The LSU Rural Life Museum is а

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

history in Baton Rouge, US. It is located in the Burden Museum and Gardens, a agricultural research experiment station, and is operated under the aegis of

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. As a state with a diverse cultural ancestry, Louisiana has natives of French, Spanish, Native American, German, African, Acadian, and Anglo American heritage. Guided tours are available for groups of ten or more and must be booked in advance. The Rural Life Museum commemorates the contributions made by its various cultural groups through interpretive programs and events throughout the year. The main portion of the museum is outdoors and consists of homes and outbuildings built in the 18th and 19th centuries. This portion of the museum is divided into three areas.Phillips, Fay ' 'The LSU Rural Life Museum & Windrush Gardens: A Living History' ' (The History Press 2010) * The Working Plantation illustrates the life of working people on a 19th-century plantation, with a main focus on the lives of enslaved persons. The complex buildings include a

commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...

overseer Overseer may refer to: Professions * Supervisor or superintendent; one who keeps watch over and directs the work of others *Plantation overseer, often in the context of forced labor or slavery *Overseer of the poor, an official who administered re ...

's house, kitchen, slave cabins, sick house,

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

house,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

shop,

sugar house A sugar shack (french: cabane à sucre), also known as sap house, sugar house, sugar shanty or sugar cabin is a commercial establishment, primarily found in Eastern Canada and northern New England. Sugar shacks are small cabins or groups of cab ...

, church, and

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

. * The Southern part of the outdoor museum includes several cabins and outbuildings, including the Neal home, a

dogtrot house The dogtrot, also known as a breezeway house, dog-run, or possum-trot, is a style of house that was common throughout the Southeastern United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some theories place its origins in the southern Appalac ...

; the Stoker barn; the Stoner Athens Cabin; and a pioneer cabin originally located in Washington Parish. This section highlights the contributions of mainly American settlers to Louisiana in the northern and central part of the state in the 19th century. * The Acadian or

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

portion of the outdoor museums consists of two Acadian style homes, one a replica and the other built by the Bergeron family between 1800 and 1815 on

Bayou Lafourche Bayou Lafourche ( ), originally called Chetimachas River or La Fourche des Chetimaches, (the fork of the Chitimacha), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 20, 2011 ba ...

and moved to the museum in 2005. Additionally, the Barn, an interior warehouse open to the public, houses numerous artifacts from the 19th and early 20th centuries that were utilized in the common life rituals of individuals in rural regions of the state. There is a large collection of farming equipment, tools, furnishings and utensils. The barn was moved to its present site from the

Stoker House The Stoker House, or Old Stoker House, in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, northeast of Many, Louisiana, dates from 1848. It is the oldest house in Sabine Parish still at its original site, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Pla ...

property in Sabine Parish, Louisiana after it was donated in 1999. Windrush gardens and a gift shop are on the grounds and open year-round except for major holidays.

Gallery

File:LSU Rural Life Museum Trip Across Yard From School Cabin.jpg, School Cabin File:LSU Rural Life Museum Trip Barn.jpg, Barn File:LSU Rural Life Museum Trip Cistern.jpg, Cistern File:LSU Rural Life Museum Trip College Grove Baptist Church interior.jpg, Church Interior

References

External links

* Rural Life Museum Open-air museums in Louisiana University museums in Louisiana Rural history museums in the United States Museums in Baton Rouge, Louisiana History museums in Louisiana Tourist attractions in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Houses in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Slave cabins and quarters in the United States {{BatonRougeLA-struct-stub