The Ruins of the Cottage Plantation

by Ronnie Owens
(Baton Rouge, La)

6 miles down river from Baton Rouge, the plantation owned by Frederick Conrad in the 1800s.


A tragedy event happened on the Mississippi River in front of the plantation. A luxury steamboat (paddle wheel riverboat), the Princess had just left Baton Rouge ladened with cotton and full passenger list of men, women, and children going "to carnival" (A Mardi Gras). When they reached Conrad Point (reference to the plantation) the Princess blew her boilers cutting an engineer in two and burning and killing hundreds. The Princess burned down to the water level.

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Dec 07, 2015
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Those Lonely Sentinels NEW
by: Thorny Rose

I've lived in Baton Rouge for seven months, and only found out a few weeks ago that the Cottage Ruins were only a few miles from my home. It's a haunting, lonely place, with the forlorn columns shedding what's left of their stucco amid weeds, trees and a herd of cattle. I stopped by there last week and, with the aid of a good lens, took photographs of the site. Even ruined, they are beautiful.
Mar 22, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Bucket List, check! NEW
by: Michael H. Conrad

After seeing this plantation in a book titled "Ghosts Along The Mississippi" and reading everything I could about it's wonderful and strange history, I became obsessed with seeing it myself. Being an "old hippie", I loaded the Harley and set out to ride Highway 51, "The Great River Road". Needless to say, it was a wonderfully successful trip, with many side stories. :-) Take Hwy. 51 till it dead-ends @ the levee. Turn left. About half way to the casino you'll see it on the left.....A beautiful mystery, all by itself in the middle of pasture land. It probably won't last much longer...."progress" is set to take it away.
Mar 20, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Cottage Hall site NEW
by: BRChick

I think it is roughly 30°21'23.1"N 91°13'56.6"W, if you believe Google Maps. You will only see the old columns leftover from the plantation. There was a small wood frame house in the area of the ruins at one point, but that has apparently been torn down. It was a wreck when my friend and I hopped the fence and visited the ruins back in about 1995-96-ish. I took a bunch of pictures that day, but haven't seen them in years.

If you're into ruins, check out Windsor Hall north of Alcorn State Univ in Mississippi.
Feb 05, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		Contact info NEW
by: Michael Conrad

Additional and best contact is: membiker@comcast.net
Thanks y'all.
Feb 01, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		Time for a personal visit... NEW
by: Michael Conrad

I cannot find exact location for this plantation...can anyone give me directions or latitude / longitude coordinates?
Thanks,
michael

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