushing water could be heard for miles. The crevasse was 187 feet wide. The next day nothing but the tops of houses were visible. Most of the houses were swept away by the strong current of rushing water, and debris floated in the water.”<br />
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<img alt="flood bayou sara" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-aug-lise/bayou-sara-flood.jpg" style="float: left; height: 220px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />The 1912 flood devastated areas all along the river, leaving hundreds homeless as rescue trains rushed to flooded areas to evacuate residents. At Bayou Sara, one newspaper account said, “The streets are under 25 feet of water. When the water rushed in late yesterday, houses were toppled from their foundations. A great sheet of water leaping through a gap in the levee 300 feet wide swept everything before it. The smaller buildings were dashed against the more substantial structures and the debris carried on by the flood…Men and women ran wildly into their homes, picked up their children and fled, leaving all their belongings behind. Others took their positions in boats, and were picked up by the crest of the flood and carried miles from the town.”<br />
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And then came the great flood of April 1927 that displaced close to a million people along the Mississippi River corridor, causing numerous deaths and threatening millions of acres of land. It was one of the world’s most devastating floods, called “the last uncontrolled rampage of the Mississippi River,” inundating 27,000 square miles. After that one, the Corps of Engineers began serious construction of substantial levees and flood control structures along the Mississippi River to protect heavily populated urban areas. But these efforts came too late to save the little port city of Bayou Sara; there’s nothing there now but a boat launch, steamboat landing, and a bunch of weeping willows.<br />
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<img alt="lise's cottage" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-aug-lise/lise-cottage-side.jpg" style="float: right; height: 350px; margin: 12px; width: 261px;" />St. Francisville, high atop the bluff overlooking the site of Bayou Sara, beckoned survivors, and up the hill they came, merchants and families, businesses, even some houses. The 19th-century Bayou Sara residents salvaged what they could of damaged homes and stores, and moved on up the hill to rebuild their lives and re-establish their businesses safe from the floodwaters.<br />
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One charming little structure that travelled from Bayou Sara up the hill to safety in St. Francisville is called Miss Lise’s Cottage, comfortably resettled across Prosperity Street from the West Feliciana Parish courthouse in 1890. It was a simple Creole cottage of two rooms, roughly 16’ by 16’, each opening to the outside. The rooms were divided by a solid wall; to go from one to the other entailed a trip outside along the front porch.<br />
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The cottage was moved up for Miss Lise, the first “telephone girl” whose last name seems lost to history, and the early switchboard was on the second floor of the 1905 bank building just across Royal Street from her domicile. Until recently, Miss Lise’s Cottage functioned as an attorney’s office. Now it’s the weekend getaway for a gifted career architect/educator and a frustrated designer whose talents complement each other to a remarkable degree in a perfect example of how adaptable these historic little cottages can be in the right hands.<br />
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The exterior frontal view retains the traditional Creole cottage character, its siding soft grey with contrasting shades on columns, shutters, entrance doors and trim; the roof is corrugated galvanized steel. But oh, that unexpected interior-- all black and white and simply stunning. With renovations and additions meticulously envisioned and executed by homeowners James Kilbourne Dart and David Anthony Parker II over the past several years, Miss Lise’s Cottage will add the WOW factor to the 2018 Audubon Pilgrimage tour of historic homes in the St. Francisville area. The pilgrimage is sponsored by the West Feliciana Historical Society, for which Jim Dart’s mother Elisabeth Kilbourne Dart, gifted writer and parish historian, served as the longtime leader.<br />
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<img alt="front view" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-aug-lise/lises-cottage.jpg" style="float: left; height: 299px; margin: 12px; width: 400px;" />Stark white walls and ebonized flooring decorated with black Argentine cowhides set off a thoughtfully curated collection of modern art, and the few antique pieces are the crème de la crème of family treasures. New York meets Creole modern, they call it, and the balance works perfectly, a striking juxtaposition of antique and contemporary furnishings and original artworks.<br />
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With their complementing creative talents and sensibilities, the partners have turned Miss Lise’s Cottage into a stunning example of comfortable contrasts, its starkly simple elegance embracing 19th-century oil paintings and family antiques from great-great-great-grandparents as warmly as naked Chinese artists and Sumatran loincloths in a carefully curated collection of artworks, all in an unassuming little cottage that climbed the hill into St. Francisville to escape Mississippi River floodwaters.<br />
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And now that St. Francisville has taken the place of Bayou Sara as the center of commerce for the area, the town showcases its assortment of unique little shops and puts the sizzle back into summertime shopping with the nighttime extravaganza called Polos and Pearls. From 5 to 9 on Saturday, August 19, the event features extended hours in downtown shops, food, music and trolley transportation for an easy hop on-hop off trip from one store to another.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (Oakley’s main house is temporarily closed for lead abatement, but the wonderful visitor center/museum remains accessible).<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-74189622287928093302017-07-12T12:40:00.001-05:002017-07-13T08:22:23.412-05:00Take a Shopping Staycation to St. Francisville, LA<b>Take a Shopping Staycation to St. Francisville, LA</b><br />
<b>By Anne Butler</b><br />
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<img alt="cart" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jul/site/cart.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />Visitors often marvel at how such a little town as St. Francisville can offer such diversity. Want something to eat? There’s Chinese, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Southern, you name it, all of it good. Want to spend the night? There are Bed & Breakfasts, modern motels, golf resorts, historic, contemporary, in town, in the country, on a lake. Want recreation? Hiking the hills, biking the rural lanes, birding in the wooded areas or even in the middle of tree-shaded downtown, kayaking in Bayou Sara.<br />
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And shopping? An enticing variety of little shops with unique wares offer something for everyone, from upscale jewelry sold around the world to one-of-a-kind items provided with warm personal service. This sure isn’t Wal-Mart, Toto, although there are a couple of Dollar Stores and a well-stocked Fred’s.<br />
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In the 19th century, St. Francisville atop the bluffs was the center of culture while Bayou Sara, perched on the banks of the Mississippi River below the bluffs, was the center of commerce, with steamboats unloading treasures from around the world. But after years of overflow flooding, most of that port city was washed away, though some structures and businesses relocated up the hill into St. Francisville. Today there are still some of these same structures and businesses, but they have been joined by a whole host of others, providing a new fresh outlook and plenty of up-to-date shopping opportunities.<br />
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Grandmothers Buttons, in the turn-of-the-century red brick bank building, has beautifully designed jewelry utilizing vintage buttons and imported glass or crystal in an affordable price range, as well as an eclectic selection of many other items; there’s also a fascinating museum of antique buttons in the former bank vault. Patrick’s Fine Jewelry (Live Oak Centre) has classic custom pieces as well as estate jewels.<br />
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Two art studio/galleries showcase the works of local artists and host periodic shows: Harrington Gallery and Backwoods Gallery, with originals, prints and framing. Temple Design has totebags, tshirts, hats, beach towels and lots of other pieces with local insignia.<br />
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<img alt="home goods" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jul/site/home-goods.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" />There are several antiques co-ops with multiple dealers exhibiting vintage collectibles as well as fine antiques: Bohemianville Antiques, St. Francis Art and Antiques, and the new St. Francisville Antique Mall.<br />
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Gift shops include The Shanty Too, longtime downtown anchor store with linen clothing, baby presents and an old-time candy shoppe; Hillcrest Gardens and Interiors with something for every age and every taste; Sage Hill Gifts with a wonderful selection of carefully chosen decorative items.<br />
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Elliot’s Pharmacy (Live Oak Centre) also has a large gift section, and next door is Mia Sophia Florist, which augments beautiful fresh flowers and plants with children’s clothing and the world’s best fudge. Ins-N-Outs Nursery has hanging and bedding plants for flowerbeds and vegetable gardens, while Border Imports on US Highway 61 North has a huge variety of Mexican import pottery and cast aluminum pieces for indoors and out, ranging from small colorful Talavera pieces to lifesize animal reproductions, garden statuary and seating.<br />
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Ladies’ clothing shops offering the latest fashions and stylish accessories include Ma Mille which often has special markdowns, Femme Fatale Boutique, Beehive Boutique, and Trends. Sharing space with Beehive is Mud-Pie Soaps.<br />
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<img alt="books" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jul/site/books.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />The Conundrum Books and Puzzles is a quirkly little indie bookstore with a well-curated collection of reading material and puzzles for children and adults, and the West Feliciana Historical Society also has a nice gift shop with lots of regional books as well as cards and children’s things. Heirloom Quilt Shoppe has patterns and select fabrics for sewing projects and offers periodic instruction as well.<br />
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And then there are the little pop-up periodic shopping opportunities. On Thursdays and Fridays the Farmers’ Market has not only fresh produce but also designer Anna Maceda’s beautiful Bon Savon Soaps, plus honey and jellies and baked goods. On days when the American Queen steamboat docks at St. Francisville so its passengers can tour the downtown area and patronize the shops, a boutique of arts and crafts (great jewelry and other items) sets up in historic Audubon Market Hall. Rosedown, Oakley and The Myrtles Plantations in the surrounding area also have well-stocked gift shops.<br />
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Most of these shops are in St. Francisville’s National Register-listed Historic District downtown within easy walking distance of each other, except for the ones in Live Oak Centre, on US Hwy 61 North, or at the outlying plantations. So stroll the brick streets beneath the overhanging live oaks and colorful crepe myrtles, and this shopping staycation can make visitors who’ve driven short distances feel a million miles away, transported back to a time when shopping trips were eagerly anticipated and lavishly rewarding.<br />
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<img alt="polos and pearl" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jul/site/polos-and-pearl.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" />
A fun special event called Polos and Pearls extends shopping hours into the cool of the evening on Saturday, August 19, with trolley transportation throughout the downtown area as shops host open houses with refreshments and live music. Participating shops are open until 9 p.m. and visitors should not miss a single one.<br />
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And if auctions are your thing, be sure to attend the Wags and Whiskers Gala at Hemingbough on Saturday, July 29, beginning at 6 p.m. This fundraiser for the West Feliciana Animal Shelter promises food, fun, kissing costumed dogs wishing for a home, dancing to the music of the popular Delta Drifters, and a silent auction with tons of great things to bid on. The shelter does a magnificent job and deserves everyone’s support. Tickets may be purchased at the Bank of St. Francisville or online at Brown Paper Tickets.<br />
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<img alt="g b" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jul/site/g-b.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs. The main house at Oakley is temporarily closed for lead abatement, but the visitor center and grounds remain accessible and planned programs continue.<br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-18874432340262084342017-05-18T23:27:00.000-05:002017-05-18T23:51:43.453-05:00Salutes Dead Sailors and Writers With Plenty of Spirit(s)St. Francisville Salutes Dead Sailors and Writers With Plenty of Spirit(s)<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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<img alt="bourbon tasting" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-percy/virginia.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Literati leavened with “bourbon strolls” and graveyard dinners under the live oaks…dead bodies sent off with vintage dancing and period tunes…weekly peeks at 19th-century medical practices at home and on the battlefield that most often ended in the cemetery as well, plus those wild and wacky Zouaves, the Civil War’s most colorful troops. The staid and stately live oaks must be in a state of shock, but visitors to St. Francisville in June are promised a heck of a good time.<br />
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“Come for the literature. Stay for the feast,” promises the fourth annual Walker Percy Weekend June 2-4 with activities scattered throughout St. Francisville’s picturesque National Register-listed downtown. Called “intellectually serious but broadly accessible,” the weekend is filled with panel discussions and entertaining presentations by Percy scholars, readings, photo exhibit, and eat-drink-be-merry social and culinary events including summer-weight bourbon cocktails and crawfish boiled by those famous Hot Tails chefs.<br />
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<img alt="music" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-percy/music.jpg" style="float: left; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Participants register Friday, June 2, at The Conundrum Books & Puzzles on Ferdinand St. from 3 to 5:30, then mosey on down to beautiful oak-shaded Grace Episcopal for what is called “Lost in the Churchyard, an elegantly provisioned reception and cocktail party.” Saturday’s presentations include “Walker Percy and the Benedict Option: Confronting the Culture of Death,” “Walker Percy and the Burden of History,” “The Devil Went Down to Georgia: Flannery O’Connor and the Religion of Me, Myself and I,” “Walker Percy’s Blues: Suffering and Self-Discovery in Love in the Ruins,” and “Memoirs of a Mississippi Boy.” Those who survive the presentations may revive themselves from 5:30 to 7:30 on the Progressive Front Porch Tour and Bourbon Tasting, followed by the Crawfish and Craft Beer Celebration with live music and dancing. Added this year is a Bourbon Tasting Tent with premium bourbons to sample.<br />
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What, you may ask, does the late acclaimed Covington author Walker Percy have to do with West Feliciana Parish? Plenty, having used some iconic sites including the state pen at Angola and the River Bend nuclear plant in his famous works, as well as a somewhat fictionalized version of the whole parish. Not to mention all the family connections, because the St. Francisville area has had a Percy under practically every bush---sheriffs, farmers, cattlemen, even one cattlewoman who famously drove a herd of steers to LSU in Baton Rouge to pay her tuition during the Great Depression---ever since the very first Percy arrived in West Feliciana while it was still part of Spanish West Florida, established the family foothold and then drowned himself in a fit of despondency in Percy Creek, foreshadowing the sad propensity toward suicide that seemed to run through the generations of the author’s family.<br />
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<img alt="seminar" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-percy/seminar.jpg" style="float: right; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />And the progressive bourbon-tastings on front galleries throughout downtown St. Francisville pay tribute to Percy’s memorable essay called “Bourbon, Neat.” As he explored in his works the search for meaning in an increasingly materialistic society, Percy applauded the application of a few shots of bourbon daily to “warm the heart, to reduce the anomie of the late twentieth century, to cut the cold phlegm of Wednesday afternoons.” What, he wondered, “if a man comes home from work every day at 5:30 to the exurbs…and there is the grass growing and the little family looking not quite at him but just past the side of his head, and there’s Cronkite on the tube and the smell of pot roast in the living room, and inside the house and outside in the pretty exurb has settled the noxious particles and the sadness of the old dying Western world, and him thinking: ‘Jesus, is this it? Listening to Cronkite and the grass growing?’” Hoist the bottle.<br />
Proceeds benefit the Freyhan Foundation’s ongoing efforts to restore as a community cultural center the area’s first public school building, a stately brick structure overlooking the Mississippi River with a grand third-floor auditorium and an outdoor amphitheater down the hill. For tickets and schedule of events, visit <a href="http://www.walkerpercyweekend.org/" target="_blank">www.walkerpercyweekend.org</a> or email <a href="mailto:info@walkerpercyweekend.org">info@walkerpercyweekend.org</a>. Contributions are deductible to this 501 © (3) arts organization.<br />
