Rosedown Plantation

Rosedown is the plantation that garden lovers drive for. Daniel and Martha Turnbull built the house in the 1830s on land north of Baton Rouge, and Martha spent decades creating formal gardens that she documented in a garden diary, which survives and has helped restorers re-create the plantings. Today Rosedown is a state historic site, and the combination of a stately Greek Revival house, a long oak-lined entrance and roughly twenty-eight acres of gardens makes it one of the most photogenic stops in the region. The house is furnished largely with the family's original pieces, which is unusual, and it shows the wealth that cotton brought to the St. Francisville area before the Civil War. Tours of the house are guided and typically include discussion of the people who were enslaved at Rosedown, their work in the house, fields and gardens and the outbuildings that remain.

The gardens deserve a separate visit. Paths wind among camellias, azaleas, roses and statuary, with long avenues that were designed to be seen from the house gallery. Spring is the peak, with azaleas and camellias in bloom from late winter into April, and fall brings milder weather and quiet paths. Summer is hot and humid, so go early and carry water.

St. Francisville is a charming town, and Rosedown makes the centerpiece of a plantation-country day. Combine it with Oakley at the Audubon State Historic Site, lunch in town and the Myrtles Plantation evening tour if you stay late. The drive from Baton Rouge takes roughly forty minutes, and the route passes through rolling country that feels very different from the flat river parishes to the south.

Plan for about two hours, with house tour times set by the site, so verify the schedule before you drive. Admission is modest, and the site closes on certain days of the week. Wear walking shoes for the gardens. As with all plantation visits, expect candid history, and consider pairing this stop with the Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge for a fuller view of the era. Photographers will find the avenues of oaks and the gallery lines especially rewarding in morning light.

To enjoy the gardens, bring patience and a camera. Martha Turnbull collected plants from around the world, and the layout reflects an era when gardens were a statement of status and taste. Look for the boxwood parterres, the long oak allee, the statues and the garden buildings, and read the signs that explain what is original and what has been restored.

The house tour covers the furnishings, the architecture and the working landscape of cotton, and it should be read alongside the stories of the enslaved community whose labor made both the house and garden possible.

After the visit, drive the quiet roads around St. Francisville, where historic churches and small shops reward a slow afternoon. If you can, schedule Rosedown for a weekday morning, when crowds are lighter and the light is best for photography, and wear shoes you do not mind getting dusty. Allow time for the gift shop and the small exhibits, which add background on the Turnbull family, the crops and the gardens, and make useful reading material for the drive back to Baton Rouge.