Small Town, Big Dreams
From the same bohemian, entrepreneurial spirit that has captivated visitors to St. Francisville for generations rises a tide of new projects set to firmly establish the West Feliciana town as a luxurious, one-of-a-kind travel destination
The first article I wrote for Country Roads was about the Shadetree Inn in St. Francisville. The year was 1996 and I’d only called Louisiana home for a couple of months when an article intended for the “Weekends Away” section of the magazine fell through, creating a chance for a wet-behind-the-ears recent arrival to see his name in print for the first time. I didn’t know much about St. Francisville, and still less about how my newly adopted hometown fit into the firmament of popular Louisiana getaway destinations. But even I could see that Shadetree was special. A beautifully-appointed trio of suites occupying whimsical structures set on a hilltop in the Historic District, Shadetree was simultaneously rustic and chic. It was the result of a collaboration, creative and otherwise, between a free-spirited bohemian aesthete named Kenwood Kennon and a recovering New York designer named Ellen Stoller. Kenwood, whose father, Robert F. Kennon, was Louisiana governor between 1952 and 1956, briefly owned West Feliciana’s remote Como Plantation, where a group of like-minded souls lived communally for a stint during the seventies. But before that, he had begun work on the place that would become Shadetree, and in time the wooded hilltop crackled with the same free-spirited hippy bonhomie that fueled the commune deep in the Tunica Hills. With Ellen’s arrival came a sophisticated overlay of worldly luxuries, and the plan to convert the hilltop into a bed and breakfast in 1993. Shadetree’s suites became places where glowing color palettes, sumptuous fabrics, and bookshelves filled with eclectic volumes harmonized with stained glass transoms, pecky cypress woodwork, and twisted willow furnishings by legendary Louisiana crafter Huey Dupont. The effect was electric and, by the time I came along in 1995, Shadetree was the most highly sought-after of St. Francisville’s many places to stay.
[Read about the Friday night St. Francisville tradition of dances at The Magnolia Café, here.]
What I didn’t understand then was that, as unique as Shadetree’s hippy-naturalist-meets-Southern-sophisticate aesthetic appeared to a new arrival, it was also quintessentially St. Francisville—the result of a complex interplay between different constituencies that manages to coexist peacefully here (mostly). In a place where many large estates remain in family hands for generations, elements of landed Southern rural aristocracy tended to set the social tone, while also readily absorbing new arrivals and their ideas. Perhaps this is a legacy of St. Francisville’s onetime identity as genteel neighbor to Bayou Sara—the bawdy port town that was once the busiest between Natchez and New Orleans. West Feliciana’s natural assets have always drawn writers, artists, and other creative spirits, whose observations (like those of a certain artist-naturalist who arrived to paint birds a couple of hundred years ago) have sharpened the sensibilities of locals and visitors alike to the singular qualities that, within Louisiana, defined West Feliciana as a place apart. Consequently, through the efforts of people like Kenwood and Ellen, and Robin Marshall, who founded The Magnolia Café in 1981; and Michael Miller, who came to build a wood-fired kiln deep in the Tunica Hills, where he taught himself to make exquisite works of ceramic art, St. Francisville developed a facility for absorbing new arrivals and their ideas and lifestyles, and became better and more interesting for them. A habit of supporting interesting, bohemian ideas seeped into the community’s bloodstream, enabling quirky passion projects like Shadetree, The Magnolia, Airhouse Pottery, Grandmother’s Buttons, and (dare I say it) Country Roads magazine to flourish, and proving to others with dreams of building singular things, that St. Francisville was a place that would nourish them.
[Read our January 2023 story about the closure of St. Francisville mainstay Grandmother's Buttons, here—and listen to our interview with Susan Davis via our podcast DETOURS, here.]
Perhaps this is another legacy of its port town origins, but for most of its existence, St. Francisville has attracted visitors. Tourism has long been important to the local economy, with travelers drawn by the prospect of visiting plantation houses, visiting the little cluster of shops in its fastidiously preserved Historic District (for which we have Libby Dart and the founding matriarchs of the West Feliciana Historical Society to thank), and perhaps spending the night at a bed and breakfast. But beyond that brief list of attractions, for a long time St. Francisville didn’t actually offer much to do. Sometimes over the years, upon hearing a visitor profess love for St. Francisville, I’ve asked what it is that keeps them coming back. After name-checking lunch at The Magnolia, a historic home or two, and a few shops along Ferdinand Street, it often seems that something about the friendly, small-town atmosphere and a certain sense of place created by the combination of historic architecture and a slightly bohemian spirit, are the community’s most enduring attractions. But all that is changing. St. Francisville’s openness to new people with new ideas is bearing fruit. This fall, no fewer than five ambitious projects have the potential to capitalize on the town’s enduring appeal to visitors, while also dramatically enriching what it offers to those of us fortunate to call it home. All are the passion projects by local people whose creative drive and vision for what their town can be, have overcome many obstacles. So, here is a brief introduction to projects that we believe are changing the face of St. Francisville in important ways, and to the people behind them. In some way, all stand on the shoulders of pioneering locals like Kenwood and Ellen Kennon, Robin Marshall, Michael Miller, Susan and Donny Davis, and others who came here to build things that were more whimsical than practical, too fantastic to succeed, but too unique and special not to.
