Spring Pilgrimage

What wonderful weather we have had this weekend which made for another wonderful weekend outside. This weekend was the Spring Pilgrimage in St. Francisville, LA. It was $30 per person to tour plantation homes, churches, and gardens from the early 1800s. I had been wanting to go see plantation homes ever since we moved here but wanted to wait until the spring when all the beautiful flowers were in full bloom. Our first stop was the Rosedown Plantaion that was built in 1835 at the cost of about $13,000.

Rosedown was my favorite.

This was the Old Barn where visitor's carriages were kept.

Old carriage from Natchez, Mississippi.

Yes the lady has a goat on a leash.

This was the dining room. The thing above the table is called a shoe fly. A slave would be standing where I was taking the picture pulling on the rope creating a fan for them as well as shooing away the flies.

The view from the master. Yes please.

The prettiest room. The newborn and its parents would sleep here. 

I want this azalea bush.

The view from the second story porch.

Tons of tulips!

I thought I matched the flowers.

We then went to the Afton Villa Gardens. There once was a plantation home here but was burned in 1963. Many houses would burn due to fires in the kitchen. This is why they would build them separate from the homes.

This was a garden maze and little girls were playing in them. It was cute.

A statue from the old home.

The breeze made this live oak look really neat.

They told us that a lady who lived in the home planted all kinds of daffodils all over the property among the white azaleas. Amazing.

A sweet old lady felt sorry for all the solo pictures we were taking so she took one for us.

A little bridge surrounded by an abundance of flowers.

So serene

A panoramic picture of the pond. It think if you click on the picture to enlarge it you may be able to see it better.

So many daffodils and the white azaleas looked like cotton everywhere.

The following pictures are more plantation homes...

Highland. Like most plantations, including Highland, were built from  trees on the property and bricks carved from the clay soil and baked in the sun. A family lives in this house currently. 

Woodland

Oakley

Oakley framed under another live oak.

An old slave house about 1,000 feet from the Oakley plantation.

Inside the slave house

The other side of the slave house. They said this was a generous house for them.

I hate to end on a sad note so here is a picture of a beautiful azalea. I told Bryan I will plant them all over our house one day.

We really had a great day being outdoors, smelling the beautiful flowers (mostly from the honeysuckles), walking through the antique sales, while being surrounded by people in authentic dress of the 1820's. I felt as if I was in my heritage of dress class again. I hope you all have a wonderful week!