Baton Rouge Travel Guide

San Francisco Plantation

Louisiana's most authentically restored 'great house' is the San Francisco Plantation house, sited on the east bank of the Mississippi under centuries-old live oaks, about 40 minutes from downtown Baton Rouge near the small town of Garyville. The galleried house was built by Edmond Bozonier Marmillion in 1856 in what is termed the Creole open-suite style. Inside the house features five hand-painted mural ceilings, faux marble and bois wood graining, and one of the finest antique collections in the United States. Also on the plantation is an 1830s slave cabin, a one-roomed schoolhouse and a museum store. Period-costumed guides take visitors on tours throughout the day. Other plantation houses open to the public on the Great River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge include Oak Alley, Nottoway, Laura, Madewood, and Tezcuco.