|
The Cottage Plantation House was built from 1795 to 1859
and consists of three buildings joined together. The architecture
reflects both Spanish and English influence. Built of virgin
cypress, except the massive sills, the core of the house dates
from the Spanish colonial era, beginning in 1795. Completed
in 1859, the Cottage Plantation consisted of two buildings
in the form of an "L," with the original house as
part of the foot of the L. Standing complete as it did in
antebellum days, the Cottage Plantation has in addition to
the plantation home the old school house, outside kitchen,
milk house, carriage house, barn, three slave houses, and
other outbuildings. Every room was originally furnished with
a hand carved fireplace mantle, some of extreme simplicity
and others elaborate with fluted Doric columns and panels
in a sunburst design.
Judge Thomas Butler (1785-1847) acquired the Cottage Plantation
around 1800. Judge Butler was the first Criminal Court judge
of the Florida Parishes and a member of Congress. Moving to
the Mississippi Territory c.1807, after practicing law in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he became a Captain of a calvary
troop in the Mississippi Territory Militia in 1810. Appointed
Parish Judge in 1812 and Judge of the Third District in 1813
by Governor Clairborne of Louisiana, he was elected to the
Fifteenth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation
of Thomas B. Robertson. Re-elected to the Sixteenth Congress,
he served until March 3, 1821. Butler was the owner of 12
sugar and cotton plantations, president of the board of trustees
of the Louisiana College in Jackson, and a member of the Pennsylvania
Society of the Cincinnati. He died in St.Louis, Missouri,
on August 27, 1848, and is interned on his plantation, "The
Cottage."
The Cottage Plantation is located at 10528 Cottage Ln., off
US Hwy 61, six miles north of St. Francisville, on the east
side of the road. The Cottage offers bed and breakfast accommodations
and tours daily from 9:00am to 4:30pm, there is a fee for
admission. Closed on major holidays.
Return to the Main "Plantations" Page
Information provided by The Louisiana Office of State Parks
|
