45 annual audubon pilgrimage - ochsner … specimens to paint. to baton rouge oakley market hall mt....
TRANSCRIPT
Ferdinand St.
LA 10
HWY 965
HWY 66
HWY 61
HW
Y 61
Commerce St.
Highland Rd.
Sligo Rd.
When flamboyant artist-
naturalist John James
Audubon arrived in the
St. Francisville area in
1821, he said the rich
lushness of the landscape and flourishing birdlife
“all excited my admiration.” Having set for him-
self the staggering task of painting all the birds of
this immense fledgling country, Audubon found
the inspiration for dozens of them while residing at
Oakley Plantation. Both he and wife Lucy tutored
area plantation children to fund publication of his
Birds of America.
In celebration of Audubon’s stay, the West Feliciana
Historical Society’s annual pilgrimage has since
1972 permitted privileged visitors an intimate
glimpse of Audubon’s scenic, unspoiled Happyland.
45th ANNUAL AUDUBON PILGRIMAGE
John James Audubon
ROSEDOWN, State Historic Site, was built in 1834 by Daniel Turnbull and his wife Martha Barrow, who on their European wedding trip gleaned the inspi-ration for the 27 acres of formal gardens surrounding the stately, double-galleried house. Approached by a magnificent allee of enormous live oaks, Rosedown is now a National Historic Landmark.
ROSALE PLANTATION was part of early
settler Alexander Stirling’s enormous 1790s landhold-
ings; when the elaborate brick house his daughter Ann
Skillman built in 1836 burned in the 1880s, the family
moved into the two-story schoolhouse, built the same
time. Today the simple farmhouse with sweeping vistas
of manicured oak-shaded lawns and ponds is owned by
Peter and Lynda Truitt.
VINCI COTTAGE AT VIRGINIA, all
of 1000 feet, was built in the forties of materials
salvaged from 1817 Virginia’s detached kitchen and
quarters, perfect for Nancy Vinci’s downsizing with
dog! Supplementing the tiny
lawn here, just across Royal
St. is WOODLEIGH GARDEN, beautifully land-
scaped hillside setting filled by
owners Leigh Anne and Butch
Jones with heirloom pass-along
plantings.
THE CABILDO, built c. 1809 with handhewn
joists and 22” brick walls, is a Spanish colonial
structure used over the years as monastery, tavern
frequented by Audubon, bank, West Feliciana’s
first parish courthouse beginning in 1824, barber-
shop, grocery, hotel, drugstore, library, and beauti-
fully restored present residence of Peggy and Joey
Gammill, preservation/construction experts.
AFTON VILLA GARDENS, approached by a serpentine avenue of live oaks underplanted with azaleas, surround the romantic ruins of the Gothic Revival mansion which burned in 1963. Formal parterres and terraced vistas comprise landscaped acres. Restored by Genevieve Trimble and her husband, the late Morrell Trimble.
OAKLEY, since 1947 the centerpiece of Audubon State Historic Site, is a splendid early 19th-century three-story structure exhibiting
West Indies influences like its jalousied galleries. Here John James Audubon in 1821 tutored the beautiful young daughter of the Pirrie family, with his afternoons free to roam the woods and collect bird specimens to paint.
To Baton Rouge
Oakley
Market Hall
Mt. CarMel CatHOliC CHurCH
GraCe CHurCH
MuseuM
(TickeTs)
aftOn Villa Gardens
MetHOdist CHurCH
VinCi COttaGe
Royal St.
teMple sinai
St. Mary’s
tHe Myrtles
To Natchez
To Angola
THE MYRTLES, a raised English cottage begun
in the late 1790s by Judge David Bradford, leader of the
Whiskey Rebellion, was enlarged throughout the 19th
century. The long front gallery is graced with grape-
cluster wrought iron, and inside rooms are formalized
with elaborate plaster friezework and marble mantels in
the twin parlors. John E. and Teeta Moss are the cur-
rent owners.
tHe CabildO
rOsedOwn
rural HOMestead
rOsale
wOOdleiGH Garden
TOUR INFORMATIONDaytime Tours • $359:30 am - 5:00 pm (Sunday private homes are open 11 am - 4 pm) (good for all three days) Includes all of the following:• Four Private Homes & Two Private Gardens• Oakley House, Audubon State Historic Site• Rosedown Plantation, State Historic Site• Afton Villa Gardens• 19th Century Churches• Recreated Working Rural Homestead• Authentic 1820's Costumes• Costumed Children Dancing• Audubon Play
Friday Night Entertainment • $20 6:00 pm - 9:00 pmIncludes the following: • Cemetery Tour - (last tour starts at 8:15 pm) Grace Church• Robust Hymn Singing - United Methodist Church• Wine & Cheese Reception - (reception starts at 7 pm) Bishop Jackson Hall • Period Costumes & Vintage Dancers Bishop Jackson Hall• Audubon Play - Temple Sinai Art Show - Market Hall• Royal Street by Candlelight
Saturday Night Entertainment • $507:00 pm - Light Up the Night, Soiree Live Music, Fine Food, Drinks, and Dancing
All Inclusive Package available • $100 ($5 savings!) See website for details
Advanced tickets can be purchased online atwestfelicianahistoricalsociety.org
Historical Society Museum11757 Ferdinand StreetSt. Francisville, LA 70775 • (225) 635-6330 Call for special group tour rates
RURAL HOMESTEAD To visit the Rural Homestead is to experience the lifestyle of rural southerners in the 1820’s. Native materials, hand-hewn cypress shingles and ancient timbers present a faithful recreation of what “home” meant to the plain folk of the nineteenth century South. Throughout the Homestead, local volunteers demonstrate the skills they learned first-hand grow-ing up in rural West Feliciana: open hearth and wood stove cookery, basket weaving, quilting, cotton carding and spinning, while the grist mill grinds out cornmeal. Shingles are rived and ground is broken by mule and plow, all to the sound of home-grown music makers - a happy “frolic” from an earlier day.
CHURCHES
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL on Catholic Hill was built in 1893from plans drawn by Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. For the first time since the days of Spanish rule, Roman Catholic faithful would have a resident priest.
45th ANNUAL
AUDUBON PILGRIMAGE 2016
The present UNITED METHODIST CHURCH on Royal Street replaced
the flood-damaged church built in Bayou Sara in 1844. The original
bell was retained and sum-mons the faithful today.
GRACE EPISCOPAL was established in 1827 when the
newly ordained W.R. Bowman came to visit his sister Mary Stirling and found a waiting flock. The present church was completed in time for Easter Day 1860. Severely damaged in the Civil War by gunboats, it was not consecrated until 1891.
Tour of Historic Homes, Churches & Gardens
Authentic 1820's CostumesLiving History Demonstrations
Night Festivities & Cemetery Tales
AUDUBONPILGRIMAGE
March 18, 19 & 20, 2016
ROYAL STREET, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, by day offers costumed children dancing the Maypole and playing nostalgicsinging games. By candlelight on Friday, enjoy hymn singing in the United Methodist Church and Graveyard Tales in Grace Churchyard. The evening ends with Wine & Cheese at Bishop Jackson Hall featuring period costumes and musical enter-tainment.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH was built in 1857 to serve the antebellum plantation community around Weyanoke. Deconsecrated in 1947, the haunting beauty of this Gothic Revival brick chapel , an austerely elegant setting for weddings and funerals even when emptied of its pews, has fueled ongoing enthusiasm for its preservation.
COSTUMES worn by Pilgrimage workers reflect the authentic dress of the 1820’s and received national recognition from the American Association of State and Local History.
westfelicianahistoricalsociety.org