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The following weekend, June 9 and 10th, an event is celebrated that a 1937 article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune called “one of the strangest born of the War Between the States, when fighting men could battle to the death and yet know chivalry, when war had not become the cold-blooded butchery of today.” And indeed, the twentieth anniversary celebration of The Day the War Stopped is a Civil War re-enactment like no other, for instead of blazing guns and battles, this is a tribute to the universality of the Masonic brotherhood that could take precedence over anything happening in the outside world.<br />
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In June of 1863, as the siege of Port Hudson pitted 30,000 Union troops against 6,800 weary Confederates as they fought over the all-important control of traffic on the Mississippi River, a shot rang out in the captain’s stateroom of the USS Albatross, patrolling off the coast of Bayou Sara/St. Francisville. The vessel’s commander, John Elliot Hart of Schenectady, New York, lay mortally wounded on the floor.<br />
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Attempts to find a metallic coffin the ship the body home were unsuccessful, so the ship’s surgeon, a Mason, went ashore in hopes of arranging burial on land; Commander Hart, a Union naval officer, was also a Mason, and in St. Francisville was the second oldest Masonic lodge in the state, its senior warden a Confederate cavalry officer fortuitously at home on furlough.<br />
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And so the war was stopped, if only for a brief mournful moment, as Masons in blue and gray joined the Episcopal rector in burial services. Today this rare moment, a compassionate ceasefire in the midst of a bloody conflict, has been re-created every year for two decades, with re-enactors in Union and Confederate garb, a few of them actual descendants of original participants and others from Hart’s New York lodge.<br />
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<img alt="war stopped" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/monthly-articles/2017-percy/war.jpg" style="float: right; height: 225px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />This year’s Day the War Stopped also marks the bicentennial of St. Francisville’s Feliciana Lodge #31 F&AM, so on Friday evening, June 9, there will be graveside histories in the hauntingly beautiful cemetery surrounding Grace Episcopal Church where Hart rests in peace, followed by a special historical presentation at the Masonic Lodge just across Ferdinand St. On Saturday, June 10, the lodge serves lunch from 11:30 to 12:30, preceded at 10:30 a.m. by a concert of vintage music at Grace Church’s parish hall and followed by vintage dancing in the same location. A presentation saluting the Masonic Lodge bicentennial takes place 12:30 to 1:30, then a heart-touching little play about Hart’s homelife is followed by the re-enactment of his burial from 1:30 to 2:30. Further celebration of the lodge bicentennial takes place from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Austin Daniel home on Joe Daniel Road in Elm Park, with music by the Delta Drifters, crawfish and barbeque, plus drinks; reservations for the After Party are required, and tickets to this event are $25, but all the other activities are free. For information, see www.daythewarstopped.com online or Facebook The Day The War Stopped.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs.<br />
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The main house at Oakley is temporarily closed for lead abatement, but the visitor center and grounds remain accessible and planned programs continue, in June with special weekend focus on the plantation apothecary (early medical practices with many medicines coming from the herb garden), Civil War medical practices and surgery, an exploration of historical recreation for Take A Kid Fishing day, and a look at some of the Civil War’s most colorful units, the LA Zouaves. For information, telephone 225-635-3739.<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-82997846332216907552017-04-23T19:26:00.000-05:002017-04-23T19:27:58.398-05:00<b>Francisville’s Latest Literary Celebration</b><br />
<b>By Anne Butler</b><br />
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Miracle worker Missy Couhig, co-owner of The Conundrum Books & Puzzles in St. Francisville, was already deeply involved in two adult book festivals---a relatively staid mid-winter one featuring four published writers presenting their varied works to adoring readers, and a mid-summer downtown progressive Eat-Drink-Be Merry one celebrating the late lamented Louisiana author Walker Percy.<br />
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<img alt="IMG 2313" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-may/IMG_2313.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />The Conundrum has a wonderful selection of children’s books and puzzles, and frequently hosts visiting authors and illustrators with great appeal for the smallfry. And so, when Missy Couhig happened into an ABA session on children’s book festivals a few months back, she determined to perform a miracle by organizing one in St. Francisville. In an amazingly short period of time she managed to persuade a number of writers and illustrators to participate, ramping up the fun level with sidewalk chalk art competitions, storytelling tent, facepainting, crafts, and plenty of readings. All this takes place May 6 in conjunction with national Children’s Book Week, with activities for youngsters at oak-shaded Parker Park, and for middlers and high schoolers lunch, movie and YA author discussions at the West Feliciana Parish Library, where a special display celebrates the 75th anniversary of Little Golden Books.<br />
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Festival theme is “Reading Gives You Wings,” as reflected in the logo designed by Thomas Gresham, its bird-like open books flying the reader into amazing adventures. Books are available for autographs and purchase, but presentations and activities are all free. The inaugural West Feliciana Children’s Book Festival has already gained national recognition as the “Cool Idea of the Day” online at the newsletter called Shelf Awareness: Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade. This is one of the state’s first festivals designed to appeal strictly to children. Park hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; library activities begin with brown-bag lunch, screening of movie at 12:30 p.m., and presentation by authors following.<br />
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<img alt="FullSizeRender" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-may/FullSizeRender.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" />Participating children’s picture-book authors who will read and sign books in the park include Mom’s Choice Award winner Leif Pederson of the popular Swamp Kids series: <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pierre’s Pirogue Parade</span>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Missing Chord</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">A Dog Named Cat</span>. Also reading their books for storytime are authors Steven Spires (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Three Little Shrimp</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Oak Tree</span>) and Todd-Michael St. Pierre (<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Chicory & Roux: The Creole Mouse and the Cajun Mouse</span>). Tracey Koch and Lauren Hawthorne, author and illustrator of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Georges: The Goose From Toulouse Who Only Ate Couscous</span>, will lead an interactive presentation and story time, while illustrator Chuck Galey also interacts in the crafting tent. Demonstrating illustrating will be Mike Artell, author and illustrator of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jacques and De Beanstalk, Three Little Cajun Pigs</span>, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood</span>. From 10:30 to noon, famed photographer/author CC Lockwood will sign his book for children, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">CC Lockwood’s Louisiana Nature Guide</span>.<br />
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Young Adult author Shalanda Stanley, whose fiction book <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Drowning is Inevitable</span> is set in St. Francisville, has degrees in creative writing from Florida State and special ed from UL Monroe; her PhD from LSU is in curriculum and instruction with a focus on reading and literacy education. she will speak on her book and her craft at the library after the screening of the Disney movie “Geek Charming,” based on the book by author Robin Palmer, who will also be present to discuss her work.<br />
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An extra added attraction will be the presentation of student-written books on the Galapagos Islands, inspired by the travels of Advanced Placement Human Geography/World Geography instructor Nicole Means, chair of the Social Studies Department at West Feliciana High School. These young authors, Sydney Corbin, Madison Pollet, and Morgan Chism, whose books focus on making a positive impact on our world, will autograph and give away for free some 50 copies of their books.<br />
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<img alt="IMG 3611" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-may/IMG_3611.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />Complete information is available online at <a href="http://www.conundrumbooks.com/west-feliciana-childrens-book-festival">http://www.conundrumbooks.com/west-feliciana-childrens-book-festival</a>, email Missy@Conundrumbooks.com, or telephone 504-427-0421.<br />
On Sunday, May 7, the St. Francisville Symphony Association presents the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra’s St. Francisville Chamber Series “The Tempest,” at 3 p.m. at Hemingbough. Viola/composer Christian Frederickson joins the symphony’s Chamber Players and Of Moving Colors in this world premiere collaboration. Tickets are available at the Bank of St. Francisville (telephone 225-635-6397).<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (the main house at Oakley is closed for lead abatement, but the visitor center and grounds remain accessible and planned programs continue).<br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.westfeliciana.us/" target="_blank">www.westfeliciana.us</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-83214619281236049862017-03-29T22:37:00.000-05:002017-03-30T00:10:13.473-05:00Life Lessons from Audubon's Birds<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Life Lessons from Audubon’s Birds</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">By Anne Butler</span><br />
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<img alt="oakley2" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-apr/oakley2.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" />Beloved historian and preservationist Libby Dart always said St. Francisville’s Audubon Pilgrimage tour of historic homes and gardens had as much to teach the locals as the visitors---an appreciation of area heritage, a spirit of community, a sense of place, all still relevant today. And this year’s pilgrimage taught in a new way another lesson from what might be called a bird’s eye view: appreciate what you’ve got, because when it’s gone, it’s gone.</div>
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While the popular annual tour as usual featured fabulous historic homes, hosts decked out in 1820s costumes, glorious gardens and a rural homestead recreating old-time crafts and skills, this year’s pilgrimage had a welcomed new focus on its patron saint, artist John James Audubon and his short but productive stay in West Feliciana Parish. Hired in 1821 to tutor the young daughter of Oakley Plantation, where he was paid $60 a month and had afternoons free to walk in the woods and study the birds, the artist would complete more than 70 of his life-sized bird drawings in the St. Francisville area and over 100 in Louisiana, more than in any other state.</div>
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The lush landscapes and rich bird life left the flamboyant artist so spellbound and inspired that the St. Francisville area is well represented among the 435 hand-colored prints made from engraved plates that were released in a series over the period from 1827 to 1838. On the 2017 pilgrimage dedicated to his memory, a remarkable exhibit of museum-quality reproductions of most of his West Feliciana birds was mounted in the 1819 Audubon Market Hall on Royal St. Each was identified as to location, whether at Oakley, Bayou Sara, Beech Grove, Tunica Swamp, Beech Woods, Sleepy Hollow, St. Francisville, Thompson Creek or simply Feliciana.</div>
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<img alt="passenger pigeon2" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-apr/passenger-pigeon2.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />Many of the birds he found in the area are still around today, but some are not. The passenger pigeon, for example, in the 1850s was the most abundant bird in North America, maybe even the world, with 19<sup>th</sup>-century migrations darkening the skies and some 136 million breeding adults devouring farm crops and nesting in trees whose overloaded branches would sag to the ground. But by the 1890s wild flocks numbered in the dozens rather than hundreds of millions. The once prolific Carolina parakeet (parrot) was hunted for sport and meat into extinction. The Ivorybilled Woodpecker was another one lost, though some optimists still hold out hope of finding a few in remote areas; the last of this huge bird was said to have been shot, and by a state legislator who should have known better.</div>
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Extinction of certain bird species had a number of causes, mostly habitat loss due to rural agriculture and urban sprawl, pesticides impacting egg shells, wholesale slaughter for food or fun, even the popularity of feathers as millinery decoration (the great snowy egret has fortunately made a comeback after being nearly wiped out as hunters slaughtered adult birds for their curling nuptial plumage, often leaving nestlings to die unattended).</div>
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The last Great Auk in the British Isles was clubbed to death by islanders convinced it was a witch due to its awkward appearance with tiny wings and large white spot on its head; the population of these penguin-like birds had already been decimated for their down used to stuff pillows. When they’re gone, they’re gone. By the same token, there are those today who advocate for the removal or destruction of reminders of offensive or divisive events or eras in history. Far better, it would seem, to leave them that we might appreciate what they have to teach us and learn their lessons.</div>
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<img alt="murrell paint2" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-apr/murrell_paint2.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" />And from these losses <i>do</i> come lessons. Local artist/naturalist Murrell Butler, who marvels at what Audubon must have seen in this vast habitat teeming with birds, notes some successful comebacks, notably bald eagles, wild turkeys, egrets, roseate spoonbills that were also killed for their rosy plumage, even a tiny resettled population of whooping cranes. And he also points out that there are some new species that have arrived in the state since Audubon’s time…English sparrows, European starlings, cattle egrets probably blown by hurricane winds from Africa in the fifties first to the Bahamas and then the mainland U.S., new types of doves from Europe and Mexico, and others.</div>
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This is an artist who preserves in paintings wildlife from the past as well as present; his most recent series of oil on canvas paintings of Bayou Sara creek will be revealed at a reception at Backwoods Gallery in St. Francisville on May 25 (5-8 p.m.). Now in his 80s, he recalls the beauty of the creek, with nesting wading birds, migratory Canada or blue geese, even a trumpeter swan seen by his grandfather in the thirties, and clear water and deep swimming holes. Now he sees the creek full of discarded garbage, when as a child he remembers its water so clear he could drink from it.</div>
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But he also sees hope, with a resurgence of interest in birding and in keeping waterways like Bayou Sara clean for kayaking and other recreations. And in St. Francisville itself, under the guidance of popular nine-term mayor Billy D’Aquilla and some sensible zoning regulations, the little river town seems to have struck the right balance between preservation and progress. Passengers debarking from visiting steamboats rave over the charm of this Main Street community, which actually owes much of its successful survival to the fortunate mix of commercial and residential structures giving it a 24-hour presence downtown, keeping it very much alive.</div>
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<img alt="ButlerWildTurkeys2" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-apr/ButlerWildTurkeys2.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />Of course there have been flush times and lean years, too; all was not moonlight and magnolias, and some historic structures were regrettably lost. But much has been preserved, and the 1700 or so town residents count their blessings as they stroll the bricked sidewalks beneath overhanging live oaks, past whitewashed picket fences and gingerbread galleries, lawns abloom with azaleas or camellias or crepe myrtles depending on the season, and front porch rockers beckoning after a busy day.</div>
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Consistently on the list of most beautiful small towns across the country, St. Francisville also has a small bookstore among the top ten in the state, enormously popular festivals celebrating music and art and literature and history and holidays, fun family-friendly special events, some top-notch overnight accommodations, restaurants with a surprising variety of ethnic origins, and beautifully restored plantations in the surrounding countryside open for touring. Not to mention recreational opportunities in the extensive parish sports park, at The Bluffs golfing resort, and in the Tunica Hills…hiking, biking, bicycle racing, birding (of course), tennis, kayaking on Bayou Sara, hunting and fishing.</div>
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And so while the losses must be regretted, at the same time lessons must be learned from them. What’s left that is unique and significant must be appreciated and preserved and built upon, because when it’s gone, it’s gone.</div>
