A Storybook Nursery at Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville Louisiana

A while back I took a trip with a friend to Louisiana and we toured a number of the beautiful, old homes there. One of the homes we toured was Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville seen in this photo from Wikipedia. The oak alley leading to this home is enchanting. If you’re ever in the area, stop by and see it in person.

Rosedown Plantation, St. Francisville Louisiana

 

Rosedown is located in West Feliciana Parish was the home of Daniel and Martha (Barrow) Turnbull and they named their home Rosedown after a play they saw on their honeymoon.

Rosedown Plantation

 

Rosedown was once situated on 3,455 acres of land, mostly planted in cotton. So many of the homes we toured were sugarcane plantations so I was surprised to learn Rosedown was a cotton plantation.

Rosedown Plantation, Francisville, LA

 

In a previous post I share the dining room in Rosedown. That post can be found here: Dining Room in Rosedown Plantation

Rosedown Plantation Dining Room, Louisiana

 

In another post we toured the Butler’s Pantry and I shared a wonderful old cake recipe we came across in the pantry. See more of the Butler’s Pantry in this post: Butler’s Pantry in Rosedown Plantation

Butler's Pantry in Rosedown Plantation, Louisiana

 

Today we’re going inside the nursery. The nursery was so sweet, we were all ooohing and ahhhing over it. Is this not the sweetest bed? And look at that adorable wallpaper. I’m guessing the wallpaper is a reproduction of the original paper.

Nursery at Rosedown Plantation, St. Francisville, LA1

 

Looking at this cute chair, I’m trying to decide if it was designed to sit atop the table/base it’s sitting on to make it a highchair. Seems like that would be a bit dangerous, though. Maybe they just had it sitting up there so we could see it better.

Nursery at Rosedown Plantation, St. Francisville, LA4

 

This sweet nursery had its own fireplace.

Nursery at Rosedown Plantation, St. Francisville, LA5

 

These blocks were on the fireplace mantel. Umm, maybe the wallpaper is old after all. It looks pretty old in this photo.

Nursery at Rosedown Plantation, St. Francisville, LA6

 

A lovely Victorian desk in the nursery.

Nursery at Rosedown Plantation, St. Francisville, LA3

 

When I was looking back at these photos of the nursery in Rosedown Plantation, it reminded me of a precious nursery I came across a long, long time ago. The nursery below was designed by Leta Austin Foster & Associates. It’s has to be my most favorite nursery ever.

I love the fireplace, the window seat, the drapes, the rose-covered carpet, the cozy reading chair and of course the sweet rocking horse and teddy bears. This nursery would have been right at home in Rosedown, wouldn’t it? It even has a “rose” theme in the drapes and carpet.

Storybook Nursery with Fireplace, Rocking Horse and Window Seat

 

We’ll tour the other bedrooms in Rosedown soon. They are just as lovely as the nursery. You can read more about Rosedown Plantation at the Louisiana State Park site here: Rosedown Plantation. Tour the dining room inside Rosedown here: Dining Room in Rosedown Plantation Tour the Butler’s Pantry here: Butler’s Pantry in Rosedown Plantation

Rosedown Plantation

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Comments

  1. I love touring old homes. Winchester Mystery House and Hearst castle, both in N. California are also cool to see. Pittock Mansion in Portland, OR is so cool to tour, especially at holiday season as they have each room decorated by a different group in various themes!

  2. I had been touring plantation homes for many years before I discovered Rosedown. It was not open to the public when I first saw it so all that I could do was look through windows into dark rooms. I was so glad when the State of Louisiana took it over and opened it to the public. I love the nursery, especially the bed and dolls. Thanks for sharing.

    • pam ~ crumpety cottage says

      Peeking into windows, Linda. You’re very fortunate you didn’t get a bonk on the head or thrown into the hoosgow. Lol. 😀

  3. Cynthia Lambert says

    The high chair can be a regular chair or placed upon the table to make it a high chair. I have been to Rosedown, and liked it very much indeed.

  4. Linda Campbell says

    Thanks for posting the nursery. It is adorable and what a darling bed. I would love to tour these homes, but live too far away – hopefully someday I can. At least I can see them through your postings!!!!

  5. Marlene Stephenson says

    Such a sweet place for little children and that is what nurseries are all about. You can just picture someone sitting in that chair with a child.

  6. pam ~ crumpety cottage says

    That bed is adorable! It looks like a miniature double bed in every way, save for the side rail. And that other nursery is indeed gorgeous, as well. Did you ever see Father of the Bride II with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton? In that movie, Diane’s character is pregnant in her 40s and she has her daughter’s wedding planner Frahnk (played by Martin Short) design the nursery for her baby. Oh .. my .. gosh! It’s been years since I saw that movie but I remember thinking that nursery was a dream. Susan, if you haven’t seen the movie, it’s worth seeing (or fast forwarding through) until you get to the nursery. It was just so stunning and I wish every baby could be welcomed into the world to such a beautiful home.

    It’s been a while since you were at Rosedown. You’ve been holding out on us, lol. But that was worth waiting for. Thanks. 🙂

    • pam ~ crumpety cottage says

      Susan, I actually got wondering if you could see the pictures of that movie nursery online and sure enough, an image search brought up a couple. What a time we live in! 😀 I just searched for – ‘pictures of the nursery from Father of the Bride II.’

  7. Thank you for all your work on your blog – I look forward to finding it in my email! Did the tour guide happen to mention anything about the “carpeting” shown in several of the rooms? Looks almost like woven squares that are tacked down to the floor (Dining Room and the 6th picture – bed & rocking horse) – I know there were larger looms back then, wondered why they didn’t just have an area rug. Seems like the “tacks” might come out of the squares and be dangerous to a baby or young child.

    • I’m so glad you asked about those, Margaret. I meant to mention them. I asked my friend, Linda, what those were because I couldn’t remember what they told us about them…and I think I even asked while we were there. lol I have the worse memory! Linda said they are mats that are made from the leaves of a local plant that grows around the swamp areas. The leaves are woven to make the mats and are very durable. I just googled it and found a site that shows the Garden Diary for Martha Turnbull, the Mistress of Rosedown. In it she says, “Typically the laying down of the carpet marks the onset of the colder winter months, when woven straw mats are removed from the floor and put away and replaced with wool carpets.”
      I thought at first that it was a covering to protect the floors from all the traffic of the tours, but apparently the mats were there back in the day. I’ve never seen anything like them in other historic homes I’ve toured. I still don’t quite understand what purpose they served, unless they were just a crude form of carpet.

      • Also found this: “In the 1700s, early American homes had wooden floors covered with straw, corn husk and rush woven mats. In 1750, the first carpets appeared, but only the very wealthy could afford these imports. Matting was popular into the 1800s, even into the Victorian age” (1837-1901). “It often was used under dining room tables over valuable carpets. Matting often replaced carpets during the summer months; according to some experts, it” (wool carpet?) “didn’t become a year-round floorcovering until the 1830s.” Rosedown was built in 1835. Maybe, it was what they were used to folks using in the area. Or, possibly, their expensive wool carpet might have been damaged by summer insects and/or Louisiana’s humidity so it was saved to use for warmth in the winter. Oh how different is life today!

        • Sooo interesting! Yeah, with central heat and air, we don’t have to leave our windows and doors open like they did. I sure don’t like the way the matting look, though. Wonder why they didn’t just the leave the wood floors bare. Seems like the matting would just attract bugs and such.

  8. Speaking of movies I thought this house was the house used in Forrest Gump. Either way that is a pretty house.

  9. We were there Nov 2014 for my birthday. Loved it!

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