The Corbel, Barlow Fashion Co. Deyo Supply Company, The Mallory, Hotel Toussaint
Collectively known as "North Commerce"
Where: Corner of North Commerce & Ferdinand streets
Who: Susan and Don Charlet, Cage Charlet, John Luke Charlet
When: Opening in stages—December 2022 to December 2023
In the heart of St. Francisville across from Parker Park and the St. Francisville Inn, a long-vacant site once occupied by Rinaudo’s Hardware is being returned to community life as North Commerce – a development encompassing half a dozen retail, entertainment, food and beverage, lodging, and entertainment entities, all with the emphasis on local ownership and distinctive, carefully curated products and services. Driving the development are Don and Susan Charlet and their sons, Cage and John Luke, who over the course of the past year have relocated and expanded their existing businesses—The Corbel Home and Interiors, and Barlow Fashion Co.—while simultaneously launching several more. The Corbel, Barlow, and Deyo Supply Company, an upscale men’s clothier, are already open on the North Commerce site. Joining them in September will be The Mallory, a 12,000-square-foot event venue built to host weddings, receptions, concerts, and markets for groups as large as 1,000. Last but certainly not least is Hotel Toussaint, a boutique hotel named for French painter and printmaker Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, who was Don Charlet’s great, great, great grandfather. Hotel Toussaint will deliver luxurious accommodation in eight suites showcasing the design aesthetic and product range represented at The Corbel. Expect these to be plush, with fine linens, house slippers, top-of-the-range bath and body products, and complimentary champagne. Hotel Toussaint is slated to open in November. Room prices will be in the $350/night range.
thecorbel.com • barlowfashion.com • deyosupply.com • the-mallory.com
The Royal
Where: 9779 Royal Street
Who: Brandon Branch & Jim Johnston
When: November 2023
When Brandon Branch and Jim Johnston reopened the St. Francisville Inn in 2019, the effect on the town was electrifying. Their breathtaking renovation of the Steamboat Gothic landmark, which left not an inch of the original structure untouched, simultaneously gave St. Francisville its first truly top-end historic hotel property, while also proving that if you build something beautiful, people will come from far and wide. Come they did; the Inn and its restaurant The Saint, are booked months in advance, and on a Friday or Saturday night, The Saint Bar and front porch glitter with well-dressed (and well-heeled) visitors from all over the country.
What most St. Francisville Inn guests don’t know is that upstairs in the main house lies another stunning, 3,200-square-foot space, which hitherto has served as Brandon and Jim’s personal apartment. This fall, they are converting this space into St. Francisville’s first day spa—a top-of-the-line retreat offering facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, and various high-end skincare services. In addition the couple have purchased a second historic property at the corner of Royal and Johnston streets, which for decades operated as The Barrow House bed and breakfast and actually encompasses two buildings dating from 1780 and 1800 respectively, which were built in Bayou Sara and moved up the hill to St. Francisville around 1840. This summer they are transforming the property to become The Royal, a super-luxe bed and breakfast incorporating living quarters for themselves, plus three no-expense-spared suites showcasing Brandon’s love for incorporating carefully chosen antiques into spaces suffused with his gorgeous, maximalist design style. No expense is spared, here. Suites feature bathrooms with heated floors, marble showers, and Japanese toilets. Each morning breakfast will be served on a screened porch overlooking Royal Street; evenings bring a cocktail hour with warmed hors d’oeuvres. The piece de resistance: all guests will receive individualized butler service, right down to the unpacking of luggage, ironing of clothing, and the serving of breakfast and cocktails. Opening is targeted for November. Prices will be in the super-luxe category, but no-one who has set foot in the St. Francisville Inn can doubt that the results will be fabulous. stfrancisvilleinn.com.