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<img alt="Surfside Pelicans2" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-apr/Surfside-Pelicans2.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" />The month of April is full of activities in the St. Francisville area, beginning April 1<sup>st</sup> with an Easter Egg Hunt for children at Rosedown State Historic Site from 1 to 5; the plantation gift shop also has a special Civil War exhibit throughout the month. April 16 Arlin Dease hosts the spectacular Easter Sunrise Service, nondenominational and free for all, in the lakeside Greek amphitheater at Hemingbough. The enormously popular Angola Prison Spring Rodeo and Craft Show draws crowds Saturday and Sunday, April 22 and 23; grounds open at 9 a.m., rodeo starts at 2 p.m., and visitors are advised to remember that this is a penitentiary and regulations should be followed to the letter. April 28 Grace Episcopal Church provides an acoustically perfect setting for Baton Rouge Symphony’s concert featuring a string quartet, while the Tunica Hills Music Festival is set for April 29. For information, refer to <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>.</div>
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, andNatchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19<sup>th</sup>-century plantation life and customs (the main house at Oakley is closed for lead abatement, but the visitor center and grounds remain accessible and planned programs continue).</div>
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<img alt="Fugitive Poets2" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-apr/Fugitive_Poets2.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.</div>
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.westfeliciana.us/">www.westfeliciana.us</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-56856518106382848422017-02-07T21:25:00.002-06:002017-02-07T22:09:11.119-06:00Audubon Pilgrimage Heralds Spring<b>Audubon Pilgrimage Heralds Spring in St. Francisville, LA</b><br />
<b>By Anne Butler</b><br />
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<img alt="pilgrimage poster 17 PR" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-feb-pilg/pilgrimage-poster-17-PR.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" />The forty-sixth annual Audubon Pilgrimage March 17, 18 and 19, 2017, celebrates a southern spring in St. Francisville, the glorious garden spot of Louisiana’s English Plantation Country. For over four decades the sponsoring West Feliciana Historical Society has thrown open the doors of significant historic structures to commemorate artist-naturalist John James Audubon’s stay as he painted a number of his famous bird studies and tutored the daughter of Oakley Plantation’s Pirrie family, beautiful young Eliza. A year’s worth of planning and preparation precedes each pilgrimage, and with 46 years of experience under their belt, society members put on one of the South’s most professional and enjoyable pilgrimage presentations. This year’s featured homes include Wyoming Plantation, St. Clare House, Hillcroft and Wildwood, plus a welcome new emphasis on birds.<br />
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Audubon arrived at the Mississippi River port of Bayou Sara by steamboat in June of 1821 and walked up the hill into St. Francisville, where he was to meet Eliza Pirrie and her mother at nearby Wyoming Plantation for a brief rest and repast before journeying to Oakley. Besides its Audubon connections, Wyoming also had enormous relevance in the social and political life of the St. Francisville area. Begun in the early 1800s, the plantation would be the home of Louisiana’s last antebellum governor. The original home burned, and by the 1920s the property belonged to Sam Vinci, who had emigrated from Italy as a 17-year-old with big dreams. The extensive Wyoming property was purchased in the 1980s/90s by Sam’s granddaughter, the late Elaine Vinci, and her husband Leonard Sullivan, who turned the house into a magnificent but livable showplace filled with fine 19th-century furnishings by such famous makers as Prudent Mallard and Alexander Roux.<br />
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By the time of Audubon’s arrival, the Bayou Sara area had endured years of cyclical flooding by the Mississippi River, and many of the residents deserted the little port city for the safety of St. Francisville’s high ground, where Catholic monks from across the river had long come to bury their dead. It was right after the disastrous 1912 flood that tug captain James Aubic moved his family up the hill and had a house built behind Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Catholic Church by his brother-in-law, carpenter George Baier, no doubt using some salvaged building materials. Recently beautifully restored, shaded by ancient live oaks and century-old camellias, this is now owned by the church as the comfortable home of the Catholic priest, Father Cary Bani. He has named the elegantly simple home St. Clare for one of Francis of Assisi’s devotees, in keeping with the patron saint of the town itself and the church devoted to Our Lady.<br />
<img alt="hillcroft" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-feb-pilg/hillcroft.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" />Across from the Catholic Church is regal Hillcroft, reigning over the western end of Royal Street from its landscaped hilltop setting and crowned by a rare widow’s walk overlooking the Mississippi River. Of neo-classical colonial revival design with columned entrance portico and rear double galleries, the house is one of St. Francisville’s largest, but was built for Judge Samuel McCutcheon Lawrason for a mere $5000 beginning in 1903 on what had been a cow lot and fruit orchard. In 1925 Hillcroft was purchased by a relative and namesake of the judge, sugar chemist Samuel Lawrason Butler, whose granddaughter Julie and husband Mitch Brashier have sensitively adapted the historic home to an active lifestyle including yet another Sam, their young son.<br />
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<img alt="wildwood site" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-feb-pilg/wildwood_site.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />Wildwood and its preservation-minded occupants have been integral parts of the Audubon Pilgrimage since its inception. The house was on the very first pilgrimage in 1972, and two generations of owners have served as pilgrimage chairwomen in different years (1975 and 2001) as well as being involved in every aspect of the annual tours every single year. Once a profitable cotton plantation, in 1915 Wildwood was purchased by Albert Lee Soule, president of the Soule Commercial College in New Orleans, as a weekend retreat from the city. Specifications for the 7,000-square-foot three-story farmhouse, designed by his architect brother to feature such innovations as inside bathrooms, closets and intercoms, called for assuring “all work done or materials furnished shall be first class in every respect.” In 1958 the property was purchased and revitalized by Conrad P. and Frances McVea, educators and dedicated preservationists, and now Wildwood is home to the next generation: Tom McVea, former state representative, farmer and cattleman, inveterate collector of vintage wood that somehow always comes in handy when restoring an old place, and his wife Toni.<br />
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Other features of the 2017 Audubon Pilgrimage include Afton Villa Gardens, Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, three 19th-century churches in town and beautiful St. Mary’s in the country, as well as the Rural Homestead with lively demonstrations of the rustic skills of daily pioneer life. Daytime features are open 9:30 to 5, Sunday 11 to 4 for tour homes; Friday evening activities are scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday soiree begins at 7 p.m.<br />
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<img alt="woodpeckers" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-feb-pilg/woodpeckers.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" />This year’s pilgrimage has a new and welcomed focus on Audubon’s birds, for he painted 32 at what is now the Audubon State Historic Site, over 60 in the Felicianas, and more in Louisiana than in any other state. Audubon Market Hall hosts an exhibit of Audubon prints daily and Friday evening, featuring those birds rendered across West Feliciana in such locales as Beechwoods and Beech Grove Plantations, along Bayou Sara, in the Sleepy Hollow woods and the Tunica Swamp. Also on exhibit will be Audubon-inspired paintings by talented local artist Patsy Dreher and middle school art students. Of great interest will be morning presentations at Audubon State Historic Site featuring three widely respected local ornithologists guiding nature walks and giving bird talks on grounds trod by Audubon himself in 1821: Friday 9:30 to 10:30 or 11 a.m. featuring wildlife/landscape artist Murrell Butler; Saturday 9:30 to 11 a.m. featuring author/photographer C.C. Lockwood; and Sunday 9:30 to 11 a.m. with Dr. Tom Tully, LSU vet school avian specialist.<br />
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The Historic District around Royal Street is filled during the day with the happy sounds of costumed children singing and dancing the Maypole; in the evening as candles flicker and fireflies flit among the ancient moss-draped live oaks, there is no place more inviting for a leisurely stroll. Friday evening features old-time Hymn Singing at the United Methodist Church, Graveyard Tours at Grace Episcopal cemetery (last tour begins at 8:15 p.m.), and a wine and cheese reception at Bishop Jackson Hall (7 to 9 p.m.) featuring Vintage Dancers and the pilgrimage’s exquisitely detailed 1820’s evening costumes, nationally recognized for their authenticity. Light Up The Night, the Saturday evening soiree, features live music and dancing, dinner and drinks beginning at 7 p.m.<br />
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For tickets and tour information, contact West Feliciana Historical Society, Box 338, St. Francisville, LA 70775; phone 225-635-6330 or 225-635-4224; online <a href="http://www.westfelicianahistoricalsociety.org/" target="_blank">www.westfelicianahistoricalsociety.org</a>, email <a href="mailto:wfhistsociety@gmail.com">wfhistsociety@gmail.com</a>. A package including daytime tours and all evening entertainment Friday and Saturday is available. Tickets can be purchased at the Historical Society Museum on Ferdinand Street.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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F<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.8423123 -91.404824930.4061713 -92.0502719 31.2784533 -90.75937789999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-16508105476768661442017-01-17T16:35:00.001-06:002017-01-24T21:40:15.967-06:00Writers and Readers Flock to St. FrancisvilleWriters and Readers Flock to St. Francisville in February<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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A mecca for creative souls ever since John James Audubon painted dozens of his Birds of America studies in the St. Francisville area in 1821, this little rivertown now harbors artists, musicians, designers, authors, and even talented rock painters who relish its peaceful atmosphere and stimulating environs. And for the past ten years the slow cold month of February has been enlivened by the Writers & Readers Symposium, now sponsored by A Celebration of Literature and Art, that draws interested readers and writers from a wide area to hear published authors of all genres speak about their creative processes and mingle with enthusiastic fans. This year’s symposium is slated for February 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at beautiful Hemingbough Conference Center just south of St. Francisville, LA. Sure to be a popular addition is a separate but related Writers Retreat.<br />
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Featured professionals presenting at this year’s Symposium of Writers and Readers are Louisiana’s current Poet Laureate Peter Cooley; award-winning memoirist Melissa Delbridge; novelist Deborah Johnson ; and Rheta Grimsley Johnson, who will also lead the Writers Retreat.<br />
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<img alt="debra johnson" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jan/debra-johnson.jpg" height="200" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" width="163" />Born in Missouri, raised in Nebraska, resident of San Francisco and then Rome for many years, award-winning novelist Deborah Johnson lives in Mississippi now, setting for her riveting novels The Secret of Magic and The Air Between Us, which won the Mississippi Library Association Award for Fiction for its insightful take on human nature and endearing cast of characters. The Secret of Magic won the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was a finalist for the Earnest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Johnson found inspiration for this book while researching the United States’ first African-American Supreme Court justiceThurgood Marshall and one of his NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s first civil rights causes of the postwar era, a black veteran purposefully blinded when a policeman used a billy club to punch out both of his eyes.</div>
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<img alt="melisssa delbridge" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jan/Delbridge2.jpg" height="200" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" width="160" />Melissa Delbridge, recently retired as archivist at Duke, is the author of the witty and wise Family Bible, called “a gritty coming-of-age story set on the banks of the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with everything one expects of the Deep South: incest (some willing, some not), guns, bourbon, insanity, Jesus, fast women, cheating men. But Melissa Delbridge explodes and exploits these clichés into something startling and new, and in spite of the horror aroused by some events, it’s a hell of a fun ride. Delbridge’s ability to bring such joy to her readers through narratives that contain so much quiet sorrow is a true testament to her understanding of what it means to persevere.” Said another reviewer, “Reading it was like going to a reunion. Family Bible took me home.”</div>
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<img alt="Peter Cooley" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jan/Peter-Cooley.jpg" height="200" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" width="154" />Also presenting at the Writers and Readers Symposium will be Louisiana’s current Poet Laureate Peter Cooley, Midwest native with a doctorate in Modern Letters from the University of Iowa (his Writers’ Workshop dissertation was a book of his own poetry) who has lived for a number of years in New Orleans, where he is Director of Creative Writing at Tulane University. His poems have been published in more than 100 anthologies and over 700 magazines. His nine books of poetry include Divine Margins, A Place Made of Starlight, The Astonished Hours, and most recently Night Bus to the Afterlife dealing with Hurricane Katrina. Besides having taught at universities across this country and abroad, he has also had the challenging opportunity to present writing workshops “in a mental hospital, a prison, in pre-schools, grade schools, high schools, and to the elderly, the socially disadvantaged, and the illiterate.” If he can hold the attention of such diverse audiences, surely he can captivate a group of rapt readers and writers anxious to hear about his meticulous approach to his demanding craft.</div>
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<img alt="rheta johnson" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2017-jan/rheta-johnson.jpg" height="200" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" width="146" />Back by popular demand for the Writers and Readers Symposium is award-winning journalist and accomplished author Rheta Grimsley Johnson, who has covered the South in all its glory for four decades. Following years as an intrepid reporter for newspapers both large and small in iconic southern locales like Birmingham, Memphis and Atlanta, Johnson began writing columns syndicated nationally to hundreds of papers including the Advocate, columns celebrating what Encyclopedia Alabama calls “seemingly average southern people whose stories she elevates to the universal.” It is precisely this fond look at our foibles and fascinating off-the-wall places and people that won Johnson the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award for human interest reporting as well as the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Distinguished Writing Award. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1991.</div>
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Johnson also writes books. In 1989 she published Good Grief, The Story of Charles M. Schulz, the authorized biography of the creator of “Peanuts.” Other published books, moving memoirs of life with husbands, dogs, and assorted other characters, include Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana; Dogs Buried Over the Bridge; Hank Hung The Moon and Warmed our Cold, Cold Hearts; and Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming. The titles alone promise warm and witty and sometimes heartbreaking recollections of experiences that resonate with readers who grew up in the South. We know those people. We ARE those people! And Johnson vividly captures a time and place to which we can all relate, for she sees beyond the surface to the very soul, with love and laughter and, yes, more than a few tears. On those rare occasions when she turns her searing glance to contentious contemporary issues, her columns are cut-to-the-bone honest, like it or not. Johnson and her handsome husband Hines Hall, retired Auburn history professor, divide their time between Fishtrap Hollow and The Pass in Mississippi these days.</div>
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After individual author presentations, Writers and Readers Symposium participants are treated to lunch and homemade desserts, followed by a panel discussion led by lively local writer/artist Carolyn Thornton. Tickets for the symposium, $55 in advance or $65 at the door, are available online at www.brownpapertickets.com or through OLLI at LSU. For additional information, contact <a href="mailto:oliviapass@bellsouth.net">oliviapass@bellsouth.net</a>.<br />
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Those participating in the Writers Retreat (preregistration required; separate fee) led by Rheta Grimsley Johnson, a workshop welcoming both fiction and nonfiction authors including beginners, will get together for a wine and cheese reception at Hemingbough on February 18 from 5 to 7 p.m., then enjoy both breakfast and lunch during the actual workshop February 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular.<br />
