Barthel Pigeonnier - Baton Rouge, LA
N 30° 25.561 W 091° 11.196
15R E 674160 N 3367389
Quick Description: Located on and part of the Magnolia Mound Plantation complex. Complex is located at 2161 Nicholson Dr in Baton Rouge.
Location: Louisiana, United States
Date Posted: 12/31/2008 5:23:57 PM
Waymark Code: WM5FDE
Views: 10
Long Description:Pigeonniers have long signified wealth to the French. Having one
was a meaning of having money. There are many of them in south
Louisiana, mostly they are close to and or part of large plantation
complexes. This one is no exception. Part of NRHP Magnolia Mound
Plantation.
Magnolia
Mound. The Barthel Pigeonnier is behind the main house. The
whole complex is a very fine museum. Open year round (except major
holidays). At my visit the prices were VERY reasonable ($6.00usd
adults for tour of plantation home and grounds or just $2.00usd for
a walking tour of just the grounds= see secondary website for more
details). I have driven past this all my life, and this was my
first visit. The grounds of the complex are very nice, all the
buildings are furnished with period furnishings and implements.
Here is a link to the pigeonnier's Register application
here.
The Barthel Pigeonnier is significant on the state level as a
rare surviving example of a building type which was once common in
Louisiana. Pigeonniers are one of the most direct links between
Louisiana architecture and the architecture of provincial France.
At one time almost every Creole plantation had one or more
pigeonniers featured prominently on the grounds near the main
house. This is evidenced by Adrian Persac paintings and by
plantation inventories of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth
centuries. However, as far as the State Historic Preservation
Office can determine, the Barthel Pigeonnier is one of only about
thirty examples remaining in Louisiana.