Rural Life Museum

The LSU Rural Life is museum is one of many Southern history tourist attractions in the Baton Rouge area. Located in downtown Baton Rouge, it possesses one of the largest collections of 19th century material around. In this rural 25 acre setting, you can expects many old structures like barns, living quarters, and other examples of other folk architecture which you can look at and study.

The museum is open almost year round, with few holiday closures. The hours are from 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M. Tourists must pay an admission fee for the museum (somewhere around $4-$7), and there is also a gift shop. Things like cameras, cell phones, etc. are all allowed. Parking at the museum is free. There is a number of restaraunts, hotels, and other local establishments which have partnered with the Rural Life museum for you to enjoy. Also, tours of the museum can be made available for those who are in groups of ten or more.

The Exhibit at the Museum has many items which can be as old as a few hundred years, and were all used in plantation life. Each item is explained in detail so the tourist can understand the history. As mentioned before, there are also old quarters located on the plantation for viewing. There is the commissary, overseer's house, sick house, slave cabins, blacksmith shop, sugar house, schoolhouse, and grist mill on the property. The buildings are all typical of their time. The Folk Art portion of the exhibit showcases houses, cabins, and other structures which are typical of other periods of Louisiana history.

The Rural Life museum has been described as "not only a museum, but a replica of a small settlement." "The museum is spectacular... Everything you could imagine... Old carriage drawn funeral carriages, spinning wheels, all sorts of farming tools, medical equipment, etc."

Besides architecture and tools/implements, the museum also showcases what life was really like back in those plantation days. Throughout the year, the museum holds programs which illustrate every-day life and re-enact things which people really had to do back then, which really helps the modern person to understand and appreciate history.