Historic House Museums in Louisiana

We try to keep this list of historic house museums for Louisiana current, but it is best to check directly with the museums for their hours and other information. If you know of a historic house museum in Louisiana that should be listed here, please use our submission form to let us know about it.

Hurricane Katrina hit one of the most historic areas in our country, and damaged countless historic homes. The Foundation for Historical Louisiana has set up a restricted fund where monies will be earmarked for the physical restoration and preservation needed on scores of treasured homes, historic neighborhoods, and landmarks. To find out how you can help with this monumental task, please call the Foundation at (225) 387-2464 or email at fhla@bellsouth.net

Alexandria

Kent Plantation House

Kent House is a classic example of French colonial architecture. Standing on the original land grant from the King of Spain to Pierre Baillio II, it offers a glimpse of the French, Spanish and American cultures that have influenced Louisiana. All three flags fly over the entrance.

Open Mon-Sat 9-5 • 3601 Bayou Rapides Road • Phone

Baton Rouge

Magnolia Mound Plantation

The plantation house, now surrounded by an urban setting, was once the center of a 900-acre operation with frontage on the Mississippi River. The main house was built c. 1791 as a small settler's house and as prosperity came to the lower Mississippi Valley, the house was enlarged and renovated in 1802-05, to become the elegant seat of a major landowner

Open Mon-Sat 10-4, Sun 1-4 • 2161 Nicholson Drive • (225) 343-4955

Old Governor's Mansion

This is the second Governor's Mansion to occupy the site. The first Governor's Mansion, a large frame house built for Baton Rouge businessman Nathan King Knox, served as the official residence of Louisiana Governors from 1887 until 1929, when it was razed and the present Old Governor's Mansion was built. The building cost almost $150,000 to complete, and, at a cost of $22,000 (a princely sum for the time), the Mansion was furnished with the finest damask and velvet drapes, crystal chandeliers, hand-printed French wallpaper, and other fine appointments.

Open Tue-Fri 10-4 • 502 North Boulevard • (225) 387-2464

Cloutierville

Kate Chopin House

The Kate Chopin Home in Cloutierville was established in 1965 by Mildred McCoy as the Bayou Folk Museum and is now owned by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches. The house built by Alexis Cloutier in early eighteen hundreds

Open Mon-Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5 • 243 Hwy 495 • (318) 379-2233

Destrehan

Destrehan Plantation

Established in 1787, Destrehan is the oldest documented plantation home in the lower Mississippi Valley. She has survived colonial and civil wars and the perils of time, but with dedication, has now been preserved in all its glory for you to enjoy.

Open daily 9-4 • 13034 River Road • (985) 764-9315

Franklin

Grevemberg House Museum

The 1851 home was saved and meticulously restored by the St. Mary Landmarks Society. It is a magnificent example of Greek Revival-style architecture with its fluted Corinthian columns, upper and lower galleries opening into spacious entrance halls and adjoining double parlors.Ý

Open daily 10-4 • 407 Sterling Road (Hwy. 322) • (337)828-2092

Garyville

San Francisco Plantation

San Francisco Plantation was built in 1856 by Edmond Bozonier Marmillon. It is the most distinctive and only authentically restored plantation on the River Road. It features five artistically hand painted ceilings, faux marbling, and faux wood graining throughout and antique furniture by master craftsman John Henry Belter.

Open Daily 9:30-4:40 • 2646 Hwy. 44 (River Road) • (888) 509-1756

Houma

Southdown Plantation House

Southdown Plantation House is a 19th-century sugar manor house and home to the Terrebonne Museum of history and culture. It was built in 1859 as a one-story Greek Revival house by sugar planter William J. Minor. His son, Henry C. Minor, added the second floor and Victorian-style architectural features in 1893.

Open Tue-Sat 10-4 • 1208 Museum Dr. • Phone

Jackson

Centenary State Historic Site

A restored professor's residence is on the grounds of Centenary College.

Call for Hours • 3522 College St • (225) 634-7925 or (888) 677-2364

Lafayette

Vermilionville

Vermilionville authentically portrays a way of life preserved with a distinctly French accent.Ý Situated on the banks of the Bayou Vermilion, this Cajun/Creole heritage and folklife park recreates life in the Acadiana area between 1765 and 1890. The beautiful grounds, which are laid out as an historic village, contain eighteen structures, including six restored original homes.Ý In most of the structures, costumed interpreters demonstrate traditional crafts or musical styles.

Open Tue-Sun 10-4 • 300 Fisher Rd. • (866) 992-2968

Melrose

Melrose Plantation

Several plantation homes are on the grounds, including the Big House, and the African House.

Open daily 12-4 • 3533 Highway 119 • (318) 379-0055

New Iberia

Shadows on the Teche

A white-columned brick building constructed between 1831 and 1834 by sugar planter David Weeks and his wife, the Shadows is both a survivor and a reminder of another time. It is a tangible link to the past, representing over 150 years of history, stories about people and events, about life.

