Louisiana has a plantation built by a wanted man, and the story only gets wilder from there

A Whiskey Rebel’s Southern Hideout

St. Francisville, Louisiana, sits about 25 miles north of Baton Rouge, and tucked into 18 acres of live oaks and Spanish moss, you’ll find a house with a story that starts with a man on the run.

David Bradford, a Pennsylvania lawyer, fled south after the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and built a home on a 650-acre land grant in what was then Spanish West Florida. That house still stands.

What happened inside it over the next two centuries is the kind of history you don’t forget.

A fugitive lawyer built Laurel Grove in 1796

Bradford called the place Laurel Grove. He settled on the land before President John Adams pardoned him, and once the pardon came through, his wife Elizabeth and their five children made the trip south to join him.

Bradford died in 1808, and the property passed through family hands to his son-in-law Clark Woodruff.

In 1834, Woodruff sold the estate to a wealthy planter named Ruffin Gray Stirling, and that sale changed everything about the house and its name.

The Stirlings doubled the house and renamed it

Stirling and his wife Mary Catherine Cobb poured money into the property. They nearly doubled the size of the house and filled it with furniture imported from Europe.

They renamed it “The Myrtles” after the crape myrtle trees that grew across the grounds.

The grand estate you see today took shape under their watch, and it carries the Stirling name in spirit even though the family is long gone. The bones of the house still reflect their taste.

Twenty-two rooms sit inside a Creole cottage frame

The house follows the Creole cottage style you see across 19th-century Louisiana. It sits on a hill facing east, a one-and-a-half-story frame structure with a clapboard exterior.

Bradford’s original 1796 build had six bays and three dormers. The Stirlings expanded it to nine bays in the 1850s, and now 22 rooms spread across two floors.

Six brick chimneys rise from the gabled roof, and a mix of double-paned and single-paned pedimented dormers line the top.

A 125-foot veranda wrapped in iron grapevines

Walk up to the front of the house and the first thing you notice is the veranda. It stretches 125 feet across the full front and wraps around the south end.

Cast-iron railings line the porch, and the metalwork shows an elaborate grape-cluster pattern that holds up a broad Doric entablature above.

Centuries-old live oaks draped in Spanish moss frame the approach from every angle. This is one of the most photographed plantation fronts in Louisiana, and you’ll understand why.

A 300-pound crystal chandelier hangs in the entry hall

The front doors open between a transom and sidelights filled with original hand-painted stained glass etched in a French cross pattern, a design tradition held would keep evil spirits out.

Step inside and the entry hall runs the full length of the house, lined with open pierced friezework and faux-bois detailing. A French Baccarat crystal chandelier weighing more than 300 pounds hangs overhead.

Carrara marble mantels, an Aubusson tapestry, gold-leafed French furnishings, and original flooring fill the rooms beyond.

A gazebo island sits in the oak-shaded grounds

The 18 acres outside the main house hold their own weight. Centuries-old live oaks heavy with Spanish moss shade nearly everything.

A large pond with a small island sits on the grounds, and a walking bridge leads you to a gazebo out on the water. Crape myrtles and azalea bushes grow thick in the humid Louisiana air.

Behind the main house, the oldest structure on the property still stands, originally Bradford’s dwelling while the big house went up.

One documented murder happened on the front porch

On Jan. 26, 1871, someone shot William Drew Winter on the front porch with a double-barrel gun. Winter served as the plantation’s lawyer and manager, and newspaper accounts from the time reported he died instantly.

Nobody ever solved the murder. He’s buried at Grace Episcopal Church Cemetery in St. Francisville.

Some accounts claim as many as 10 killings took place at the house, but historical records back only Winter’s death. That gap between rumor and record matters here.

Ghost stories here date to the 1940s

The Myrtles has carried a reputation as one of America’s most haunted homes since at least the 1940s.

The most famous legend involves an enslaved woman named Chloe, but historians have found no record of anyone by that name in the Woodruff family’s property documents.

Scholar Tiya Miles documented in 2015 that many of the plantation’s ghost narratives lean on stereotypes rather than historical fact.

The haunted reputation grew in the 1950s under owner Marjorie Munson and spread through books and television.

Unsolved Mysteries and Ghost Hunters came knocking

Television brought the plantation into living rooms across the country. Unsolved Mysteries filmed a segment here in 2002.

Ghost Hunters investigated in 2005. Ghost Adventures and Most Terrifying Places in America both ran episodes at the estate.

In 2024, the property showed up on Netflix’s Files of the Unexplained.

Former owner Frances Kermeen published a book calling it the most haunted house in America, and that label stuck in pop culture long after the cameras left.

Candlelight mystery tours run seven nights a week

Guided daytime tours walk you through six downstairs rooms filled with period furnishings. If you want the folklore side, evening Mystery Tours run seven nights a week by candlelight.

Private evening tours are available Sunday through Thursday for smaller groups. You can also take a self-guided walking tour of the grounds during the day.

When you get hungry, Restaurant 1796 on the property serves American, Cajun-Creole, and seafood for brunch, lunch, and dinner right on site.

Sleep in the main house or a standalone cottage

The plantation runs as a boutique hotel with roughly 20 guest rooms.

You can book a historically appointed room in the main house, a garden room, or a standalone cottage. Every overnight stay includes a complimentary daytime tour of the home.

A coffee shop and lounge on the grounds give you a reason to slow down between meals and tours. The property stays open seven days a week. Check-in starts at 3 p.m. and check-out runs until 11 a.m.

Half of America’s millionaires once lived nearby

St. Francisville sits in West Feliciana Parish and claims to be one of Louisiana’s oldest settlements.

Before the Civil War, more than half of America’s millionaires lived on plantations along the Mississippi between New Orleans and Natchez.

Nearby Rosedown Plantation preserves an 1835 mansion with 28 acres of formal gardens and 90 percent of its original furnishings.

The Audubon State Historic Site at Oakley House is where John James Audubon worked in 1821 while compiling Birds of America. Hiking, biking, and a walkable downtown fill out the rest.

Visit Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana

You can find Myrtles Plantation at 7747 US Highway 61, St. Francisville, La. The drive takes about 25 miles north of Baton Rouge and roughly 85 miles from New Orleans by interstate.

Tours, dining, and overnight stays run seven days a week, but reservations help, especially for evening mystery tours. Check the official website for current rates, tour times, and room availability before you head out.

This is one of those places where a full day barely scratches the surface.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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