Gardens

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As detailed as the contents of the houses are, the gardens that surround them are equally studied. The front gallery of Maison Chenal overlooks a formal parterre garden with geometric-shaped beds divided by gravel paths. The style of the garden was popular in both rural and urban Louisiana in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the selected shrubs and flowers are true to the period, including privet hedges, sago palms, and imported French roses. In France the gardens of this era were very controlled an orderly, but in Louisiana, the climate and soil produce a different result that is more of a juxtaposition of finery with rustic.  

In the rear of the property, the gardens take a more utilitarian form, with rosemary and lemon verbena sharing space with hydrangeas and a muscadine vine-covered arbor. Behind the LaCour House, a picket-fenced vegetable and herb garden holds tabasco peppers and indigo.