Exploring the Outdoors in St. Francisville (2021)

I’ve not had many occasions to visit the St. Francisville area.  Tucked north of Baton Rouge, the town just wasn’t along my typical routes throughout the state.   

Two years ago on a multiple-day hiking trip to the nearby Clark Creek and Tunica Hills Nature Areas, I noticed the many signs promoting other outdoor attractions even closer to St. Francisville. I vowed to return when I had an opportunity.  Early January 2021 was more of a delay to return there than I planned.  The timing that weekend was convenient for me, if not optimal for the execution of a few of my original plans.

    

One of my intended destinations was Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, bordering the Mississippi River.  One of about 24 national wildlife refuges in the state, Cat Island is famous for its National Champion Bald Cypress Tree.  The cypress is apparently 96 feet tall, with a circumference of 56 feet, and is said to be about 1500 years old.  I’d seen several photos of individuals standing in front of this remarkable tree and hoped for a least one good photo of it myself.  I’d looked forward to walking that .75 mile trail as well as the longer Blackfork Trail at the refuge. 

What I didn’t know until I reached St. Francisville was this refuge was being closed temporarily starting on the day that I arrived.  Water levels on the Mississippi River had exceeded a level of 24 feet, forcing the closure of the refuge to protect its levees and the public.  So I had to scratch that option from my list. 

Also high on any list of outdoor attractions in that area is Afton Villa Gardens.  The Gothic antebellum mansion there was destroyed by a fire in 1963, but the 20 acres of gardens and grounds at Afton Villa are considered as among the most famous and beautiful in the state.  I had to scratch that visit in advance for my January weekend, since its opening and spring season don’t begin until March 1. 

While my weekend choices in St. Francisville might seem to have been greatly diminished, that really wasn’t the case. An online scan of the town’s website suggests other options to satisfy visitors looking for outdoor excursions.  

My first priority then became the Audubon State Historic Site.  The main feature of the 100-acre woodlands site is Oakley Plantation where John James Audubon, the great American naturalist and painter, lived briefly.  Aububon traveled upriver from New Orleans in 1821 to teach drawing for about four months to the daughter of the Oakley Plantation owners.  While employed there, Audubon spent part of his days beginning or completing 32 of his famous bird paintings. 

Tours of the Oakley Plantation, with its West Indies influenced galleries that allow breezes to enter the residence, are available at the site’s visitor center.  The adjacent one-mile long Cardinal Trail offers a great opportunity to spot some of the diversity of songbirds that Aubudon had observed there.  I quickly noted the extent to which Ardisia crenata or Christmas berry bushes dominated much of the Cardinal Trail,  Only a couple of feet high, the glossy green foliage and bright red berries provide a festive appearance for trail walks on even overcast days in mid-winter.  Along the trail and the grounds of the Oakley House are also a few interesting Greco-Roman statues that seem to be observing you. 

        

The actual highlight of my trip to St. Francisville though was an unexpected one.  I had noticed signs years before concerning the Imahara Botanical Garden.  The story behind the Imahara family and the creation of this garden had intrigued me.  I was disappointed to learn recently though that this 54-acre botanical garden had been sold to a private owner and then had closed in about April of 2019.  When I visited another fascinating site, Hemingbough, located near the Audubon State Historic Site, I discovered the Imahara Legacy Gardens there.   

A brief overview on the Imahara family, taken from multiple sources that have reported their story, seems necessary. Walter Imahara’s entire family, when he was four-years old in 1941, was forced into a Japanese internment camp in California and then transferred to camps in Arkansas.  They spent nearly four years in internment. Before World War II, James Imahara had been a gardener and nurseryman. After the war, the Imahara family moved to New Orleans and then to Baton Rouge where they eventually started a successful landscaping and nursery company that exists today.  James’ son, Walter, decided to start developing the Imahara Botanical Garden on land that he purchased in St. Francisville in 2003.   

Walter Imahara had traveled to his homeland and the city of Hiroshima for the first time in 1977. He was surprised to find in a Buddhist temple there a family memorial and monument that had been created by his great-grandfather.  The temple and the Imahara monument, due to its location near a hill, had partially survived the atomic blast in 1945.  Imahara wanted to bring this family monument to his home in Louisiana.  After a lot of paperwork for years and a special approval from the Japanese government, Walter Imahara was able in 2019 to have this monument relocated to Hemingbough for his new legacy garden there. 

Imahara Legacy Garden provides the Hemingbough site with a striking mix of different cultures and architectural styles. The Japanese-influenced gardens found along the slopping banks of Audubon Lake are a contrast to the Greek Revival architecture of Hemingbough’s amphitheater, gazebo, buildings, statues, and fountains.  Hemingbough is a year-round center for spiritual awareness and awakening through the arts, education, and religion. Hundreds of people can attend concerts, lectures, banquets, and meetings there, and there are also venues for smaller groups and family occasions such as weddings.  

 

Visits to the grounds of Hemingbough and the Imahara Legacy Garden there are free to the public. I stumbled onto the site by luck and felt at times walking there like I did when my wife and I had a chance to visit Florence, Italy for a couple of weeks in 2007.  Encountering the Hemingbough site seems nothing like what you’d expect to find Louisiana. As much as I love the natural beauty of our state, it’s entertaining to have an occasional destination, like Hemingbough, where you can truly get away from it all.  St. Francisville is another example of special Louisiana cities or towns that offer visitors more than their share of diverse outdoor and natural attractions.