St. Francisville....and rain...lots of it.

Beautiful Lousiana Oak trees in the "Feliciana's".....

Friday I took the "Girl Cousins" to
St. Francisville....probably my MOST favorite town in all of Louisiana.


St. Francisville is a small wonderful old town that is very quaint on the Mississippi River....about 45 minutes north of Baton Rouge.
"Girl Cousins"

It was the scene of a "Civil War Battle" is full of rich history...old, beautiful Plantations and Antebellum homes....the most wonderful HUGE Oak Trees with Spanish Moss hanging off of them and... cool antique shops. Fun!
"Church and Cemetery at Grace Episcopal Church...St. Francisville La."
Miss Priss and I LOVE to go up to St. Francisville and hadn't been since January.
So we decided we needed to take "KJ" before she left here for home.
We knew "K" would HATE it so we didn't take him. HA!
"KJ and Miss Priss"

We got to do a bit of sightseeing before a terrible rainstorm came upon us.

After having lunch at the "Magnolia Cafe" me and Miss Priss's favorite place to eat.
Then a bit of looking around the downtown and doing a bit of shopping.

I decided against my BETTER JUDGEMENT and took the girls in the storming, lighting, thunder and rain (my sister Jenny would have had a FIT had she been with us!!) to one Plantation nearby...which is supposed to be majorly HAUNTED.
I only went there because I knew I could get to it quick.....most are a bit further outside the town.

And we weren't skeeeered of the supposed "ghost".....lots of people on the "porch" were though. It was a tad bit "creepy" with that storm going on and it was only about 4:00pm and had turned "very dark" outside..then add in the terrible thunder and lightening and all those big massive Oak trees looming over head.

Photo of "The Myrtles Plantation" on a "dry day." I didn't take this photo of course.

Big.... hundreds of years old....heavy moss laden limbs.....just waiting to get hit by lightening and fall on us. Ugh. That's all I could think about...I wasn't worried about the ghost. I didn't want a huge Oak limb on our heads.

We weren't going to tour it but I just wanted my niece to see the architecture of the home......because it is beautiful outside of it. Lovely ironwork all around the front porch and such.
Of course they had suspended "tours" because of the storm and everyone was sitting outside in rocking chairs on the back veranda.Scared.

I think the storm enhanced their "nervousness" about the tour and the "ghostie" that is supposed to show up.
Whatever floats your boat.

We checked out the gift shop and walked around the grounds a bit then left....with the lightening and thunder pounding directly over our heads. It was very bad too.
I snapped this photo on our way off the grounds. I loved that Hydrangea bush and that cute little statue.

Didn't get a photo of the "ghost" though. Believe me...I wasn't paying big money to get in to look for her either.

I told the girls....that these Plantations and such have to have some kind of "draw" to get people to visit them.

It's very expensive to upkeep these places you know. And they are beautiful and full of history.....and some of the history is tragic....like at this particular Plantation.

I wrote a longer post about St. Francisville earlier this year so check it out so you can learn more about that area called the "Felicianas."
It's geogeous....if you ever come to Louisiana...make sure you visit there.

"Me and KJ"...waiting on the porch for the storm to let up. But it didn't so we made a run for it to the truck.

Shopping in St. Francisville....

Alot of people wanted to know about the shops we went to while in St. Francisville this past weekend. They have some really great shops and there are more antique places further up the road as well.

But before I go any further let me say this first....
I feel sorry for small towns.......because I am from one originally and I know how they can struggle economically.
But I LOVE them. They are so romantic and full of history usually.

Many times all they have to rely on is "Tourism."
IF they have "something" to boast about that is.

My hometown did a famous writer by the name of Mark Twain lived in my town for his childhood. So that is what they rely on to keep tourism alive.

Small towns sometimes loose what industry they have had and some little towns won't let other industry into them. Because they don't want to hamper their tourism. Thus ruining their "quaint, small town image."

In the fall of last year, St. Francisville just lost one of its major employers left in the area.
A paper mill.
I believe if my memory serves me correctly....it employee around 500 people. That is a huge economic loss to those people and that area of the Feliciana's. And nothing has come in to help them regain jobs.

Shops come and go in these types of little towns.

I told my husband that "you have to have some DEEP pockets and or "OLD MONEY" to keep your business alive" in these types of situations. Out of all my years of going to St. Francisville....and we have gone there for many years.

Usually every Plantation has some sort of "gift shop" in it as well.
With postcards and items bearing the namesake and possibly the image of the plantation.

The smaller "Antebellum" homes most often don't have a gift shop although they may carry a few items to sell at their registry counters where you check in at.
"Grandmother's Buttons"

Only THREE main stores have remained open that I can recall. And of course......
I like to shop in them all. HA! HA!
Other little stores seem to "come and go."
That is the high price of being in a little town that is dependent on tourism.

