Magnolia Mound: Museum + Historic Site — Attraction in Baton Rouge

Location: Easy to find with Google Maps, short drive from the hotels in the downtown area. Also close to LSU campus. You'll access the gravel driveway off Nicholson Dr. and pass through a large iron gate. Follow the signs. The gravel driveway will curve around a small education building and go towards the back of the plantation. Look for a sign that says "Tours Start Here," parking will be nearby. Go in to the visitor center to get started. I'm not sure of the tour scheduling, but I just popped in about a quarter to three and my tour started at three.

Cost: I believe it was $3 for a self-guided tour of the grounds and $10 for the guided tour. With self-guided you may walk everywhere and step up to windows to peek in, but you may not go inside the main house. With guided, you do all of the above, and you will be given a lovely, historically informative tour inside of the main house. My guide was funny and she knew her stuff! In my opinion the guided is worth the extra cost if you love historic home interiors and want to know the details of the history.

Time Commitment: I would say half an hour for self guided, if you don't meander too much, and an hour plus if you do the guided tour and take your time. The average time spent that Google suggests (25 minutes) seems on the short side.

Experience: Enjoyable! The grounds are typical of other plantation homes, with slave quarters, etc. Still, they are pretty to walk through. The 200 year old live oaks in front of the main house are gorgeous. I do wish there were some flowers around the grounds here and there, but that's just personal taste. The real gem is the Historic House. It has been lovingly restored where nessesary and is one of the prettiest of the smaller plantation homes I've seen. The interior is well air conditioned, and all of the large windows make the tour a lovely bright experience. Because of its smaller size I feel this would be nice for a family with younger, well-behaved children. Plenty to see and the guide is not rude to kids (something I've seen on other plantation tours directed at children who were not ill-behaved), but the house is not so big and ornate that it will cause burn out or boredom. The guide does not rush you and you may interact with her and ask questions. With that said, the tour does not drag on, another reason it would be nice for well-behaved children. It will keep them interested without the rest of the family feeling rushed. Really this was a lovely experience and I would recommend it. The gift shop has some unique items and great...

The Magnolia Mound Plantation is a French Creole house constructed in 1791 near the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge that is one of the earliest buildings in the present-day capital of Louisiana. The house and several original outbuildings on the grounds are examples of the vernacular architectural influences of the early settlers from France and the West Indies. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The land was originally owned by James Hillin, an early Scottish settler who arrived in 1786. Descendants owned the plantation until 1849. In 1966, the City of Baton Rouge purchased the 16-acre property in order to preserve the house and its dependencies for their historic and architectural value. It is a green space within the city. The cottage was originally four rooms. In 1812, it was expanded to an eight-room house, including an extension for a formal dining room and two service rooms. During the 19th century, owners added rooms under the gallery on the north and south sides. The basic form of the house is rectangular with a large hip roof, which covers all rooms and galleries. In 1998, the city installed an original double slave cabin (circa 1830) to help interpret the lives of enslaved Africans. One half is furnished as it would have been in the 19th century while the other half is an exhibit on slave life in Louisiana. The outbuildings, some original to the plantation, show how the operations of the plantation were supported. They include the open-hearth kitchen, the overseer's house, the crop garden, the carriage house and the pigeonnier, which was used to house squab and other game birds. Interestingly, the pigeonnier also is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Located at 2161 Nicholson Drive, Magnolia Mound is a fascinating place to visit because it depicts life on an antebellum plantation as it was, much more realistically than at many other...

I was a docent for this property for more than a year. I loved that it was a colonial house with the beautiful cove ceiling in the living area. A beautiful open property, with a wonderful collection of out buildings. Great kitchen docents, who churned out great food, and maintained the exceptional kitchen and medicinal garden. I was truly horrified to discover that this property has lost all it's colonial flavor and style. The fences everywhere have chopped up the property and the overhead street light is certainly not period! Painting the interior woodwork brown is also not period!! I am truly broken-hearted to see these ill-conceived changes. I am also quite sure the Duplantiers are rolling over in their graves! So very disappointed! I understand the need for change, but this is one of the few true colonial/federal homes in the area, and state. Sad, very very sad! Times may change, but history does not! These changes have done a major disservice to this property! As a docent at Magnolia Mound, and a life-long Louisiana history aficionado, it pains me to no end to see...