Magnolia Mound

The story behind the eighteenth-century French Creole cottage now on the National Register of Historic Places, with illustrations included.

Magnolia Mound, situated on a ridge overlooking the meandering Mississippi River, stands as Baton Rouge’s most notable eighteenth-century structure. This volume, researched and written under the direction of the Magnolia Mound Board of Trustees, traces the origin and development of this splendid Creole raised cottage, providing an intimate look at plantation life and the economic system that supported it.

Beginning with the original land grant of 1786, the authors document both the social and the architectural history of the celebrated structure—from its origin as a modest settler’s house and farm to its later grandeur as a distinctive home situated within an extensive working plantation. The book also includes an account of the successful struggle by the Foundation for Historical Louisiana—which keeps the building and grounds open to the public—to save the house from destruction in 1960.

Winner, Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History