History comes alive at the LSU Rural Life Museum

Where can you take a real-life self-guided tour of how life in Louisiana was during the 19th century? Only in a place known as both “Louisiana’s best kept secret” and “one of the Top 10 outdoor museums in the world,” of course! Spend the entire day wandering through the past at the LSU Rural Life Museum conveniently located in the heart of Baton Rouge. The outdoor museum will take you to a forgotten way of life when things were slower, work seemed harder and people knew everyone by name.
 
The museum’s offerings are showcased in three separate areas known as the Exhibit Barn, the Plantation Quarters, and the Folk Architecture area. A flat boat, last used during the historic 1927 flood, is on display in the Exhibit Barn. The stationary 1861 Merrick Walking Beam Steam Engine, used to saw wood, is one of eight in the entire nation!

In the Plantation Quarters, you’ll see how a slave on a working plantation spent their time during the day. You can sit in a chair in the school house before heading to the Kitchen Garden where the evening meal was grown. After you stand in a small, cramped slave house, be sure to visit the Overseer’s House and see how the “manager of the slaves” lived.

As you enter the Folk Architecture area of the 320-plus acre outdoor museum, you’ll feel as if you are traveling through time and space while you walk among 19th century buildings representing rural life from all parts of Louisiana. From the Acadian House to the Carolina Cabin, you’ll find a construction style that fits your taste.

Cool off in the Museum’s new 20,000-square-foot visitor center! Relax as you watch the film in their state-of-the-art movie theatre or look over the museum’s expansive grounds before you venture outside.

As you prepare to leave, you’ll walk out of the LSU Rural Life Museum feeling as though you just popped out of a movie screen and jumped back into the reality of 21st century America.