Bayou Sara Brewing Company
Where: Corner of Commerce and Ferdinand streets
Who: Steve and Amanda McKinney, Doug & Abby Cochran
When: Early 2024
Steve and Amanda McKinney have been dreaming of bringing a brewery to St. Francisville since 1995, when Steve was stationed in Japan with the US Army and his mother sent him a home brew kit—a results-based solution to the problem of high-priced beer that didn’t fit a young sergeant’s budget. Fresh beer was a revelation, and the passion for brewing it endured through the couple’s time overseas, their settling in Amanda’s hometown, and the upbringing of their three daughters. Now, with their children grown and the American craft beer scene settled into predictable patterns, the McKinneys, partnering with Amanda’s sister Abby Cochran and husband, Doug, have begun bringing Bayou Sara Brewing Company to life in the old Bennett Ford building that stands at the corner of Commerce and Ferdinand streets in the heart of St. Francisville. Officially designated a “brew pub”—i.e. a restaurant licensed to brew its own beer—Bayou Sara will brew beers in gleaming stainless steel fermenters and kettles sourced from Mandeville’s Old Rail Brewery, which were being installed at the time of writing. On track for a spring, 2024 opening, Steve expects Bayou Sara Brewing Company to open featuring ten beers: three IPAs, a golden wheat, a citrus wheat, a black lager, raspberry and watermelon sours, and American and honey pale ales. Beyond the beers, the distinctive old Bennett Ford building also enables Bayou Sara to operate as a family-oriented entertainment venue incorporating a restaurant serving creative pub fare (think elevated sandwiches, salads, and bar bites), plus outdoor areas for seating, games, and gatherings of all kinds. Cheers to that. bayousarabrewing.com.
Big River Pizza Company
When: Corner of North Commerce & Ferdinand streets
Who: Morgan and Lizzie Moss
When: Spring 2024
When Morgan Moss took the reins at The Myrtles in 2015, the circa 1796 plantation home with a reputation as “America’s Most Haunted House” was already one of St. Francisville’s best-known tourist attractions. But in the years since, he and his wife, Lizzie Moss, have transformed the property into a small luxury hotel that today encompasses popular Restaurant 1796, Elta coffee shop, and accommodation for sixty-two guests. Now, the couple are applying the lessons learned launching Restaurant 1796 to Big River Pizza Company, a fast-casual, family-friendly, wood-fired pizza restaurant and bar coming to the North Commerce development in early 2024. Small on the outside but ambitious in concept and scope, Big River will feature a menu focused around artisanal, hand-thrown pizzas baked in a wood-fired oven visible to the main dining room, and available for enjoying in several indoor and outdoor dining spaces, or for taking to go. Beyond pizza, the menu will offer elevated shareable plates, which will be available on the restaurant side, and also in Proud Mary’s, a speakeasy-style bar in the back of the building serving craft cocktails and small plates. An on-site ice cream parlor is also in the works.
Monk Haus
Where: 11798 Ferdinand Street
Who: Marc Charbonnet
When: September 2023
Everyone loves a good story, and in the front parlor of newly-opened Monk Haus, visitors will hear some of the best. Marc Charbonnet—a New Orleans native who relocated to St. Francisville following a thirty-year career in New York working for legendary designer Peter Marino and creating spaces for clients like Michael J. Fox—is a veritable story machine. He bought and began renovating the Ferdinand Street property in 2022, learning that like many historic St. Francisville structures, his home had originally stood in the port town of Bayou Sara. It was built there around 1840 using virgin timber from thousand-year-old trees felled in the Ohio Valley and made into flatboat rafts, loaded with merchandise, and floated down the Mississippi by Kaintuck traders. Once these rafts reached their destinations they were dismantled and sold as building material. With the bars and whorehouses of Bayou Sara ravaged by repeated floods and fires, Charbonnet’s house was one of the structures eventually raised onto logs and dragged up the hill into St. Francisville, then refined to serve as homes in more respectable circumstances.
A visitor can expect to hear fascinating tales like these in the front parlor of Monk Haus, now exquisitely appointed with Charbonnet’s collection of fine and decorative artworks, every one of which provides the opening line for a new story. Accommodation at Monk Haus is in a sumptuous suite that showcases artwork by the renowned New York artist and Charbonnet’s friend, Hunt Slonem. The accommodations are lovely, but the real value lies in the invitation to take tea in the parlor, where Charbonnet, seated on an iron throne made for Queen Marie of Romania, beneath an oil painting that might possibly be a James Whistler, delivers a “virtual tour” of Bayou Sara and old St. Francisville, told through the objects in his extraordinary collection, while the thousand-year-old timbers of Monk Haus bear silent witness around him. For inquiries, call (212) 751-1911.
Editor’s note: In a full-circle moment, after being closed since early 2020, Shadetree will reopen this fall, and will resume providing elevated bed & breakfast accommodation to guests beginning October 1. shadetreesf.com.