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Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday). In January Oakley features programs called “12th Night Tea” for mothers and daughters on January 7th (preregister by calling 225-635-3739), and “Breaking the Chains” on January 14th, an examination of the 1811 Louisiana slave rebellion plus a look at slavery on this particular plantation. Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site from January 9 through January 22 presents a special well-researched slant to its house tours debunking the inaccurate myths repeated all too often on historic home tours.<br />
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The St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.westfeliciana.us/" target="_blank">www.westfeliciana.us</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-22000045880960601442016-11-28T23:04:00.001-06:002016-11-28T23:53:11.643-06:00Come Home for Christmas in St. Francisville<img alt="CIC poster" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2016-dec/CIC-poster.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 5px;" />Come Home For Christmas in St. Francisville<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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The theme of St. Francisville’s popular annual holiday parade is “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and visitors the weekend of December 2, 3 and 4 will indeed experience that warm and welcome homecoming feeling as they enjoy this small town’s safe and family-friendly celebration called Christmas in the Country.<br />
The whole weekend is packed full of fun, with spectacular seasonal decorations, musical entertainment throughout the National Register-listed downtown, breakfast with Santa, caroling and window-peeping, contemporary house tours, living nativity and even a symphony concert. Sparkling lights trace soaring Victorian trimwork and grace gallery posts to transform the entire picturesque little town into a veritable winter wonderland.<br />
<img alt="Mayor D'Aquilla" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2016-dec/billy.jpg" height="167" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="250" />St. Francisville’s jovial mayor Billy D’Aquilla, just elected to serve an unprecedented ninth term in office, lights the town Christmas tree Friday evening, Dec. 2, with a welcoming reception, choral performance on the front porch of Town Hall by Voices in Motion at 5:30 p.m. and fireworks beginning at 6 p.m. Local shops as well as vendors in Parker Park downtown offer twilight shopping until 7. Hemingbough is the setting for the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra’s St. Francisville Chamber Series presentation Holiday Jazz, beginning at 7 p.m. and featuring the jazzed-up seasonal favorites performed by pianist Willis Delony and friends, plus a dessert reception (tickets available at Bank of St. Francisville; 225-635-6397).<br />
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<a href="http://www.imathlete.com/events/EventOverview.aspx?fEID=39157&fQuery=&z=1478729007823" target="_blank"><img alt="run" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2016-dec/run.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" /></a>Saturday, Dec. 3, begins at 7:30 a.m. with a prayer breakfast at United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, followed by Christmas on the Run, relays for life benefitting the American Cancer Society, with 1-mile Fun Run at 8 and 5-K at 8:30 a.m., both starting from Parker Park on Commerce Street (<a href="http://www.imathlete.com/events/EventOverview.aspx?fEID=39157&fQuery=&z=1478729007823" target="_blank">www.stfrumc.org</a>).<br />
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Children won’t want to miss the Women’s Service League Breakfast with St. Nick at Jackson Hall of Grace Episcopal Church; there are three seatings at 8, 9:15 and 10:30 a.m. Reservations are encouraged, and advance tickets ($8) may be purchased online at <a href="http://www.womensserviceleague.com/">www.womensserviceleague.com</a> ). The Service League also has its usual fresh wreath and cookbook sale on Ferdinand St. throughout the weekend.<br />
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A Saturday house tour (10 to 4) benefits the wonderful parish library and showcases some unique contemporary homes. Tickets ($25 in advance, $30 day of tour) may be purchased at the library, The Conundrum bookstore, or online at <a href="http://www.brownpapertickets.com/">www.brownpapertickets.com</a>. Sponsored by Friends of the Library, featured homes exhibit a variety of architectural styles and include Charles and Kate Seal’s classic southern home with sweeping front gallery, Chip and Connie Hunter’s home filled with vintage touches and French influence, David and Angie Ray’s traditional home in The Bluffs golfing community, and Finney and Peter Couhig’s intriguing West Indies-style home.<br />
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<img alt="Parker Park" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2016-dec/park.jpg" height="200" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="300" />St. Francisville’s oak-shaded Parker Park overflows with children’s activities, music, food and crafts vendors all weekend including Friday evening, and there will be entertainment throughout the historic downtown area. Dynamic Laura Lindsey gathers children under the tent in the park for Christmas storytelling at 11:30, and the Fugitive Poets perform from noon to 2. New this year in a little town gone crazy for rock painting/hiding/finding is a fun activity sponsored by WF Rocks under the tent at 12:30 Saturday, with guidance by talented Alaine Dibenedetto and her sister Angie in dotting/painting fun rocks which will travel to St. Jude Hospital to spread some joy. The group has brought out the creativity in residents of all ages and even has specially designed T-shirts, one of which will be provided free to finders of a dozen marked rocks hidden around town on Sunday. At 2:30 p.m. the West Feliciana Middle School choir performs under the park tent.<br />
From 10 to 4 on Saturday, Oakley plantation house in Audubon State Historic Site presents Colonial Christmas cooking demonstrations in the outside kitchen, followed from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. by candlelight tours plus period music and wassail. In town, Saturday evening entertainment includes Twilight Shopping and music from 4 to 7 p.m., a Community Sing-Along at United Methodist Church on Royal Street from 6 to 7, a Live Nativity inside First Baptist Church on US 61 from 6 to 8, and “Peep into our Holiday Homes” to admire Christmas decorations in participating historic structures (also 6 to 8 p.m.).<br />
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<img alt="float" src="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/montly-articles/2016-dec/float.jpg" height="191" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" width="300" />The popular Christmas parade on Sunday, December 4, begins at 2 p.m. and traverses Ferdinand and Commerce Streets. Sponsored by the Women’s Service League, the parade features gaily decorated floats, marching bands, and of course Santa Claus riding atop a vintage fire truck. This year’s theme is “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and there are not one but three grand marshalls being honored this year, all specially recognized award-winning local educators: Heather Howle, Terrance Williams and Janet Lathrop. Prior to the parade, the Angola Traveling Band from Louisiana State Penitentiary performs in Parker Park beginning at noon Sunday.<br />
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The enthusiastic sponsors of Christmas in the Country are the downtown merchants, and the real focus of the weekend remains the St. Francisville area's marvelous shops, which go all out, hosting Open Houses with refreshments and entertainment while offering spectacular seasonal decorations and great gift items. A variety of quaint little shops and galleries occupy historic structures throughout the downtown area and spread into the outlying district, each unique in its own way; visitors should not miss a single one.<br />
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The town’s longstanding popular anchor stores have been joined by a number of smaller boutiques offering a wonderful variety of wares—antiques, collectibles, original artworks, upscale and affordable clothing, housewares, decorative items, jewelry, books and children’s playthings-- to remind visitors how timeless is the excitement of small-town Christmas shopping at this exuberant celebration of the season.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-49632909918291916042016-11-09T01:55:00.000-06:002016-11-09T01:56:27.510-06:00Fruitcake Weather in St. Francisville<style>
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<div class="MsoTitle">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Fruitcake Weather
in St. Francisville</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">By Anne Butler</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fruitcake
Weather.</span></i><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"> That’s what
beloved southern author Truman Capote called it in his wonderful <u>Christmas
Memory</u>, when the first wintry winds blew down pecans to be shelled and when
annual visits to the local bootlegger surrepticiously supplied the secret kick
to the dozens of fruitcakes made by Capote, then an orphaned child, with an
elderly relative whom he described as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“still
</i>a child.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Christmas
memories may have come from their home in rural Alabama, but all across the
South and especially in St. Francisville, Louisiana, holidays like Thanksgiving
and Christmas were always special, and every old home’s gleaming mahogany
sideboard groaned with the weight of homemade fruitcakes to which, every time
anyone passed by, another little dash of brandy was added.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So
as the holidays approach, it is only natural that our thoughts turn to…food,
desserts especially, rich holiday traditions gleaned from old family receipt
books and tattered treasured clippings. Back in the era of Capote’s childhood,
recipes were like antiques…they had to have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">provenance</i>,
so you could tell whose they were, where they came from, where they were
served, who cooked them and who enjoyed the consumption. They were like old
friends or family with familiar backgrounds, and you could tell by the name of
the contributor whether the recipes would be any good or not. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">In <u>Plantation Recipes and Recollections</u>
compiled by Violet Pate, elderly keeper of the history of the oldest
established black Baptist church in the St. Francisville area, she records the
details for Oyster Dressing, noting that it was cooked for 30 years for Mrs.
Lois Lester of Waverly Plantation at Bains by Violet Glover, who happened to be
the charming grandmother of Baton Rouge mayor Kip Holden from whom he obviously
inherited his brilliant smile. Even in the early days, its location right along
the Mississippi River assured St. Francisville a bountiful supply of fresh
holiday oysters shipped upriver by prosperous merchants as Christmas/New Year’s
rewards for loyal patrons.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Early cookbooks came in all sizes and
shapes. That whirlwind master marketer Marcelle Reese Couhig, familiarly known
as Nootsie, hit the jackpot with beloved recipes like the internationally
appreciated Asphodel Bread, on index cards in actual boxes, still sold today by
descendants at their local bookstore. Her typically casual recipe for French 75
is below, reprinted from the Women’s Service League <u>Feliciana Favourites</u>
cookbook, treasured compendium of offerings from all the good cooks of the
area, first printed in 1981; an updated version, with all new recipes (but no
contributor names), has just been released to fund worthy community projects
undertaken by this volunteer group.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Every
local church and charity had its fundraising cookbook over the years. St.
Francisville’s earliest residents being mostly English, the holiday recipes
were heavy on Anglo influences…Charlotte Russe, Floating Island, Plum Pudding
brought to table flamed by such liberal doses of brandy that wide-eyed children
feared their grandmother would go up in smoke, mincemeat pie with plenty of
hard sauce (see recipe below) to make it palatable, fruitcake so frequently
doused over preceding weeks that visible fumes arose, much to the delight of
tipsy great-uncles (didn’t every family have one?). The vintage cookbook
published by Grace Episcopal Church, whose congregation first came together in
the 1820s, included a recipe for “Old English Plum Pudding” said to have been
brought from Liverpool “more than a century ago and age has not lessened its
popularity.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">And eggnog. Lots and lots of eggnog. At
Catalpa Plantation, as described in <u>Audubon Plantation Country Cookbook</u>
with wonderful vintage images and lots of history accompanying the actual
recipes, the late <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">grande dame</i> and
gracious hostess Mamie Fort Thompson was quoted as insisting that in making the
eggnog served at Catalpa’s famous Christmas parties, you could use half an
eggshell as your jigger to measure the bourbon. She strongly recommended using
the larger half! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Of course today our kitchen shelves groan
under the weight of contemporary cookbooks from all over the world, from
notable chefs (especially our wonderful Louisiana ones) and famous restaurants.
And in St. Francisville itself we even have restaurants lending new influences
to our holiday menus…Oriental, Middle Eastern, Mexican, Cajun. But there’s just
something about those old cookbooks full of recipes as warm and welcoming as
treasured old friends, and holiday visits to the St. Francisville area impart
the same feeling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Still, there’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lots to do in
St. Francisville besides eat. Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River
between Baton Rouge, LA, and</span><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"> </span><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist
destination. </span><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">A number of splendidly restored
plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles
Plantation, Greenwood Plantation (check locally; it has new owners), plus
Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical
Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to
tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown
Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer
periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19<sup>th</sup>-century
plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately
shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">In November Oakley features programs called “Forgotten Lives”
(a quarters tour with emphasis on experiences of plantation slaves) November 6
from 12 to 4, and “Deck the Halls” on November 26 from 10 to 3, allowing
visitors to “adopt a mantle” to decorate with period greens for Christmas. And
as decorations go up throughout the historic downtown area of St. Francisville
in preparation for Christmas in the Country the first weekend in December, the
little rivertown becomes a sparkling winter wonderland.</span><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The nearby Tunica Hills region
offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness
areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging
terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are
unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored
historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville
area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana
favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most
popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside
clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s
extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern
motel accommodations for large bus groups.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist
Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or
St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit </span><a href="http://www.westfeliciana.us/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">www.westfeliciana.us</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">, </span><a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">, </span><a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">www.stfrancisville.net</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">
or </span><a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">www.stfrancisville.us</span></a><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special
activities).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">MAMIE THOMPSON’S FAMOUS
CATALPA EGGNOG</span></b></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">6
eggs, separated; 6 tbsp. sugar; 6 jiggers bourbon; 1 half-pint whipping cream,
whipped; 3/4 cup milk (optional); nutmeg.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Beat
egg yolks until very light. Add sugar. Beat. Beat egg whites, then gently fold
into yolk mixture a little at a time. Pour bourbon over, to sort of cook the
egg whites. Mix. Add whipped cream, folding in gently. If too thick, add up to
¾ cup milk. Refrigerate until very cold. Top with sprinkling of nutmeg.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">VIOLET GLOVER’S OYSTER
DRESSING</span></b></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">6
jars oysters, chopped; 10 slices bread, toasted and softened with milk; 1 stick
butter; ½ cup onion; ½ cup celery; ½ cup bell peppers<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>;
salt and black pepper; 1 teaspoon Tabasco.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Drain
oysters and save juice. Cook onions, celery and bell peppers in butter until
tender (about 10 minutes of stirring so they won’t burn); add chopped oysters
and toasted bread, then salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce. Pour ingredients into
baking dish and cook in oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">GRANDMA’S HARD SAUCE</span></b><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";"> (from Oil & GAStronomy)</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">1
stick real butter, softened; 2 cups confectioners sugar; brandy.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Beat
butter, gradually adding sugar until creamy. Add brandy one tablespoon at a time
to taste. Taste brandy. Add brandy to taste. Taste brandy. Add brandy to taste.