Open daily 9-4:30 • 317 E. Main Street • (337) 369-6446

New Orleans

The 1850 House

The Upper and Lower Pontalba Buildings, which line the St. Ann and St. Peter Street sides of Jackson Square, were built in 1850 by the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, the daughter of Don Andres Almonester y Roxas, the Spanish colonial landowner associated with the neighboring Cabildo, Cathedral and Presbytere.

Open Tue-Sun 9-5 • 523 St. Ann St • (504) 568-6968 or (800) 568-6968

Gallier House

In 1857, esteemed New Orleans architect, James Gallier, Jr., put his considerable talent to work designing a residence of his own.Ý Gallier House is an outstanding example of accurate and comprehensive historic restoration of one of New Orleans' loveliest and time-honored landmarks.Ý

Open Mon-Fri, Tours at 10, 11, 12, 2, & 3 • 1132 Royal Street • (504) 525-5661

Hermann-Grima House

Built in 1831, Hermann-Grima House is one of the most significant residences in New Orleans.Ý This handsome Federal mansion with its courtyard garden boasts the only horse stable and functional 1830s outdoor kitchen in the French Quarter.

Open Mon-Fri, Tours at 10, 11, 12, 2, & 3 • 820 Saint Louis Street • (504) 525-5661

Longue Vue House & Gardens

This Classical Revival style house consists of three stories and a basement, an unusual feature of New Orleans where most of the city is below sea level. Visitors tour the main living spaces of the house, numbering 20 rooms.

Closed for Hurricane Katrina repairs • #7 Bamboo Road • (504)488-5488

Madame John's Legacy

Madame John's Legacy in the historic French Quarter is one of the finest 18th century building complexes in Louisiana. Of special interest because it escaped the great fire of 1795, which leveled much of New Orleans, the house is actually a product of the preceding fire of 1788. The structures on the site in the early 1780's were destroyed by the conflagration and Madame John's was erected on the burnt-out lot in 1789.

Open Tue-Sun 9-5 • 632 Dumaine St. • (504) 568-6968 or (800) 568-6968

The Williams Residence

The 1889 Trapolin townhouse was purchased in 1938 by General L. Kemper and Leila Williams, founders of the Historic New Orleans Collection.

Due to Hurricane Katrina, call for hours • 533 Royal Street • (504) 523-4662

Newellton

Winter Quarters State Historic Site

Winter Quarters State Historic Site stands today as a rare survivor of the ravages of the Civil War. The large, airy structure is the only one of its kind along the banks of scenic Lake St. Joseph to remain as a reflection of Louisiana's Antebellum cotton plantation.

Hours • 4929 Highway 608 • (318) 467-9750 or (888) 677-9468

St. Francisville

Audubon State Historic Site

The main feature of the 100-acre woodland site is Oakley House, where John James Audubon lived for a short time. Other facilities include formal and kitchen gardens, a separate kitchen and weaving room, a plantation barn, two slave cabins, a picnic area with a shelter and a nature trail through the acres of magnolia and poplar trees.

Open Daily • 11788 Highway 965 • (225) 635-3739 or (888) 677-2838

Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site

Daniel and Martha Turnbull began construction on the main house at Rosedown in 1834, completing it by May the following year for a total cost of $13,109.20. The house was constructed by Wendell Wright as a version of the Carolina Tidewater form (known as an extended I-house) with a neoclassical columned facade and double front galleries. Much of the cypress used in the structure was harvested and processed at the Plantation sawmill.

Call for Hours • 12501 Highway 10 • (225) 635-3332 or (888) 376-1867

St. Martinville

Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site

The site tells the tale of the French-speaking people of the Bayou Teche area. Guided tours of historic Maison Olivier are available, special interpretive programs and events take place throughout the year, and an ambitious livestock breeding program has made this charming site a lively destination.

Call for Hours • 1200 N. Main Street • (337) 394-3754 or (888) 677-2900

Thibodaux

E.D. White Historic Site

Situated on the banks of scenic Bayou Lafourche near Thibodaux, Louisiana, the E. D. White plantation home enjoys the distinction of having been the residence for two of Louisiana' s foremost political luminaries, Governor Edward Douglass White and his son, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice, Edward Douglass White.

Open Tue-Sat 8:30-5 • 2295 LA. Hwy 1 • (985) 447-0915

Vacherie

Oak Alley Plantation

Located on the Mississippi River between the historic Louisiana cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Oak Alley Plantation has been called the "Grande Dame of the Great River Road". The quarter-mile canopy of giant live oak trees, believed to be nearly 300 years old, forms an impressive avenue leading to the classic Greek-revival style antebellum home.

See their web site for hours • 3645 Highway 18 (Great River Road) • (225) 265-2151 or 1-800-44ALLEY