My family & I recently visited BREC Magnolia Mound Plantation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Magnolia Mound was a short 10 minute drive from The Cook Hotel at LSU which we recently stayed at. BREC Magnolia Mound is a smaller plantation than Nottoway Plantation but is rich in Louisiana History. In 1786 (a small cottage at the time) James Hillin & hos wife Jane arrived to Baton Rouge. In 1791 they sold the 950 acre plantation to John Joyce & his family. Although the plantation was located in Baton Rouge, the family resided in the Alabama area. In 1798 John Joyce drowned during a sailing trip from New Orleans to Mobile. His widow then married Armand Duplantier. Our tour guide told us that the Jane Joyce had her own children from John Joyce, plus Duplantier’s 4 children from his 1st marriage & then had another 5 children with Duplantier. After a series of financial problems, the new family outgrew the cottage was originally four rooms, with side-by-side room arrangement.
The Duplantier’s expanded to a eight-room house, including formal dining room and & service rooms. I was not able to take pictures inside of the plantation home which I was disappointed by, but most of the furniture there were brought in. None of the original furniture was inside the home. Original Duplantier decedents owned the plantation until 1849. In 1966 the city of Baton Rouge purchased the house and 16 acres to preserve the house and buildings for the historic & architectural value.
One of our favorite aspects of the plantation is that is was a working plantation. Although the families that lived in the home in the 1800’s had some wealth to their name, they also worked hard to grow indigo, tobacco, cotton and sugar cane. I could feel the connection that the large family made use of the home and the 900+ acres that surrounded it. It felt cozy & warm.
Today, Magnolia Mound has several outbuildings on the plantation: Open-hearth Kitchen, Overseer’s House, Crop Garden, Pigeonnier & a Carriage House. My family loved walking through the property and enjoying an up close self-guided tour on the property. Our tour guide mentioned that they recently had a large Duplantier reunion. Duplantiers all over our country and as well as Canada, came to reminisce, learn and enjoy their history in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area.
Magnolia Mound Plantation House is located at 2161 Nicholson Dr. one mile south from downtown Baton Rouge. It is open from 10:00am to 4:00pm, Tuesday-Saturday, and 1:00pm to 4:00pm, Sunday. If you are ever in the area or planning a trip to Louisiana, you can visit BREC Magnolia Mound Plantation.
Tour Admission
Adults: $10
Seniors: $8
Students: $8
Ages 5-17: $4
Under the age of five with family: free
Grounds only: $3
Groups of 10 or more: $7 per guest
Find out more regarding BREC Magnolia Mound Plantation on their Website, Twitter and on Facebook.
What a neat piece of history. I’d love to take a walk through the home.
Loving your FTC travel disclosure mujer- here’s hoping to see a whole lot more of it!! ; ) Continued fun travels to you and continued great posts for us readers. BB2U
I love visiting historical places! How cool!!!
What a beautiful piece of property. I love Plantations!
looks you had great time!
Great post! I love historic places and this one looks super interesting. Nice pics as well
Jeff
I love learning about history – even the parts we’d rather forget – its important to remember.
I’d love to take a walk through to home and the rest of the plantation. With all the trees it looks beautiful. I’m glad you and your family had a great time!
Another plantation that I need to visit if I make it back to Louisiana. Very cool that it’s a working farm.
That’s so cool you got to visit such a large piece of our history. Sounds like a lot of fun!
Fabulous pictures!!!!
Great Pics!
Great shots! For some reason I thought you’d capture some ‘orbs’ there, I’ve been seeing them a lot in my photos lately and I was sure that a Plantation would have a few around for sure! Great shots! I have never visited a Plantation House, it was an option when I visited Barbados but I picked the Caves instead! When I get back to NOLA I’ll have to visit one!
You are not going to believe this but inside the plantation you can not take pictures. Well, my husband who is didn’t know at the time took a few shots from his IPhone and has several orbes pictured. I didn’t publish the pics due to their policy and also b/c of the orbes. I wasn’t sure how to explain those but they were kind of creepy to see!
What a beautiful place, very fascinating! Love the pics!
Loved the pictures!!!!!!!
I am a tour guide at Magnolia Mound, and I remember when your children and you visited the plantation. Thank you for the wonderful blog you have written about the plantation. I think I can speak for most of us that work there that the place is truly magnificent and are proud to be employed at such a historical place. We invite anyone who saw your blog to visit Magnolia Mound if they should ever pass through Baton Rouge, LA.