From bright green pastures kept tidy by meandering horses to the secretive shadows of cypress guarded swamp - or the graceful ancient lines of historic buildings, the little city of St Francisville is a fine picture of life along the Mississippi. Just a wee way south of the Louisiana border, this destination will charm your socks off and leave you with haunting memories, ala the ghosts of The Myrtles Plantation (tabbed one of America's "most haunted" mansions).
There's certainly an aura blown about on the flower-scented breeze here, a sense of southern history that's almost tangible. Catch St Francisville's little brick church on a misty morning and it's the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, or wander under a leafy canopy for a Gone with the Wind look at some distant romance in an age of sweeping gowns, heated passions and intrigue ? pure Old South.
There's a long list of plantations to visit locally, and a stroll through the historic downtown rates a must. Stop in at the West Feliciana Historical Society Museum to learn more about local development, then take an easy drive out to Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge for a variety of pursuits, from bird-watching to hunting, hiking to camera hoisting.
No holds barred, for old-school lock ups, the Louisiana State Penitentiary Museum in nearby Angola (24 miles more or less west) serves as witness and jury to the fact that there is, somewhere in America, a museum for just about anything.
St Francisville is 30 miles north of Baton Rouge.