Goes well on hot apple pie, mincemeat pie, or on a spoon. Grandma is always in
a wonderful mood after making this recipe.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">FRENCH 75</span></b></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">1
quart gin; 3 bottles champagne; 1 pint lemon juice; 1 cup sugar.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="background-color: #d9ead3;"><span style="font-family: "comic sans ms";">Chill
gin and champagne for a couple of days in the fridge. Use one large chunk of
ice in the bowl. Make it yourself in a plastic something in your freezer. Pour
sugar over ice, then all the rest of the liquids. If you like it sweeter, make
a simple syrup, but watch you don’t spoil your dinner. Serves approximately 25.</span></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-87979345364506296732016-10-06T23:34:00.000-05:002016-10-07T01:01:09.016-05:00St. Francisville ROCKS!St. Francisville ROCKS!<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
<br />
<img alt="boy rocks" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/2016-nov/john-stuart.jpg" style="float: right; height: 275px; margin: 12px; width: 175px;" />It seemed like such an innocuous, innocent little message, posted on Facebook by local med tech/mom Nancy Metz Arceneaux: “I think the painted rocks they are doing in various towns are so cool. Such a neat way to spread joy. Anyone interested in helping me get it started in St. Francisville?”<br />
<br />
And in the way of small southern towns, word spread like wildfire, and before you knew it, there was an enticing painted rock under every bush, on every walkway, in every conceivable cubbyhole (other than mailboxes; that would be a federal offense). The little Louisiana rivertown of St. Francisville, like communities large and small all across the country, went rock crazy!<br />
<br />
The craze, enthusiasts say, is a fun way to draw residents together, encourage creativity and pass along a positive message. It gets kids outdoors and away from technology for awhile, searching for rocks to paint themselves, carefully choosing inspirational messages or appealing images, executing the artwork, hiding the rocks and waiting for finders to excitedly post their discoveries on social media.<br />
<br />
Mostly painted with acrylics and sealed with a spray sealant or Mod Podge, rocks can be designed and executed by all levels of artistic skill and creativity…colorful hearts or flowers, whimsical animals and birds, feather doodles, short sayings or supportive messages…executed in paints, permanent markers, fingernail polish, puff paints, embellished with tiny jewels or feathers or whatever the imagination can conceive. Concealed all over town, the painted rocks provide exciting hide-and-seek quests; they can also be used as gifts, conversation starters, paperweights, and for myriad other purposes. As Pablo Picasso put it, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls,” and what joy even such simple artworks as painted rocks can bring.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Joe" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/2016-nov/joe.jpg" style="float: left; height: 233px; margin: 12px; width: 175px;" />St. Francisville is home to a growing population of creative souls, both young and old, and many of the rocks dispersed around town are truly works of art. Musician Joe Roppolo, who plays a mean harmonica with The Delta Drifters blues band, has recently been turning out beautifully decorated didgeridoos, those Australian Aboriginal wind musical instruments. Now he has created such gorgeous rocks with the same decorations that he has inspired a whole class in Mandala painting sponsored by the local umbrella arts organization called Arts For All.<br />
<br />
Mandalas (Sanskrit for “circles”) are spiritual, ritual symbols representing the universe in Indian religion, the word now used generically to refer to any diagram or geometric pattern representing the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically. In spiritual traditions mandalas are used to focus attention or guidance, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. Besides, they are just plain beautiful designs in which to lose oneself and, in Gandhi’s words, “in a gentle way, you can shape the world.” Psychologists like Carl Jung have considered mandalas as representative of the Self, the wholeness of one’s personality, and have said that creating them helps to stabilize and re-order one’s inner life.<br />
<br />
The children of St. Francisville don’t quote Picasso or Gandhi or Jung as they shriek with joy at the discovery of each special rock, running through the town park or sports facility, through cemeteries (where Easter eggs are also hunted) and along bricked sidewalks, in restaurants or boutique shops or art galleries or doctors’ offices.<br />
<br />
<img alt="rocks" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/2016-nov/rocks.jpg" style="float: right; height: 167px; margin: 12px; width: 200px;" />And beside each excited child is a grateful mom, one like speech pathologist Lucie Branton LeDoux. Not a week after Nancy Metz Arceneaux started the craze that swept her hometown, LeDoux posted her appreciation as she and her young son Will took a morning walk through St. Francisville looking for painted rocks and whatever else caught their fancy. “We live in the greatest town!” she said. “Took another walk this morning and here’s what happened. We talked about squirrels, why leaves can be seen in concrete, butterflies, pecans growing in trees, what a ‘memorial’ is (‘read the names again, Mama’), and what it means to ‘keep your eyes peeled’ for these beautiful rocks everyone is painting and leaving for others to find (my boy couldn’t stop smiling!) He told me our town is very pretty, everyone is so nice to each other, and he loves where we live, and I have to agree! Thank God we get to raise our children where I grew up! All that and a flower my boy picked for me! What a great morning!”<br />
<br />
Nancy Metz Arceneaux, “mother” of St. Francisville’s rock obsession, called it “a way of bringing joy to others in a time where all we hear about is violence and hate. There are still good people in this world and in our beautiful town for sure, so why not spread LOVE instead of hate. Not only is it bringing joy to children but to adults as well.” And Lucie LeDoux added, “You know what I love most about WF Rocks (the Facebook page of the movement in St. Francisville, with images of excited children and rocks they have created or found)? It has gotten my children OFF technology and outside. Plus, we spent time as a family tonight painting rocks. How awesome is this? This is another win for children and families. This sweet little idea of yours could be game-changing for some people.”<br />
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<img alt="girl rocks" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/2016-nov/Untitled-1.jpg" style="float: left; height: 275px; margin: 12px; width: 218px;" />Inspirational small-town morning strolls and painted rocks sharing the joy of life and the warm sense of community…just a few of the things St. Francisville is grateful for as Thanksgiving is celebrated. Small-town pleasures, small-town treasures.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation (check locally; it has new owners), plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
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The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.westfeliciana.us/" target="_blank">www.westfeliciana.us</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-25645008611940065122016-09-26T00:10:00.000-05:002016-09-26T00:10:43.704-05:00Fall is Fine in St. Francisville, LA<b>Fall is Fine in St. Francisville, LA<br /> By Anne Butler</b><br />
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<img alt="tunica falls" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/oct-2016/tunica-2016.jpg" style="float: right; height: 200px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Autumn’s cooling temperatures tempt hikers into the rugged Tunica Hills, the falling leaves having opened up vistas not visible in summer’s tangled overgrowth and the mosquitoes, poison ivy and snakes no longer nuisances. The waterfalls of nearby Clark Creek Natural Area are an especially popular destination for outdoor recreation enthusiasts based in St. Francisville.<br />
<br /> But hiking is not the only Happening in the Hills. Bucking bulls and barrel racers, garden parties and workshops on plantings, gifted artisans and musicians, ghost stories to scare the pants off visitors, even intrepid warriors dashing through mud and other challenging obstacles like the fearsome trail called The Beast: just another typical October in St. Francisville, certainly offering something for everyone.<br />
<br /> <img alt="rodeo" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/oct-2016/Rodeo_Flag_Bearer.jpg" style="float: left; height: 275px; margin: 12px; width: 220px;" />Every Sunday in October the Louisiana State Penitentiary on LA 66 at Angola puts on “The Wildest Show in the South,” with a huge variety of prisoner hobbycraft sales, tons of food, inmate bands, and hair-raising rodeo events unique to this prison setting. Other than the ladies’ barrel racing, all rodeo participants are inmates in this enormous maximum-security penitentiary, and they keep the crowds on the edge of their seats from the moment the black-clad Angola Rough Riders charge into the ring at full gallop, flags flying. The covered arena seats over 10,000 and fills up every Sunday. Grounds open at 9 a.m. for the arts and crafts, and the fascinating state museum at the entrance gate will also be open, allowing visitors to make a full day of it. The rodeo starts at 2, and advance tickets are a must. Prison website at <a href="http://www.angolarodeo.com/" target="_blank">www.angolarodeo.com</a> provides information and spells out regulations which must be observed on penitentiary grounds.<br />
<br /> The Angola rodeo got its start in the 1960s, mostly for the entertainment of prison staff who sat on pickup tailgates or hay bales to watch a few inmates test their skills. But in 1965 a world-champion steer wrestler and bronc buster named Jack Favor made the mistake of picking up a couple of crooked hitchhikers bent on murder. Found guilty of involvement in the crime (he would be exonerated in a later trial), this Texas cowboy was sent to Angola and soon transformed the rodeo into a professional production attracting big-name entertainers and thousands of visitors, his contacts and vision adding excitement with such crowd favorites as the “Bust Out” when six bucking bulls and inmate riders enter the arena simultaneously, and “Guts & Glory” with inmates on foot scrambling to detach a ticket worth $100 from between the horns of an enraged Brahma bull.<br />
<br /> <img alt="warrior dash" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/oct-2016/warrior-dash.jpg" style="float: right; height: 199px; margin: 12px; width: 300px;" />Just as exciting is the Warrior Dash on Saturday, October 8, at the West Feliciana Sports Park, a down-and-dirty mud-covered survival-of-the-fittest footrace (<a href="mailto:info@redfrogevents.com">info@redfrogevents.com</a> or <a href="http://www.warriordash.com/" target="_blank">www.warriordash.com</a>). Sponsoring some 150 event days since 2009, with more than 2.5 million participants across the country, Warrior Dash races have raised more than $12 million for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. The 5-K races take participants through a dozen world-class obstacles , much to the delight of spectators, promising lots of fun for runners of all levels and all ages 12 and over.<br />
<br /> The annual Southern Garden Symposium in St. Francisville offers a change of pace, celebrating the area’s great gardening tradition and fostering its continuation by convening horticulture enthusiasts for a weekend of demonstrations, lectures and tours through the area’s glorious antebellum gardens. This year’s 28th annual event, combining prestigious speakers, historic surroundings and engaging social events, takes place Friday, October 14, and Saturday, October 15. Proceeds fund beautification projects, scholarships to LSU’s School of Landscape Architecture, and garden enhancements at state historic sites. For information, visit <a href="http://www.southerngardensymposium.org/" target="_blank">www.southerngardensymposium.org</a>.<br />
<br /> This being the season of witches and goblins, the spooky Myrtles Plantation Halloween Experience scares the pants off visitors every weekend evening throughout October as they tour what is billed as one of the most haunted homes in the country. For information, <a href="http://www.myrtlesplantation.com/" target="_blank">www.myrtlesplantation.com</a>, 800-809-0565 or 225-635-6277.<br />
<br /> <img alt="yellow leaf 2016" src="http://www.stfrancisville.us/images/friends-monthly/oct-2016/Yellow-Leaf-300.jpg" style="float: left; height: 300px; margin: 12px; width: 208px;" />The last weekend in October, Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th, the Yellow Leaf Arts Festival draws crowds of art-lovers to oak-shaded Parker Park with its bandstand right in the middle of St. Francisville’s downtown National Register-listed Historic District. A festival called “authentic, genuine and full of small-town charm,” Yellow Leaf from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. showcases the works and talents of more than 50 artists and crafters who offer paintings, metal and woodwork, fabric art, books, sculpture, glass art, jewelry, carvings and lots more. This outdoor celebration of all things creative also includes art activities for children and local farmers with home-grown sweet potatoes both cooked and raw in bulk.<br />
<br /> The Yellow Leaf Festival, they say, really is all about the art---no mass productions, no noisy generators, no train rides, although there are usually a few local kiddies hawking refreshments from little red wagons. There’s also great live music both Saturday and Sunday, with guitarist Verlon Thompson, The Fugitive Poets, The Wilder Janes, and others. Featured resident artist this year is quilter Judith Braggs, recognized for her amazing talent in rendering folk art scenes in textiles. Sponsors include the local umbrella arts agency called Arts For All, plus Birdman Coffee, West Feliciana Parish Hospital and the Bank of St. Francisville. For information, telephone 800-715-0510 or access online <a href="http://westfelicianaarts.com/" target="_blank">http://westfelicianaarts.com</a>.<br />
<br /> Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: The Cottage Plantation (weekends), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation (check locally; it has new owners), plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
<br /> The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
<br /> For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net </a>or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<br />
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High resolution photos available for media use only. <a href="mailto:patrick@bluegoosemedia.com">Email here</a> for images.<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-30287872434597166472016-07-14T23:36:00.003-05:002016-07-14T23:47:08.262-05:00St. Francisville’s Got A Cure For Those Summertime Blues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>St. Francisville’s Got A Cure For Those Summertime Blues</b><br />
<b>By Anne Butler</b><br />
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Think there ain’t no cure for those summertime blues? Well, the town of St. Francisville has a new promotional slogan, “We Love It Here,” and that holds true even for that most maligned and hottest month of the year, August. The month’s menu includes smoochin’ pooches, shopping ‘til we drop in the cool cool cool of the evening, and helping veterans while mooning over hotrods, old cars and motorcycles that remind us of drag races and assorted other automotive thrills from way back when.<br />
Hottest ticket in town is the Wags and Whiskers Gala on Saturday, August 6, from 6 to 10 p.m. at Hemingbough just south of St. Francisville. This fun event is the major fundraiser for the West Feliciana Animal Humane Society and the “Bo” Bryant Animal Shelter, featuring live and silent auctions, crazy carnival-type activities like the “Fetch and Run” dash to doggie dishes filled with gift cards, Wine Toss, Corn Hole Toss, cash bar, fabulous food, dancing to live music by the popular Delta Drifters, Paws Boutique, a smooch-a-pooch kissing booth and photo ops with your own cellphone. Appealing shelter animals in colorful costumes longing for a home escort patrons through the entrance gates across the courtyard to elegant Hempstead Hall where all the action takes place.<br />
Tickets to the gala are $25 and may be purchased at the Bank of St. Francisville, from shelter volunteers, or online through <a href="http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2562304" target="_blank">www.brownpapertickets.com</a> (search Wags and Whiskers). Cut-off capacity is 500 guests, and those interested should purchase their tickets early, because this is one event that is supported by everyone in town. On-going operating expenses are staggering, even with parish reimbursement for food and cat litter, and the shelter hopes to be able to afford make a few needed improvements, including roll-up doors, better insulation, more kennels, so funding provided by the gala is crucial.<br />
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The gala is sponsored by the non-profit West Feliciana Animal Humane Society, whose dedicated and hard-working members coordinate volunteer and donor efforts for the James L. “Bo” Bryant Shelter in St. Francisville, opened in August 2012. Prior to this, the dog pound consisted of a few makeshift pens attached to the parish jail, where the four-legged inmates were pretty much on death row. Only a small percentage, 5% to 10%, were adopted out, mostly thanks to the efforts of a retired state trooper turned sheriff’s deputy, the late “Bo” Bryant; the rest met a sadder fate.<br />
