Butler Greenwood Plantation, St Francisville

A veritable treasure-trove of family heirlooms and historic artifacts, Butler Greenwood has never been sold out of the original family and probably contains more original furnishings, clothing, silver and porcelains, portraits and other period objects than any other antebellum home open for touring in the state of Louisiana, made all the more interesting by the fact that the tours through the house are conducted by well-informed members of the original family.

Begun in the 1790's by members of the same family that still occupies it today, Butler Greenwood Plantation exemplifies the early cultural influences of this unique corner of Louisiana. The earliest settlers in the Feliciana parishes, like the family at Butler Greenwood, were Anglo-Saxons and came down from the East Coast soon after the American Revolution.

From the wilderness they carved great plantations on grants of land offered by the Spanish crown, for this area was not part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France, instead remaining with Spanish West Florida until 1810. Front porch The area continues to exhibit strong evidence of English traditions and culture. One of only a few places to still see Spanish influence is the Old Kitchen at Butler Greenwood, with its arches and stepped facade of handmade brick; built in 1796, it was used as the main kitchen for the plantation into the 1960's, food being cooked first on an open hearth and later on a wood stove.

A typical early raised, rambling English cottage-style home, Butler Greenwood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Filled with priceless antiques throughout, it boasts the area's finest original formal Victorian parlor, with a 12-piece set of carved rosewood furniture still in the original scarlet upholstery, matching lambrequins at the windows and rare calla-lily drapery tiebacks holding back the lace curtains, floral Brussels carpet, marble mantel and a number of oil portraits of family members (the children in the house now are the 8th generation).Surrounding the home are some fifty acres of landscaped grounds shaded by hundreds of ancient live oaks draped with Spanish moss and planted from acorns in the 1790s.