Tiny Unspoiled St. Francisville, Louisiana, Sprouts A Colorful Crop of B&Bs There’s Even One For Fido! by Anne Butler It took awhile for the charm of the Bed & Breakfast experience to spread South from New England and Europe, where for centuries shelter for savvy travelers was provided in everything from quaint cottages to magnificent castles. But the B&B experience has always been about a whole lot more than simply shelter, offering instead a cultural and gastronomic introduction to each specific locale. Nowhere is it more suitable than in the South with its unique culture and cuisine, and the knowledgeable B&B host offers the inside scoop on what to see and do in the area while also making him/herself scarce when guests just want to enjoy peace and privacy. From the closing days of the 18th century, when a rude shantytown sprang up to accommodate the needs of the flatboatmen traversing the Mississippi River on their way south to New Orleans, the St. Francisville area has provided facilities for travelers. By the early 1900's, fashionable steamboat passengers would disembark there for magnificent multi-coursed meals at its fine hotels, expecting and receiving accommodations to equal the elegance of the floating paddlewheeled palaces upon which they had arrived. Now that the St. Francisville area has become one of Louisiana's favorite tourist destinations, with its resplendent restored antebellum plantation homes and unspoiled woodlands, overnight possibilities for guests can suit every taste. As tourism has changed with the Baby Boomer generation’s approach to retirement age, B&B hosts are responding by providing more of what appeals to this huge group that swelled population counts in OB hospitals and nurseries just after World War II, overloaded school systems in its educational phase, and now strikes terror into the hearts of providers of overtaxed geriatric services. What the Baby Boomers want in their older adulthood is a different kind of travel opportunity: daringly active, fascinatingly educational, and lushly luxurious. The varied Bed & Breakfasts of the St. Francisville area have responded by offering a much more complete experience than simply a place to lay a head. For guests wanting an active experience, there is golf at The Bluffs or the new and most unusual course at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. There is challenging hiking to the waterfalls at Clark Creek Natural Area or the Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area in the rugged foothills of the Appalachians or not so strenuous hiking at the Nature Conservancy’s Mary Ann Brown Preserve. Pond or lake fishing is offered at several of the B&Bs, along with nature trails. Cross Creek Stables (225-655-4233) provides gaited horses for three-hour rides through beautiful unspoiled wilderness areas on established trails. There is unsurpassed birding in this area where artist-naturalist John James Audubon was spellbound in the 1820’s and painted a large percentage of his Birds of America series locally; huge populations of both resident and migratory birds remain to be enjoyed, and the wonderful new Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge along this unleveed stretch of the Mississippi River provides opportunities to study birds in a most unusual habitat area which is sometimes under 20 feet of water during spring floods. Excellent spring and summer birding opportunities for experts and beginners alike are presented by the Audubon Birdfest and Hummingbird festivals, with guided field trips to remote reaches led by ornithologists knowledgeable about the bird populations and habitat areas, and during the rest of the year nationally recognized resident bird artist Murrell Butler offers guided bird walks. Overtaxed muscles appreciate the services of the local massage therapist, who plies her trade in her downtown studio and also makes house calls which are immensely popular with visitors wishing to be pampered. One B&B owner commented on another change in travel demographics when she noted that last Christmas, many of her overnight guests were travelling with unusual companions. “Most of my guests were women alone, either widows or divorcees or married women simply needing time on their own away from their empty nests, and they were with their favorite travelling companions. After about the fourth similar reservation, when the guest said ‘You’ll never guess who my significant other will be,” I replied ‘Your dog, right?’ and I was right. So many people now are travelling with pets, and we must try to accommodate them just as we have accommodated the children when this travelling group was younger and in their child-rearing years.” Consequently, some of St. Francisville’s B&Bs accept pets. For others that do not permit pets as guests, a new service has sprung up to meet the need, the cleverly named Bed ‘n Biscuit (225-635-2838), a pet boarding facility designed to entertain visiting animals while owners tour or shop or stay overnight. The St. Francisville area, with all its outdoor recreational opportunities, provides a perfect pet destination, and if the other B&Bs provide wonderful services for people, consider the pampering offered the pet guests at Bed ‘n Biscuit: air-conditioned suites with soft bedding and a welcoming biscuit upon arrival, outside playtime at least three times a day in fenced area, room service daily to clean accommodations, relaxing baths and massages, raised beds, medication administration, flea treatment, after-hours check-in or out, shuttle service and grooming, with a veterinarian on call to handle unexpected illnesses. There’s even a gift shop featuring gourmet doggie treats, all-natural shampoos and special toys. Cats are welcomed as well. This is billed as a flea-free environment; guests needing flea treatment will be treated at owner’s expense, and the bath rates are based on poundage (thank goodness that’s not the policy in the human B&Bs). For two-legged guests, there