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Now the low-kill shelter has a remarkable success rate (into the 90% range, more than 300 animals adopted last year) with reasonable fees for adopting to permanent or foster homes its rescued animals---dogs, cats, horses, pigs, even a snake!---some are homeless strays, some simply lost and able to quickly reunite with owners, but others have been removed from abusive situations or abandoned because of owner deaths or relocations.<br />
This success rate is all thanks to the volunteers, shelter director Josette Lester says. When Fourth of July festivities meant extended periods of loud explosions for several nights near the shelter, volunteers arrived at dark and spent hours calming terrified animals. When hard freezes or extreme summertime heat make open-cage living uncomfortable or downright dangerous, volunteers take the more fragile animals to their own homes to temporarily foster them. On a daily basis they groom, tame, exercise, socialize, medicate, and transport animals in irresistible “Adopt Me” vests to public gatherings and events, as well as to generous local veterinarians who ensure that the animals are vetted, vaccinated and spayed at cut-rate cost. Some of the volunteers are children, who provide plenty of loving attention for animals often starved for affection.<br />
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Inmates from the nearby parish work-release facility voluntarily help and are especially needed for exercising the larger dogs; a grant pays for part-time employment of a couple of older staff to supervise them. But with the springtime explosion of kittens and puppies, there’s always a need for more volunteers to augment the core group keeping the shelter open, caring for animals, overseeing adoptions, cleaning and handling the multitude of requisite chores, plus related efforts in grant writing, fundraising, supply purchasing, carpentry (the new separate cat house was built with mostly volunteer labor), you name it. More foster homes for animals, especially those too young or injured to stay in the shelter, are needed, too, plus more donations of cash and supplies like collars and leashes, pet carriers, cat litter, old towels, pet food; and of course there’s always the need for more families willing to adopt.<br />
Besides its stated mission to provide a safe, healthy, caring environment for animals under shelter care while searching for original owners or approved adoptive homes, the humane society also works to reduce pet animal over-population and has aTNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) program that, thanks to donations and local vets, has neutered or spayed dozens of feral cats.<br />
Located in St. Francisville at 9946 West Feliciana Parkway, the Bo Bryant Animal Shelter is open to the public Monday through Saturday 9 to 4, Sunday 9 to 12 and 2 to 4. For shelter or humane society information, telephone 225-299-6787, 225-635-5801, or online <a href="http://wfahs.felicianalocal.com/" target="_blank">http://wfahs.felicianalocal.com</a>. The West Feliciana Animal Humane Society and the Bo Bryant Animal Shelter are particularly grateful for corporate and individual financial donors, as well as those donating auction items; the shelter is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization.<br />
And on August 20 the popular annual Polos and Pearls evening event puts the sizzle into summer shopping and entices customers to St. Francisville’s National Register downtown historic district and outskirts beginning at 5 p.m. All the interesting little shops (and there are some wonderful new ones to complement the more established outlets) and galleries offer lots of extras---refreshments provided by local restaurants or caterers, live music or other entertainment, and plenty of bargains, making shopping after dark just plain fun. Visitors can drive or hop on the Highlands Bank trolley to visit participating stores throughout the downtown area on Ferdinand, Royal and Commerce Streets.<br />
As an exciting added attraction for the Polos and Pearls event on Saturday, August 20, the Town of St. Francisville and Pointe Coupee Cruisers join to host a Car and Motorcycle Show from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Most vintage vehicles will be displayed along Commerce Street around oak-shaded Parker Park, the roar of revving motors echoing through the historic downtown area. One hundred percent of the proceeds raised through entry fees go to the Louisiana Veteran’s Foundation to benefit military vets. Registration fee is $25 and early registration is rewarded with a T-shirt; awards will be military collectible memorabilia. Registration forms should be mailed to Town of St. Francisville, Box 400, St. Francisville, LA 70775; for information, telephone 225-635-3873 or 225-287-4068, 225-718-4583 or 225-718-1111; online <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a>.<br />
Another salute to veterans takes place August 31 through September 4th when the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be set up in the West Feliciana Sports Park. A 3/5-scale replica of the memorial wall in Washington,D.C., it is 288 feet long and stands six feet tall at the apex. A total of 58,227 names of servicemen and –women appear on the nation’s capitol wall, a simple, touching tribute to those who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, and this scaled-down traveling version draws respectful crowds of visitors as it moves across the country.<br />
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and<br />
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Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation (weekends only), Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Sunday and Monday).<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
For visitor information, call St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873 or West Feliciana Tourist Commission at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<br />
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<b>Photographs by Darlene Reaves</b><div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-1574003649005737812016-05-24T23:20:00.000-05:002016-05-24T23:20:20.150-05:00St. Francisville’s Immigrants—then and nowSt. Francisville’s Immigrants—then and now<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
<img alt="3v court" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/rocketlauncher/images/content-articles/2016-may/3v-court.jpg" height="184" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" width="250" />It has been called the little town that’s two miles long and two yards wide, not much of an exaggeration, for the land falls off very steeply behind structures occupying the high ridge comprising its two main streets. As the area was under Spanish control as part of West Florida when it was laid out in 1807, St. Francisville’s two streets were dubbed Royal and Ferdinand in tribute to the Spanish crown. Royal boasts the most beautiful historic homes, but Ferdinand was originally the center of commerce and still is today, lined with boutique shops and art/antique galleries intermingled with Victorian cottages. This unusual mixture of residential and commercial structures gives a significant 24-hour presence to St. Francisville’s very-much-alive downtown, now designated in its entirety a National Register Historic District and a Main Street Community.<br />
<br />
In the 19th century Ferdinand Street was a muddy dirt thoroughfare, scene of cattle drives and wagonloads of cotton being hauled down to the Mississippi River for shipment to markets around the globe. Below the bluff upon which St. Francisville developed, Ferdinand St. dropped down the hill by Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church where the monks from across the river came to bury their dead safe from the floodwaters. Along the river below St. Francisville was the port city of Bayou Sara, developed in the late 1700s when flatboaters pulled over to spend the night on the trip to New Orleans, their boats loaded with produce from the Ohio Valley and points west.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Cattledrive3" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/rocketlauncher/images/content-articles/2016-may/Cattledrive3.jpg" height="121" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="250" />During much of the 19th century, Bayou Sara was the most important port on the Mississippi River between Natchez and New Orleans, with a mile of warehouses to store cotton plus extensive residential and commercial structures, its riverbanks lined with steamboats. The West Feliciana Historical Society museum on Ferdinand Street has an impressive display of vintage images showing early life in Bayou Sara, many showing floodwaters up to the roofs of houses and stores, and raised wooden walkways to provide dry passage for shoppers during flood times. This, of course, is one of the only unlevee-ed stretches of the Lower Mississippi, and with no levees to hold the water in its channel, when the Mississippi is running high, floodwaters engulf all of the lowlying lands below St. Francisville. During the devastating floods of the early 20th century, most of Bayou Sara was washed away or destroyed, leaving only stands of cottonwoods, willows, and the Corps of Engineers Mat Field where concrete mats are manufactured to line levees to combat erosion.<br />
<br />
While the outlying plantations were established primarily by Anglos leaving the East Coast after the Revolutionary War, the 19th century saw a great influx of immigrants from the Old Country, especially Germans, both Jewish and Gentile, settling in Bayou Sara and St. Francisville, bringing with them skills in merchandising and financing which were sorely lacking in what was essentially an agrarian society that existed precariously on credit. The Jews, of course, were anxious to escape religious persecution abroad, and Gentiles too welcomed the chance to forge a new and prosperous life.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Cattledrive 2" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/rocketlauncher/images/content-articles/2016-may/Cattledrive_2.jpg" height="142" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" width="250" />A collection of letters from Max Nuebling, covering the period from October 1822 as he leaves his home in Germany to join his uncle in Louisiana to August 1826, gives in fascinating detail an intimate look at life in early Bayou Sara/St. Francisville, where Uncle Dieter Holl operated a store in his home, now known as Propinquity. Young Nuebling’s writings, preserved at the West Feliciana Historical Society, also shed light on the appeal of this fledgling new country, with all its promised opportunities and freedoms, to immigrants from the Old Country, making them willing to risk life and limb on ocean voyages that were fraught with dangers and must have seemed interminable.<br />
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“Good Lord, what a difference between the free and easy life here, and over there,” wrote Max Nuebling to his family back in Germany. “Overbearing people that look down upon everyone else, because they hold some kind of official position and think they are better than everyone else, are unknown here. A man here is valued here according to what he is, and what he can do, and not the position he holds. Our sheriff, who holds a high position here, is the most friendly man one can meet; he talks to everyone, and any man can talk to him. Liberty is the greatest gift of manhood, and here we have real liberty, and I have no intention ever to return to my old home and end my days as a slave. Of course, I want to see you again, but only on a visit, and then to return to the Free America.”<br />
<br />
<img alt="francis2" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/rocketlauncher/images/content-articles/2016-may/francis2.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" />Today Bayou Sara is long gone, but St. Francisville continues to attract new residents from near and far. Consistently ranked as one of Louisiana’s most popular tourist destinations, the little town of fewer than 2,000 residents has just as much to offer those who live there as those who simply visit. New restaurants and groceries, new library and bookstore, new boutique shops and galleries, new sports park offering not only recreational opportunities for all ages but a new focus on homegrown festivals as well, new hospital under construction, great hiking and historic attractions...no wonder its current logo boasts “We Love It Here.”<br />
<br />
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
<br />
<img alt="conundrum" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/images/rocketlauncher/images/content-articles/2016-may/conundrum.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" />The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
<br />
There are several upcoming special events in St. Francisville during the month of June. The Walker Percy Weekend (June 3-5) attracts literary bon vivants to various downtown sites for a celebration of the late Louisiana novelist that features good food, craft beer and bourbon, live music, and discussions about books and southern culture under the live oaks. The following weekend, June 10-12, The Day The War Stopped is a Civil War re-enactment like no other, with evening graveside stories in historic Grace Church cemetery, vintage music and dancing, touching drama and a re-creation of the war-stopping burial of a Union gunboat commander complete with Yankee and Confederate Masons joining the Episcopal rector in the burial service.<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-52979713791937899792016-03-31T00:44:00.000-05:002016-03-31T00:44:05.090-05:00Afton Villa Gardens: the plantation, the gardens, the gardener and the book<b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Afton Villa Gardens: the plantation, the gardens, the gardener and the book</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">By Anne Butler</span></b><br />
<br />
<img alt="Afton_Arch" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/stories/Annes_articles2016/2016-april-afton/site-images/Afton_Arch.jpg" height="185" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="300" />Newly established contemporary gardens can showcase the latest in horticultural research, the newest plant varieties, the most up-to-date techniques. Old gardens, on the other hand, those glorious few left from the 19th century when gardening benefitted from unlimited labor, rich soil and the happy climate of south Louisiana, have a charm and character that can't be matched, the secret shadows and sun-dappled parterres of plantation pleasure grounds adorned with latticed summerhouses and brick pathways, with always a pleasant scent perfuming the air.<br />
But combine the two, the historic and the modern, and the result would be magical, only attainable through a certain vision for what might be appropriate and a sensitivity to the spirit of the original without slavishly attempting an exact recreation. And that's just what the incredible grounds and gardens of Afton Villa are today, not so much a restoration as a rebirth, all thanks largely to Genevieve Munson Trimble.<br />
Only one who dearly loves gardens and gardening would have been so bold (or foolhardy) as to undertake such an overwhelming project requiring not only fortitude but plenty of funding as well, for Afton Villa was a wreck in 1972 when Gen Trimble and her late husband Bud saved the property from development. The Afton Villa house, a fairytale Victorian Gothic castle with towers and turrets and forty rooms, had been lost to fire in 1963, and the extensive surrounding gardens, though brought back from ruin time and again through their history since the 1840s, were in sad shape.<br />
<img alt="afton-courtyard" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/stories/Annes_articles2016/2016-april-afton/site-images/afton-courtyard.jpg" height="206" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" width="275" />The Trimbles not only determined to undertake the project, but persevered through four decades of voracious deer and marauding wild boar, pond levee blowouts and the savage winds of hurricanes uprooting enormous trees and altering the understory sun/shade dynamic more than once.<br />
With the invaluable assistance of eminent landscape architect Dr. Neil Odenwald and hardworking head gardener/manager Ivy Jones, they worked a miracle, preserving and rejuvenating the gardens of Afton Villa not as a restoration but "as a reflection of their own sense of garden design." Today the famous half-mile oak allee, landscaped terraces and garden rooms, including the "garden in the ruins" on the brick foundations where the home once stood in this area historically known as the garden spot of the South, are among the St. Francisville area's most popular tourist and wedding destinations. And all it took was forty years of blood, sweat and tears, not to mention some 8,000 tulips, many thousand daffodils and narcissi, masses of bedding plants and azaleas, more than 250 pots filled with blossoming annuals, and some magnificent Italian statues overseeing with aplomb the house site that has been transformed from a place of tragedy into a place of beauty.<br />
<img alt="afton-villa-book" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/stories/Annes_articles2016/2016-april-afton/site-images/afton-villa-book.jpg" height="253" style="float: left; margin: 12px;" width="250" />Now LSU Press has published Genevieve Munson Trimble's book, AFTON VILLA; BIRTH AND REBIRTH OF A 19-CENTURY LOUISIANA GARDEN, with gorgeous color images by several Louisiana photographers and from the author's personal collection. Successes, failures, struggles and triumphs, Mrs. Trimble includes it all, including her explanation of the necessity of respecting the soul of the old landscape. "We resolved to restore the spirit of the original garden, and to protect it as well. We would beautify, enhance, even superimpose our own ideas, but at the same time we would be very careful never in any way to obliterate the original footprint of the garden or the house. Whenever possible, we would use old nineteenth-century plants and ornamentation such as might have conceivably been contained there originally, but in the interest of practicality, availability and maintenance, we would be willing to make substitutions, so long as they were compatible with the spirit of the garden. What do I mean, one may ask, when I say the spirit of the garden? To me it means the ambiance that permeates or surrounds a garden. At Afton, I am referring to the almost indefinable aura of past grandeur and, even more than this, the ability to have sustained and risen above the rigors of unbearable tragedy."<br />
