St. Francisville Festivals and Events

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July 2019

Oakley Plantation inspired artist J.J. Audubon to Greatness

By Anne Butler

oakley 0467 Established on a 1799 Spanish land grant of 600 acres to Ruffin Gray, Oakley Plantation is fascinating in its own right, not just because of its close associations with artist John James Audubon, who in 1821 was hired to tutor the 15-year-old daughter of the plantation in dancing, music, drawing, math and French, plus domestic skills like hair plaiting.

Gray’s wife Lucretia Alston was the daughter of John Alston. who had obtained large land grants from the British near Natchez. When the Spanish governor of Louisiana ousted the English, Alston led an unsuccessful revolt in 1781 and then fled for his life. Sending his wife and three small children overland to safety, Alston was captured and imprisoned. His wife was killed when her horse fell during the flight, but the children were hidden in a one-room cabin on a friend’s Pointe Coupee plantation, cared for by a faithful family retainer named Mammy Patt. At least that’s

June 2019

St. Francisville’s Amazing Grace
By Anne Butler

grace St. Francisville is a beautiful little island of English reserve and decorum in the midst of a state filled with Mardi Gras madness and Catholic confessions. It’s not French. It’s not Creole. It’s not Cajun. So it’s no wonder that the early church in St. Francisville proper, claimed by the French and settled under Spanish rule, would actually be Episcopal, Anglican Protestant to the core.

The area’s Anglo settlers in the opening years of the 1800s established extensive agricultural properties, planting first indigo and then cotton and cane. As they prospered, they chafed under what they considered corrupt Spanish rule even after the Louisiana Purchase. In the fall of 1810 they threw out the Spanish and audaciously established an independent republic, which lasted a grand total of 74 days before the area was added to the United States.

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Festival List

Festival

Walker Percy Weekend

Good food, craft beer and bourbon, live music, and a great time talking about books and Southern culture under the live oaks: That's what the Walker Percy Weekend has to offer when it returns to celebrate the acclaimed novelist's life and work.

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The Day the War Stopped

Each year in June, the beautiful Louisiana town of St. Francisville remembers a day of peace that took place there in the midst of one of the bloodiest months of the Civil War.

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Feliciana Hummingbird Celebration

The Feliciana Nature Society will hold their annual Feliciana Hummingbird Celebration in St. Francisville, Louisiana. The Feliciana Hummingbird Celebration promotes the unique breeding habitat found in the St. Francisville area. The event provides the opportunity to observe hummingbirds up close as they are banded at two private homes in the St. Francisville area. Hummingbird-friendly plants will also be available for sale.

Festival

Polos and Pearls

The evening promises to put a little sizzle into summer by pairing popular shops with the area’s finest eateries, local artisans and musicians. Trolley transportation will link the featured locations along Commerce, Ferdinand and Royal Streets, and each retail outlet is offering special red-hot deals to draw customers to the downtown area to shop in the cool of the evening.

Festival

Southern Garden Symposium

Annual tradition for garden enthusiasts from across the south. With featured speakers, no other gardening program brings together top quality speakers and historic plantation settings as well as the Southern Garden Symposium in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Known as much for its engaging social events and historic venues as for its outstanding gardening lectures and workshops, ....

Festival

Yellow Leaf

Art, music and lots of fun is the Yellow Leaf festival held each fall. Vendors are setup in Parker Park with musicians playing through out the festival.

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Angola Rodeo

The Angola Rodeo, the longest running prison rodeo in the nation, is held twice a year, in the spring and fall.. The Spring rodeo normally being in the third weekend in April and the Fall rodeo every Sunday in October.

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Christmas in the Country

Christmas in the Country is held on the first full weekend in December each year. Features: a small-town parade, peep-show of Christmas decorated homes, breakfast with Santa and much more.