is a modern full-service motel, the recently renovated Best Western St. Francis Hotel on the Lake (225-635-3821), with rooms enough to accommodate entire bus loads of overnight guests. There are accommodations at conference centers like Hemingbough (225-635-6617), with facilities for large groups, weddings, conventions and concerts in a lovely lakeside setting, and overnight rooms in a replica of the garconniere at Uncle Sam Plantation. At the other extreme are several suite-apartment facilities and the dozen tiny efficiency apartments downtown known as the 3-V Tourist Courts (225-635-5540), reminiscent of the fabulous forties' automobile age. There is also the The Lodge at The Bluffs on Thompson Creek (225-634-3410), Feliciana's first golf resort. Its tastefully decorated suites feature living rooms and bedrooms, wet bars and verandas, plus full business facilities, and there is a restaurant on the grounds as well as a pro shop. The spectacular golf course at The Bluffs was designed by golf great Arnold Palmer. To really savor the flavor of the St. Francisville area, however, guests should spend some time at one of the marvelous Bed & Breakfasts, where accommodations tend to reflect the personalities of the owners and their specific locations, varying from the brand-spanking new to the historic. In the midst of St. Francisville's Historic District, within easy walking distance of all the attractions in town, are such B&B's as the well-established and beautifully appointed Barrow House and Printer's Cottage (225-635-4791) on Royal St., and Shadetree (225-635-6116) with its eclectic elegance perched atop a hill overlooking the river. The Wolf-Schlesinger House, aka St. Francisville Inn (225-635-6502), is a real European-style country inn right in the center of town, with overnight rooms overlooking a rear landscaped courtyard and a front area selling antiques and mesmerizing digital images of birdlife and local scenes done by the creative owner; the outstanding breakfast buffet here is open to the public. In the countryside around St. Francisville, B&B guests glory in the historic ambiance of some of the area's most interesting antebellum plantation homes. Butler Greenwood Plantation (225-635-6312) accommodates guests in charming cottages scattered across the extensive oak-shaded grounds, some along the banks of the duck pond and others perched at the edges of steep wooded ravines. The Myrtles (225-635-6277) has elaborately furnished guest rooms in the main house as well as outbuildings, and the appearance of the resident ghost just might (no guarantees) be an added attraction in what is billed as "America's most haunted house." The Cottage Plantation (225-635-3674), which hosted Andrew Jackson on his way home from the Battle of New Orleans, offers overnight stays in the historic main house, an attached wing and one well-equipped pond-side private cottage. These three plantations date from the 1790's. There is also a B&B on the spacious grounds of rebuilt Greek Revival Greenwood Plantation as well, providing overnight facilities in a separate two-story structure across the reflecting pond from the magnificent main house (225-655-3850). In all of these countryside B&B's guests enjoy the experience of plantation living while still remaining easily accessible to St. Francisville's shops and restaurants, and tours of the historic main houses serve to enhance the pleasure of the night's stay there. Also in the country are relatively new B&Bs like Green Springs (225-635-4232), with rooms in renovated shotgun cabins and nature trails through the hilly wooded acreage. Lake Rosemound Inn (225-635-3176) overlooks a huge lake not far below the Mississippi state line, and the guests there have access to fishing and a sandy beach as well as a help-yourself ice cream parlor. A full-service campground, Green Acres (225-635-4903), has hook-ups for those travelling in recreational vehicles. Among the extras at certain of these lodgings are restaurants, swimming pools and tennis courts, recreational lakes for fishing, bridal suites with all the trimmings, functional fireplaces and hot tubs, full plantation breakfasts or in-room kitchens, nature trails and guided bird walks, championship golfing, and either the conviviality of sharing experiences with other guests at joint meals in common rooms or the complete peace and privacy of individual cottages sheltered by overhanging live oaks with only the birds for company. Whatever suits a visitor's taste, the St. Francisville area has just the right type of lodging to enhance the enjoyment of a visit and ensure the experiencing of life there to the fullest. An excellent way to select the perfect accommodation is to examine the online websites for individual facilities; most B&B's have detailed homepages linked to the local B&B organization's page at www.stfrancisvilleovernight.com, or to the St. Francisville tourism page at www.stfrancisville.us. Located on US Highway 61 on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge, LA, and Natchez, MS, the St. Francisville area is a year-round tourist destination. Six historic plantations-Rosedown and Audubon State Historic Sites, Butler Greenwood, the Myrtles, the Cottage and Greenwood-are open for daily tours, while Catalpa Plantation and Afton Villa Gardens are open periodically. Reasonably priced meals are available in a nice array of restaurants in St. Francisville, and eclectic shops fill restored 19th-century structures throughout the historic downtown area. The scenic unspoiled Tunica Hills region surrounding St. Francisville offers excellent biking, hiking, fishing, birding, horseback riding and other recreational activities. For online coverage of tourist facilities and attractions in the St. Francisville area, see www.StFrancisville.us, www.StFrancisville.net, or www.StFrancisvilleOvernight.com; or telephone (225) 635-3873 or 635-6330. For high resolution photographs for media use, please email PHOTOS ; by Patrick Walsh.