Cal & Rachel Litwiller's Adventures: Allendale to Saint Francisville, LA

When we looked out of the motel window at 6:30 this morning, it was not a good sight! Heavy rains clouds were heading our way! We thought it may be over by the time we are packed up and have breakfast. Well no, that was not the case! Cal rode for a while, but then we sat in the vehicle for over an hour waiting for the storm to pass. It finally did. He rode some more until we were just south of St Francisville. It began raining again and he was soaked! This time we loaded up and headed north into St Francisville. Found a lovely new Best Western Motel on the edge of town!

Live Oaks over the Road near a Plantation House

Plantation House Nearby

This afternoon we checked out the antebellum homes of the area! First it was Butler Greenwood Plantation. The original family (9^th generation) is on the plantation. The gal who lives there gave us the tour. This home was built in the late 1790’s and was a simple functional home. They also have numerous cottages on the grounds as B & B’s – this is how many of these plantations are increasing their income. It was great tour.

Butler Greenwood Plantation House

Music Room

Formal Entertainment Room

Then we were off down the road to the Rosedown Plantation. This property is now owned by the State of Louisiana. This ‘big house’ was built in 1835 and by this time they were building the ‘big’ houses we associate with the antebellum era. The “live oak” tree alley as we see today was actually planted 10 years before the ‘big house’ was built. These live oak alleys were actually there for a functional reason. They create a wind tunnel to the house, bringing cool breezes into the house on those hot southern days before air conditioning. This home had several innovative ideas, way before their time! They used empty spaces for closets. The house has 6 closets – unheard of in those times. This house also had a shower – also unheard of in those days! It had a large shower head on the ceiling attached to a rain water cistern on the roof of the house. When you pulled a cord/rope the water came down on top of you. You would be standing in a large tub, but there was no drain, so the water needed to be carried out. But this whole concept was very innovative for the 1840’s when this was installed.