Secret Garden

Visitors know it as an urban greenspace, a quiet respite in the heart of the city. LSU AgCenter horticulturists study Creole tomatoes and other native crops on its research plots. The history of slavery and the lifestyle of yeomen farmers are preserved in its exhibits. Couples pronounce their vows in its quaint chapel. Children—thousands of them—traverse its corn maze in the fall. And foodies savor the handiwork of local chefs under its moonlit trees in the spring.  

Established in the Sixties, Burden Museum and Gardens remains one of the capital region’s most undiscovered, yet wildly engaging, secrets, said Jeff Kuehny, director of the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens. “Local residents are constantly learning about us for the first time,” said Kuehny. “Here we are, 440 acres and right in the middle of town. It’s a really unusual and wonderful use of space with a great sense of place.”

This stunning swath of Burden family land off Essen Lane was donated to LSU over a period of several years by landscaper Ollie Steele Burden, his sister, Ione Easter Burden, and their sister-in-law, Jeannette Monroe Burden. The site features three main exhibits, the LSU Rural Life Museum, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens, and Windrush Gardens. Burden also hosts a series of annual events for both adults and children that highlight Louisiana’s history and culture. Upcoming events include the Ione Burden Symposium (March 4), Brush with Burden (March 11-19), Master Gardener Plant Sale (March 25), the Zapp’s International Beer Fest (April 1), An Old Fashioned Easter Celebration (April 9), Gourmet in the Garden (April 20), Classic Soul with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra (May 13) and Garden Fest (June 17).

Originally, Burden was used primarily as a research station for LSU AgCenter horticulture and agriculture researchers. Then in 1976, the Rural Life Museum opened, drawing visitors to compelling exhibits on the lifestyles of Louisiana’s working classes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Last year, 72,000 guests visited the museum, one-quarter from outside the United States.

The site is a must-see for understanding how the majority of Louisiana residents once lived, said Rural Life Museum Director David Floyd. “We have the largest collection of Louisiana vernacular architecture and material culture anywhere,” said Floyd. “Because of our association with LSU, visitors know that everything they see and read has been carefully researched.”

The museum recently opened a new Visitor’s Center exhibit to better prime guests before they enter the main outdoor exhibits. The new exhibit explains Louisiana’s agrarian past, history of slavery, and the economic and social differences between north and south Louisiana. It also explores how the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Industrial Revolution impacted rural Louisiana’s chief players: slaves, planters, and farmers. 

The outdoor exhibits, including a barn, overseer’s house, kitchen, and several outbuildings, are packed with artifacts and interpretative information. Knowledgeable docents explain the history of items like an authentic slave pen—a jarring reminder of a slave’s daily plight—and the rare Merrick & Sons walking beam steam engine, one of just five such engines remaining in the United States.

Elsewhere at Burden, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens bursts with proof of Louisiana’s year-round growing season. Eleven separate gardens offer glimpses of diverse foliage and include a Children’s Garden, which enables families to learn about backyard growing and pollinators, and an herb garden that explores the historic use of herbs. The Camellia Garden contains 450 different varieties of the species and is one of the largest private collections in the U.S. The Rose Garden, one of Steele Burden’s favorites, features about 1,500 plants that are in full bloom in April and May and again in October and November.

“Different things are blooming throughout the year,” said  Kuehny. “It makes it feel like a different place each time you come.”

Rounding out the gardens is Trees and Trails, a five-mile trail system that includes an urban forest of hardwood trees and a boardwalk through wetlands.

Burden’s third major attraction, Windrush Gardens, takes visitors back to the ancestral home of the Burden family on twenty-five acres that reveal Steele Burden’s passion for distinct garden rooms and outdoor sculpture. Windrush shows Burden’s key influences: the gardens of Europe and nineteenth-century Louisiana plantations.

“We’ve really got something for everyone here,” said Kuehny. “Burden is a living, breathing place that changes every day.”