This gracious gardener, she of the perfectly coiffed white hair and ever-stylish colorful outfits, hesitated in despair upon entering the avenue to Afton for the first time after the death of her husband in 2004. And then she caught sight of the old oak that stood alone at the end of the drive overlooking the ruins, planted by Bartholomew Barrow in 1828, witness to war and reconstruction, deaths and depressions, neglect and the ravages of winds and fire. And the old oak still stood, proud, covered in the resurrection fern that springs back to life after each rainfall, "symbol of endurance and a triumph of nature to overcome all disasters that would befall. Wasn't this, I thought with sudden clarity, exactly what had drawn Bud and me here in the first place? It was Afton Villa's miraculous ability to have risen, phoenixlike, out of the ashes of tragedy....I could not leave this garden behind."<br />
<img alt="book-signing" src="http://stfrancisville.us/images/stories/Annes_articles2016/2016-april-afton/site-images/book-signing.jpg" height="300" style="float: right; margin: 12px;" width="232" />Mrs. Trimble has received widespread recognition and many prestigious awards for her rescue of the Afton Villa Gardens as well as a number of significant projects in New Orleans. Her book is available at area bookstores and online, and the West Feliciana Historical Society in March joined the Southern Garden Symposium to host an immensely successful book-signing reception at Afton Villa.<br />
The gardens of Afton Villa are open for public enjoyment seasonally, six months of the year; closed July, August, and September during summer heat and hurricane season, also closed January and February in the dead of winter. Other extensive gardens in the St. Francisville area that may be visited are Rosedown State Historic Site's 27 acres of 19th-century heirloom plantings and Imahara's Botanical Garden. A number of fine private landscapes are shown on the Spring Garden Stroll April 30, sponsored by the Feliciana Master Gardeners of the LSU Ag Center.<br />
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and<br />
Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara's Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state's most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville's extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-39022817249581221542016-02-20T23:41:00.001-06:002016-02-20T23:41:29.195-06:002016 Audubon PilgrimageSt. Francisville’s Spring Fling: Audubon Pilgrimage<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
<br />
<img align="right" alt="Maypole" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-march-pilgrimage/maypole_wilsonhouse.jpg" height="220" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="300" />The forty-fifth annual Audubon Pilgrimage March 18, 19 and 20, 2016, celebrates a southern spring in St. Francisville, the glorious garden spot of Louisiana’s English Plantation Country. For over four decades the sponsoring West Feliciana Historical Society has thrown open the doors of significant historic structures to commemorate artist-naturalist John James Audubon’s stay as he painted a number of his famous bird studies and tutored the daughter of Oakley Plantation’s Pirrie family, beautiful young Eliza. A year’s worth of planning and preparation precedes each pilgrimage, and with 45 years of experience under their belt, society members put on one of the South’s most professional and enjoyable pilgrimage presentations.<br />
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This year’s tour features several townhouses in St. Francisville’s National Register Historic District and two early plantations in the surrounding countryside, each illustrative of the interconnections of early homes and family histories.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="Cablido Audubon Pilgrimage" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-march-pilgrimage/Cabildo.jpg" height="225" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="300" />The Cabildo, thought to have been built on Royal Street in St. Francisville as early as 1809 with handhewn joists and brick walls 22 inches thick, is a Spanish colonial structure used over the years as monastery, tavern frequented by Audubon, bank/counting house, West Feliciana’s first parish courthouse beginning in 1824, barbershop, grocery, hotel, drugstore, library, and now beautifully restored present residence of Peggy and Joey Gammill, preservation/conservation experts.<br />
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Vinci Cottage at Virginia, all of 1000 feet, was built in the forties of materials salvaged from the detached kitchen and servants’ quarters behind the 1817 historic townhouse on Royal Street called Virginia, perfect for owner Nancy Vinci’s “downsizing with dog.” Supplementing the postage-stamp lawn of this cottage is Woodleigh Garden, just across Royal, a beautifully landscaped hillside setting filled by owners Leigh Anne and Butch Jones with heirloom pass-along plantings and a pleasant brick courtyard with fountain.<br />
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The Myrtles, a raised English cottage begun in the late 1790s by Judge David Bradford, leader of the Whiskey Rebellion, was enlarged by subsequent owners throughout the 19th century. The long front gallery is graced with grape-cluster wrought iron, and inside rooms are formalized with elaborate plaster friezework and marble mantels in the twin parlors. John E. and Teeta Moss are the current owners.<br />
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Rosale Plantation, north of St. Francisville at Wakefield, was part of early settler Alexander Stirling’s enormous 1790s landholdings; when the elaborate brick house his daughter Ann Skillman built in 1836 burned in the 1880s, the family moved into the two-story schoolhouse, built the same time. Today the simple farmhouse with sweeping vistas of manicured oak-shaded lawns and multiple ponds is owned by Peter and Lynda Truitt.<br />
<br />
<img align="right" alt="Oakley" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-march-pilgrimage/oakley.jpg" height="200" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="300" />Other popular features of the 2016 Audubon Pilgrimage include Afton Villa Gardens, Audubon (Oakley) and Rosedown State Historic Sites, three 19th-century churches in town and beautiful St. Mary’s in the country, as well as the Rural Homestead with lively demonstrations of the rustic skills of daily pioneer life. An Audubon Play will be performed several times daily on Saturday and Sunday in recently restored Temple Sinai. Daytime features are open 9:30 to 5, Sunday 11 to 4 for tour homes; Friday evening activities are scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday soiree begins at 7 p.m.<br />
<br />
The Historic District around Royal Street is filled during the day with the happy sounds of costumed children singing and dancing the Maypole; in the evening as candles flicker and fireflies flit among the ancient moss-draped live oaks, there is no place more inviting for a leisurely stroll. Friday evening features old-time Hymn Singing at the United Methodist Church, Audubon Play in Temple Sinai, Graveyard Tours at Grace Episcopal cemetery (last tour begins at 8:15 p.m.), and a wine and cheese reception at Bishop Jackson Hall (7 to 9 p.m.) featuring Vintage Dancers and young ladies modeling the pilgrimage’s exquisitely detailed 1820’s evening costumes, nationally recognized for their authenticity. Light Up The Night, the Saturday evening soiree, features live music and dancing, dinner and drinks beginning at 7 p.m.<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="Afton Villa" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-march-pilgrimage/Afton-Villa-Tulips-(2).jpg" height="300" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="200" />For tickets and tour information, contact West Feliciana Historical Society, Box 338, St. Francisville, LA 70775; phone 225-635-6330 or 225-635-4224; online <a href="http://www.westfelicianahistoricalsociety.org/" target="_blank">www.westfelicianahistoricalsociety.org</a>, email <a href="mailto:wfhistsociety@gmail.com">wfhistsociety@gmail.com</a>. A package including daytime tours and all evening entertainment Friday and Saturday is available. Tickets can be purchased at the Historical Society Museum on Ferdinand Street.<br />
Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and<br />
Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-37908334147881998752016-02-15T22:32:00.000-06:002016-02-15T23:56:48.049-06:00Layers of HistorySt. Francisville’s Layers of History<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
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<td><img align="right" alt="Tunica" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-feb/museum-tunica.jpg" height="200" hspace="12" vspace="10" width="311" /></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><i>Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resources Center</i></td>
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St. Francisville, Louisiana’s popular Audubon Pilgrimage each March features West Feliciana’s fascinating historic plantation homes and gardens from the 19th century, but the history of the area goes much farther back than that. Indeed, some of the earliest roadways, sunken deep into the soft loessial soil with steep sides showing striations delineating the layers of history, began as game trails leading to watering holes, then as footpaths trod by the moccasins of the area’s earliest Native American occupants.<br />
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The 1680s journals of French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, mention the Houma Indian nation living on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River across from the mouth of the Red River around what is now West Feliciana Parish, and in 1686 explorer Henri de Tonti visited the Houma village. Peaceable farmers whose numbers in 1699 were recorded by Iberville as 350 men, it was the Houmas who marked the boundary of their hunting grounds with the tall red pole that gave Baton Rouge (Red Stick) its name. By 1706 the Houmas had been driven farther south by the Tunica tribe, fierce tattooed warriors as well as skilled traders, who moved near the present site of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. It was an ideal location for the continuation of their role as middlemen in the trading of commodities like salt, highly valued by both Indians and European explorers.<br />
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In 1731 the Tunica moved a few miles south to the site of Trudeau Plantation, and over the course of the next three decades, until 1764, the burial grounds at this Indian village would grow to include over 150 graves. It was the custom of the Tunica to bury valuables with the dead, and these graves contained not only the wealth of the tribe but also exotic imported goods attesting to their extensive trade with Europeans. <br />
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<td><img align="left" alt="pottery tunica" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-feb/pottery.jpg" height="173" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="300" /></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"> <i>Tunica Indian's Artifacts</i></td>
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After joining the military campaign of Governor Galvez which overthrew British control in Baton Rouge, the Tunicas were rewarded with Spanish land grants in the Avoyelles Prairie, now the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Reservation in Marksville on the west side of the Mississippi River. The 2000 census showed 648 Tunicas on the reservation, which is run by an elected tribal council with its own police force, health services, education, housing authority, court system, and they also operate Louisiana’s first land-based casino.<br />
<br />
But the Trudeau Landing burial grounds remained on the east side of the Mississippi River, undisturbed until the 1960s, when an amateur treasure hunter and Angola guard named Leonard Charrier from Opelousas, having pinpointed the location of the Indian village site by poring over old maps and journals, began excavating the graves, unearthing without landowner permission what came to be known as the Tunica Treasure. <br />
<br />
Eventually estimated at 2½ tons of artifacts (Charrier cast aside the bones), his findings included not only intricate native pottery, calumets and three-legged cookpots but also large amounts of European trade goods, glass bottles, brass and copper items, flintlock muskets, iron tools, French faience pottery, lead-glazed bowls and stoneware. As Charrier explored possible sales for his booty, various respected archeologists and museums across the country got involved. The bulk of the artifacts were sent to the Peabody Museum at Harvard and later stored at the LA State Museum while a lawsuit over ownership of the treasure made its way through the cumbersome court system. The state of Louisiana eventually purchased the Trudeau Plantation property and the Tunica tribe was declared the legal owner of the burial goods. One significant upshot of the legal wrangling was passage of protective federal legislation called the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.<br />
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Today the Tunica Treasure collection is housed on the reservation in Marksville at the Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resources Center, a soaring architectural wonder housing a library, learning center, conference facilities, tribal offices, museum on Tunica tribal history, and a state-of-the-art conservation laboratory where a large percentage of the artifacts have been painstakingly restored. <br />
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<td style="text-align: center;"> <i>Old Tunica Road by Darrell Chitty</i></td>
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Visitors to the St. Francisville area today have access to state preservation wilderness areas in these same Tunica Hills, and a drive along the Old Tunica Road between Weyanoke and Tunica offers a thrilling roller-coaster ride as it parallels the Mississippi River’s course, traveling along steep hills and deep hollows back through the centuries along paths once trod by the area’s earliest inhabitants. A favorite of hikers and bicycle racers because of the challenging terrain, the Old Tunica Road traverses some of south Louisiana’s most spectacular scenery, but it is not for the hurried or the faint-hearted during inclement weather, as some unpaved sections become impassable when wet without four-wheel drive. The road passes through the south tract of the Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area, sunken between high roadside banks rising 20 or 30 feet above the roadbed and covered with mosses and wild ferns that thrive in the cool shady habitat. From St. Francisville, go north on US 61, left onto LA 66, left onto LA 968 and right onto Old Tunica Road, which eventually winds back out to LA 66 for a right turn to go back to US 61 and south into St. Francisville.<br />
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Less strenuous but just as challenging (mentally, at least) is St. Francisville’s popular annual Writers and Readers Symposium, bringing together an amazing group of authors and artists to speak about their creative processes and mingle with enthusiastic lovers of good literature at Hemingbough Conference Center on Saturday, February 20. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with presentations by featured authors starting at 9, lunch at noon, a 1 p.m. author’s panel Q&A, followed by an hour-long autograph session at 2 p.m. An added visual treat will be A Novel Image, a competitive exhibit of photographs, paintings and sculpture matched with literary works. The Saturday symposium will be followed on Sunday by a Writers Workshop led by Margaret McMullan for both experienced and aspiring authors at the West Feliciana Parish Library from 9 to 4.<br />
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<td><img align="left" alt="Writer" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-feb/writer.jpg" height="300" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="215" /></td>
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<td style="text-align: center;"><i>Margaret McMullan</i></td>
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Featured presenters this year are award-winning novelist Margaret McMullan, who released her moving seventh novel Aftermath Lounge on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; Renaissance man Michael Rubin, jazz pianist, national speaker/humorist, and practicing attorney whose murder mystery The Cottoncrest Curse was published by LSU Press; New Orleans poet Mona Lisa Saloy returning to share a new book of poetry called Second Line Home; and noted Louisiana photographer Philip Gould and renowned public muralist Robert Dafford. The Public Art of Robert Dafford, one of Gould’s dozen books, features his superb images in both words and photographs of some of Dafford’s most memorable murals, painted in this country, Canada, France, Belgium and Great Britain, and both artists will be present for the symposium at Hemingbough.<br />
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For tickets, register online with credit card at www.brownpapertickets.com (OLLI members <a href="http://www.outreach.lsu.edu/olli" target="_blank">www.outreach.lsu.edu/olli</a>). Advance fees for the symposium are $50; $60 at door. Writers Workshop fee is $150; limited scholarships are available. Online information is available at www.literatureandart.org.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday). <br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
