Burden Museum & Gardens

In the very center of the bustling capital of Baton Rouge, escaping city life proves surprisingly easy. Just a quick turn off Essen Lane reveals the grounds of Burden Museum & Gardens, an award-winning urban green space dedicated to embracing the beauty of Louisiana’s land and its rich heritage.

From the clank of a blacksmith’s hammer at the LSU Rural Life Museum to the perfume of Steele Burden’s prized Rose Garden, the soothing shade of the camellia at Windrush Gardens to the crisp, juicy bite of the season’s first Creole tomato, the Burden Museum & Gardens contains plenty to delight all the senses. But these 440 acres are far more than a collection of simple sensory delights; for over 50 years they've enticed visitors from Baton Rouge and around the world with an expanse where minds can bloom alongside the lush Louisiana flowers.

Originally Windrush Plantation of the Burden family in the 1800s, the Burden Museum & Gardens is now a lovingly curated showcase designed to bring visitors closer to nature and to Louisiana's history. Steele Burden and his sister Ione, along with their sister-in-law Jeanette Monroe Burden, began donating the land to LSU in 1966 with the intention of preserving the past while giving future generations the opportunity to learn from and enjoy it.

“It was a wonderful gift from the Burdens,” said David Floyd, director of the LSU Rural Life Museum. “Not just the land, but the mission to go along with it.”

At the Rural Life Museum, detailed exhibits offer insight into day-to-day existence on a farm in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as the harsher realities of slavery and plantation life in that time period. Adults can appreciate the painstaking research and variety of information and artifacts on display, from rustic handmade tools to exhaustive timelines, while hands-on activities help children to better understand life in the past.

“When you simply tell a child, ‘This is how life was like a hundred years ago,’ it doesn’t really sink in as much,” Floyd explains. “But if they make, say, a candle with their own hands and realize that this is how their grandmother’s grandmother did it, then it becomes more real.”

In addition to the Rural Life Museum, Burden Museum & Gardens also houses the renowned LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens on the property. Per the Burdens’ mission, the Botanic Gardens provide fertile ground for extensive research in various horticultural and agricultural fields, including many sustainability projects. Various events, from seminars to plant sales, offer the public ample opportunity to get a little closer to nature.

“When you simply tell a child, ‘This is how life was like a hundred years ago,’ it doesn’t really sink in as much,” Floyd explains. “But if they make, say, a candle with their own hands and realize that this is how their grandmother’s grandmother did it, then it becomes more real.”

Thanks to the considerable size of the grounds, it’s easy to keep the body active along with the mind. A tranquil stroll through Windrush Gardens among crepe myrtle and live oak highlights Steele Burden’s landscaping ability as well as the Burden family home, a well-preserved example of 19^th-century Louisiana architecture. Trees and Trails invites all ages to embark on a 3-mile system of walking and hiking trails while learning about the surrounding environment.

Though open year-round, this fall Burden Museum & Gardens is hosting a variety of events which take advantage of the long-awaited wind-down of Louisiana summer heat.

On October 7 and 8, the LSU Rural Life Museum will be celebrating its twenty-second year of Harvest Days, a living history weekend showcasing the bustle of harvest season on an eighteenth or nineteenth century Louisiana farm. The Saturday of Harvest Days marks the opening of the Corn Maze Festival at the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens; the Corn Maze is also open each Saturday in October, including for the Night Maze and Bonfire on October 28th. More family fun is to be had at the Rural Life Museum on October 29th: Haints, Haunts, and Halloween conjures up a safe environment for kids to trick-or-treat and indulge in other activities, including music, soothsaying, and bobbing for donuts.

For a more sophisticated adults’ night out, Wine and Roses in the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens offers music, dining, and a horticultural fashion show on October 11th. Or if you’re a little more rowdy, the country-themed Red Rooster Bash on November 9th at LSU Rural Life Museum might be more your speed.

Move further into the holiday season and deck the halls with the annual Poinsettia Show and Sale at the greenhouse of the Botanic Gardens on December 1. The pinnacle of the celebrations come on December 3rd with the Rural Life Christmas celebrations, joyfully highlighting holiday traditions from various cultures that have shaped the Louisiana we know today.

“It’s a vignette of a different time,” says David Floyd of a day at the Rural Life Museum. And one of the best parts of visiting any of the Burden Museum & Gardens? “It’s so easy—you’re not traveling thirty, forty miles to see this thing. It’s right here, right in the middle of the city.”