This trip we saw a few new stores....and a few new "antique" stores this trip and we went into them but nothing struck our fancy.

But of course.....I like those three the most that I mentioned earlier.

"Grandmother's Buttons" is a one of kind store. They carry unique "handcrafted Antique Button Jewelry" and other various decorative items in their store.You must read the "history" of the store on their website. This explains how they started (I'm sure you can guess by the name huh?) and all those good things.

Now....I don't know about you all....I see photos that people take in shops on their blogs all the time....maybe they know the owners or whatever...but I for one feel very WEIRD taking "photos" in stores.

Especially some of these little stores. Especially this one forsure because I didn't want them to think I was some person coming in to "STEAL" their ideals.
So I didn't even ask to do it.

I DID however.....find some photos on the web and of course again....they show alot of their jewelry on their website so check it.

Victoria Magazine just featured some of their jewelry for sale in their latest issue. These photos are from them.....this will give you some ideal of what they are all about.Something "Red" to wear for Valentines Day. Hummmm.....Lovely pearls. Do you see the buttons?

I didn't buy any jewelry this trip. But I did buy some clearance items "something SHINY" for later. :~)Yes, that is the SAME "Red with Gold" table cover on my table from Christmas.....I kept it on for "Valentines Day." Red and all you know.

Next.....my husband decided to try to "find" this Wildlife Refuge near the river that he wanted to check out (he's a hunter)...called "Cat Island"...Miss Priss and I went along "for the ride" like good girls.....yawn.

UNFORTUNATELY.....we came to a "Y" in the road and he took the wrong turn (no signs were up) and we ended up going on this very LONG and scary ride on a one lane dirt road...ugh....out in the Louisiana backwoods. Not good.
FINALLY he found his way out of that. But we didn't get to see the Wildlife Refuge...much to the JOY of Miss Priss and myself.

After that excursion into the unknown, we were BACK on track for the shops. We hit a few other places....antique stores and such. Then onto our next FAVE store.......
"Hillscrest Gifts"....sorry no photos again. AT this point Miss Priss was "accusing us of looking like 'tourists' because of the camera around our necks." So we backed off of photo taking totally. I did find this cute little "Fleur Des Leis" picture stand in there. I'll show you that later in a photo.
Last but not least AT ALL....
The "Shanty Too"....me and my friends and Miss Priss LOVE this store. They have cute ladies things....clothes, shoes, purses, vintage cotton sleep ware, kids things and nice, nice decorative items. Oh and a candy shop. Yuummm.

After all that we stopped for a late lunch at our FAVORITE cafe.....
"The Magnolia Cafe"...it's soooo good. You have to go there!
I had the "Butterbean and Shrimp soup" and the "Sunday afternoon baked Chicken dinner special" and Miss Priss and DM both had "French Dip sandwiches with fries."

That soup is to DIE for and they don't serve it often so I told them both to get some and they didn't believe me..until they tasted it..so you know what happened. They ATE mine! I should have gotten the BIG BOWL of it. Oh well.

There you have all the scoop on St. Francisville.
IF you have any thoughts or questions.....please let me know.

Natchez (my other favorite town) is just up the highway from St. Francisville so if you are in the area. TRY to do both.

A "Jewel" of a Town

Today "DM," (my husband)"Miss Priss," and I are traveling to one of our ALL time MOST favorite little towns here in Louisiana today.

"St. Francisville." The town is located in an area of Louisiana called "The Felicianas." There are two "parishes" (counties) that are up there near each other...North Feliciana and South Feliciana.....hence....."The Feliciana's."
It is somewhat "hilly" and lush we find it just beautiful.

This is an old "river" town, and FULL of Antebellium homes, Plantations, various historic old churches, and buildings, along with several Civil War sites.Not to mention some wonderfully fun, and most FAVORITE of "shops" that we like to shop at and wander around in.

One store you possibly have heard of due to its nationally known fame. This store has been featured in many magazines...even recently in the new "Victoria Magazine" January/Feburaruy issue. Amongst a host of other publications that have featured this store.

It's called "Grandmothers Buttons" and I always LOVE to stop in there.

We have an event we need to go to there tonight with some friends, and so I decided that we needed to make a "road trip" out of this time away and booked us a room in town there tonight. I tried to get us into a local B&B but many of them were already full for the weekend early last week when I called, and we needed 2 beds so...it didn't work out. There is however....one hotel in the area so I was able to secure a room there before it too filled up. We've stayed in the B&B's and this perticular hotel and I would have rather CHOOSEN to have stayed at one of the local B&B's because they are fabulous and old.

But I am just GLAD for the oppertunity to "get away" for the weekend.

I will be back in a few days with some "updates!" Don't forget to watch "Masterpiece Theatre" on PBS Sunday night! Check out the earlier posting about that.
Cheers for now!
Joyce