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For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-17182019483245245642016-01-13T13:59:00.000-06:002016-01-13T13:59:51.902-06:00Gateway to the HillsSt. Francisville, LA: Gateway to the Hills<br />
By Anne Butler<br />
<br />
<img align="right" alt="Clark Creek" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-jan-tunica/crossroads-tunica.jpg" height="233" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="350" />St. Francisville for many years has been justly famous as the heart of Louisiana’s historic English plantation country, but as changing tourism demographics attract younger and more active visitors, the little rivertown has lately become known as the Gateway to the Hills. And winter, with snakes hibernating and poison ivy no longer a problem, plus fallen leaves opening up clear vistas not seen in the tangled overgrowth of summer, is the ideal time to take advantage of all the recreational opportunities offered throughout the Tunica Hills.<br />
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These unspoiled wilderness areas, rare loessial ridges running northwest from St. Francisville along the Mississippi River north into Tennessee, feature steep forested hills and deep cool shady hollows carved out by the Glacial Age, harboring plant and animal life found nowhere else in South Louisiana. Several large chunks of West Feliciana land have been preserved for public usage by the state, and along with a third state natural area just across the Mississippi line, provide ideal landscapes for hiking, birding, hunting, photography and nature studies.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="waterfall" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-jan-tunica/waterfall.jpg" height="350" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="233" />Tunica Hills State Preservation Area consists of some 700 rugged acres, including a towering bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Planning for this unique preservation area began in 2002, its exciting innovative design showcasing the uniqueness of this diverse ecosystem with hiking trails, tram system, amphitheater, river overlook, interpretive center elevated high above the ground, and boardwalks designed for low impact on the natural environment. The Office of State Parks continues to work with the legislature to find funding for completion of this significant project.<br />
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The Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area consists of two separate tracts totaling more than 5500 acres operated by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Here, wooded hills, high bluffs and deep ravines harbor a huge variety of game animals, making these areas particularly popular with hunters. LDF regulations govern use of these management areas, and hikers should avoid them during hunting seasons.<br />
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One of the most popular hiking areas is Clark Creek Natural Area, just across the state line in Mississippi, reached from St. Francisville via LA 66 to Hwy. 969 to Fort Adams Rd. near Pond Store. The challenging trails lead to a series of waterfalls through some of the most scenic sections of the Tunica Hills. The area is maintained by the state of Mississippi as a natural area, safe even during hunting seasons, but visitors should be sure to wear sturdy hiking shoes or boots and allow plenty of time to get out of the woods before dark.<br />
<br />
<img align="right" alt="trail at clark creek" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-jan-tunica/girl-on-tree.jpg" height="233" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="350" />Less strenuous is the hike through Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge to gaze in awe at the immense national champion bald cypress, largest tree of any species east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, thought to be over 1,000 years old and an astounding 85 feet tall. The Big Cypress Trail is only 1½ miles; there are also longer hiking trails through this 10,473-acre refuge which preserves one of the largest tracts of virgin wetland forest not protected by levees from cyclical flooding. Some springs it can be inundated by 15 to 20 feet of Mississippi River overflow, and the dynamics of the wetting and drying cycles make this refuge exceptionally unique and ecologically significant. Hunting is popular here, so hikers should exercise caution during certain seasons, and the area is not always accessible by car or on foot during high water times, although Bayou Sara Kayak Rentals offers new possibilities for access as well as guided fishing excursions.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="Steps along the trail" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-jan-tunica/steps.jpg" height="350" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="233" />Audubon State Historic Site, centered by the wonderful historic Oakley Plantation house where John James Audubon stayed and painted dozens of his Birds of America studies in the 1820s, has a system of child-friendly nature trails showcasing the natural and historic aspects of the park. Nearby is the Mary Ann Brown Preserve of 109 acres of mature forests, self-guided interpretive trail, picnic areas and primitive campsites available for school or scout groups. The extensive West Feliciana Parish Sports Park also offers trails, tennis courts, fishing pond, rodeo arena, playground, ballfields and other recreational facilities, plus organized sports and camps for all ages; the wooded trails are particularly popular for dirt bikes and physically demanding races like the Warrior Dash.<br />
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Biking, including bicycle racing, is popular in the St. Francisville area due to the challenging terrain, as is golfing at The Bluffs Golf Resort. The 200-acre Arnold Palmer course was designed to highlight its unique site on a tall bluff overlooking Thompson Creek with its sandy beaches.<br />
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Resolved to get more exercise and pursue a healthier lifestyle in 2016, did you? St. Francisville’s got you covered. Of course there are less strenuous entertainments still offered in the St. Francisville area as well, for those who’d prefer to be pampered at one of the diverse Bed & Breakfasts, or shop ‘til they drop in the historic downtown area’s boutique marketplaces and galleries, or enjoy the assortment of eateries, or tour historic plantations and 19th-century gardens. Visitors can do it all; or do nothing but relax and rejuvenate in the calm country atmosphere.<br />
<br />
<img align="right" alt="Rocks at Clark Creek" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-jan-tunica/girl-on-rocks.jpg" height="233" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="350" />Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. <br />
<br />
Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19th-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday).<br />
<br />
<img align="left" alt="tri falls" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2016-jan-tunica/tri-falls.jpg" height="350" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="233" />The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a>, <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.net</a> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/" target="_blank">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23426190.post-77879932616086963822015-11-18T16:55:00.000-06:002015-11-18T16:55:37.647-06:00St. Francisville’s Christmas in the Country<span style="font-size: larger;"><b>St. Francisville’s Christmas in the Country </b></span><br />
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<b>By Anne Butler </b><br />
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<img align="right" alt="Santa Arrives" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2009_dec/images/wagon.jpg" height="183" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="275" /> There’s just something special about small-town Christmas shopping, with welcoming shopkeeps, unique settings with plenty of character, and one-of-a-kind inventory, combining to make the experience enjoyable, as opposed to the dreaded harried hurried crush of big-box stores. And St. Francisville’s wonderfully varied boutique shops and galleries deliver all that in spades, especially during the ever-popular Christmas in the Country. This year set for December 4, 5 and 6<sup>th</sup>, the safe, family-oriented weekend is crammed full of spectacular seasonal decorations, musical entertainment throughout the National Register-listed downtown, breakfast with Santa and a colorful parade themed “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” caroling and window-peeping, plus contemporary house tours and even a symphony concert.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="Christmas Lights - St. Francisville, La." src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2010_nov/white_market.jpg" height="183" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="275" /> Millions of white lights trace soaring Victorian trimwork and grace gallery posts to transform the entire picturesque little town into a veritable winter wonderland for Christmas in the Country. The mayor lights the town Christmas tree Friday evening, Dec. 4, with a reception and fireworks beginning at 6 p.m., followed by a chance to “Peep into our Holiday Homes” along Ferdinand and Royal Streets from 6 to 8. <br />
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Saturday, Dec. 5, begins at 7:30 a.m. with a prayer breakfast at Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, followed by the Women’s Service League Breakfast with St. Nick for children at Jackson Hall of Grace Episcopal Church; there are two seatings at 8 and 9:30 a.m., reservations are encouraged, and advance tickets may be purchased online at <a href="http://www.womensserviceleague.com/">www.womensserviceleague.com</a> ). The Service League also has its usual fresh wreath and cookbook sale on Ferdinand St. <br />
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<img align="right" alt="Tour of Homes" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/lindsey-house.jpg" height="200" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="300" />A Saturday house tour (10 to 4) benefits the wonderful new parish library and showcases some unique contemporary homes as well as beautiful 19<sup>th</sup>-century St. Mary’s Church. Tickets ($25 in advance, $30 day of tour) may be purchased at the library, online at <a href="http://www.brownpapertickets.com/">www.brownpapertickets.com</a>or at tour homes on event day. Sponsored by Friends of the Library for the 18<sup>th</sup> year, featured homes include the Carolina-I farmhouse of the Lindsey family (now happily overflowing with the third and fourth generations since development of Lake Rosemound by family patriarch, the late Lloyd Lindsey Sr.); a secluded Tunica Hills home called Briar Creek which comes complete with sheepherder’s wagon and lifesize bronze bear; and Harmony House/Melody House, two separate structures joined by a 150-foot bridge over a 60-foot ravine.<br />
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<img align="left" alt="Parker Park" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2011_dec/photos_article/booth_child.jpg" height="206" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="275" />St. Francisville’s oak-shaded Parker Park overflows with children’s activities, music, food and crafts vendors all weekend including Friday evening, and there will be entertainment throughout the historic downtown area, featuring choirs, dancers, bands, and other performers. Talented art students display their works at local shops, with purchase proceeds benefitting the local school arts programs. A Charlie Brown Christmas movie will be shown at 2 p.m. in Jackson Hall. <br />
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From 10 to 4 on Saturday, Oakley plantation house in Audubon State Historic Site presents Colonial Christmas cooking demonstrations in the outside kitchen, followed by candlelight tours with period music and wassail from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. In town, Saturday evening entertainment includes a Community Sing-Along at United Methodist Church on Royal Street from 6 to 7, a Live Nativity inside First Baptist Church on US 61 from 6 to 8, and “Peep into our Holiday Homes” to admire Christmas decorations in participating historic structures. New this year will be Twilight Shopping and Music, extended hours for downtown shopping on Saturday evening from 4 to 7 p.m., with musical groups and bands enlivening some of the venues.<br />
<br />
<img align="right" alt="" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2011_dec/photos_article/parade.jpg" height="140" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="275" />The Christmas parade, usually held on Saturday, will be on Sunday, December 6, this year, beginning at 2 p.m. and traversing Ferdinand and Commerce Streets. Sponsored by the Women’s Service League, the parade features gaily decorated floats, marching bands, and of course Santa Claus riding atop a vintage fire truck. The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra has its Holiday Brass concert and dessert reception at Hemingbough Sunday evening beginning at 7 p.m.; tickets are available at Bank of St. Francisville.<br />
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The enthusiastic sponsors of Christmas in the Country are the downtown merchants, and the real focus of the weekend remains the St. Francisville area's marvelous shops, which go all out, hosting Open Houses with refreshments and entertainment while offering spectacular seasonal decorations and great gift items. A variety of quaint little shops and galleries occupy historic structures throughout the downtown area and spread into the outlying district, each unique in its own way; visitors should not miss a single one. <br />
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<img align="left" alt="Stores" src="http://stfrancisvillefestivals.com/monthly_articles/2009_dec/images/gifts.jpg" height="275" hspace="12" vspace="12" width="183" />The town’s longstanding popular anchor stores have been joined by a number of smaller boutiques offering a wonderful variety of wares—antiques, collectibles, original artworks, upscale and affordable clothing, housewares, decorative items, jewelry, books and children’s playthings-- to remind visitors how timeless is the excitement of small-town Christmas shopping at this exuberant celebration of the season.<br />
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To balance the “wretched excess” of materialism by remembering the less fortunate this time of year, however, there’s one heartwarming local charity that would welcome donations. “Sharing Jamie’s Joy” was begun a couple of years ago by the widow of young Jamie Navarre as a memorial ministry to the homeless. Leslie Davis Navarre and her son Tucker, with help from supportive family and community members, compile and deliver some 200 “blessing bags” of greatly appreciated practical necessities like ponchos and socks, gloves, winter hats, toiletries, pens and notepads, candy, even big black garbage bags for protection against the wet winter weather. Cash contributions are accepted as well as the items mentioned here; deadline for donations is December 12<sup>th</sup>, and information may be obtained by calling Leslie at 225-931-8611.<br />
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Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and <span comic="" sans="">Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. </span><span comic="" new="" sans="">A number of splendidly restored plantation homes are open for tours: the Cottage Plantation, Myrtles Plantation, Greenwood Plantation, plus Catalpa Plantation by reservation; Afton Villa Gardens and Imahara’s Botanical Garden are open in season and are both spectacular. Particularly important to tourism in the area are its two significant state historic sites, Rosedown Plantation and Oakley Plantation in the Audubon state site, which offer periodic living-history demonstrations to allow visitors to experience 19<sup>th</sup>-century plantation life and customs (state budget constraints have unfortunately shuttered Oakley Monday and Tuesday). <br />
<br />
The nearby Tunica Hills region offers unmatched recreational activities in its unspoiled wilderness areas—hiking, biking and especially bicycle racing due to the challenging terrain, birding, photography, hunting, and kayaking on Bayou Sara. There are unique art galleries plus specialty and antiques shops, many in restored historic structures, and some nice restaurants throughout the St. Francisville area serving everything from ethnic cuisine to seafood and classic Louisiana favorites. For overnight stays, the area offers some of the state’s most popular Bed & Breakfasts, including historic plantations, lakeside clubhouses and beautiful townhouses right in the middle of St. Francisville’s extensive National Register-listed historic district, and there are also modern motel accommodations for large bus groups.<br />
<br />
For visitor information, call West Feliciana Tourist Commission and West Feliciana Historical Society at 225-6330 or 225-635-4224, or St. Francisville Main Street at 225-635-3873; online visit <a href="http://www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com/">www.stfrancisvillefestivals.com</a> <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.net/">www.stfrancisville.net</a></span> or <a href="http://www.stfrancisville.us/">www.stfrancisville.us</a> (the events calendar gives dates and information on special activities).<div class="blogger-post-footer">Visit St. Francisville Louisiana</div>Blue Goose Mediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00995699555158275490noreply@blogger.comSt Francisville, LA 70775, USA30.7880721 -91.3768479000000330.7335086 -91.457528900000028 30.8426356 -91.296166900000031