Introduction

Built in 1801, the original Creole Cottage burned.  The Greek Revival structure in existence was designed by famous architect James Dakin and built in 1837.  Bocage Plantation is steeped in history with ties to Christopher Columbus, early colonization, and the Louisiana Purchase.  Well documented in many books and used as a Hollywood set, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

Karen Kingsley, writes in her book, Buildings of Louisiana, "Certainly Ashland-Belle Helene and Bocage achieve an austere purity of form that places them among the best and, in the case of Bocage, the most original interpretations of American Greek Revival style in the nation."

Thank you for visiting our website.  We will continue to renovate the website so please check often for updates.  Bocage Plantation has been restored.  The grounds, outbuildings and furnishing will be continually restored.  Archeological and anthropological studies are expected to continue in 2009.  

The restoration of the house was completed in December, 2008.  Exterior colors are restored to the colors found under renovations.   Exterior front stairs restored to the earliest known structure.

Events

Bocage Plantation is approximately 7500 sq. feet under roof, and has four bedrooms.  We are taking bed and breakfast reservations and reservations for small events and/or private tours.  

Tours

Bocage is open for private tours beginning late December, 2008. 

For information please email us at mr@lebocage.com  or call 713 253 1691.

History

Bocage Plantation began as a Creole cottage, built by Marius Pons Bringier as a wedding gift for his daughter Francoise in 1801.  Francoise (Fanny as she was called) married Christophe Colomb, a French refugee.  Christophe Colomb is a direct descent of Christopher Columbus.  

 

The original house appears to have burned down and a new structure designed by Architect James Dakin was built in 1837.   Bocage was close to ruins when salvaged by Dr. and Mrs. Kohlsdorf in 1941.  

 

Now the house has been lovingly restored by Marion Rundell, M.D.  Some of what you will see in this website will include the condition of the house at various stages of her life.  Engineering principles have been used in the present restoration to resolve many of the issues that continued to wreck havoc on Bocage until 2008.   Modern technology, much of which was not available in 1941, has being incorporated in the renovation, to allow Bocage to survive for centuries, yet no changes of the original 1837 structure have been made beyond what was changed in 1941.  Restoration has been painstakingly done to restore the structure as built in 1837.  The exterior colors seen in the restored plantation were discovered when previous renovations were partially removed uncovering the original plaster.  Interior architectural elements found in the book,  Beauties of Modern Architecture,  1835, by Minard leFevre, have been restored.  Dakin drew many of the architectural elements illustrated in this book.

To appreciate Bocage, one must understand the history of the development of Louisiana, first as a French Province, and then shortly after Bocage was built, as a part of the growing United States of America (Thomas Jefferson bought the property known today as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803).  French, and Spanish, African Americans along with Native Indian influences created the Creole sub-culture.  French influence dominated in 1801, and can still be seen in New Orleans and along the Mississippi River. 

La Salle claimed the land at the mouth of the Mississippi River for France in 1682 but New Orleans was not a permanent settlement until 1718.  New Orleans became the port of entry to the North American Continent before the Louisiana Purchase and Bocage was in existence before the Louisiana Purchase. With New Orleans as major sea port, settlers and wealthy merchants began moving up the River developing plantations along its banks.  The River was the principle source of transportation.  The original crops were indigo and sugar cane and sugar cane remains a major crop today.   

Significant events starting in the 1790s increased development and prosperity:

1.  In the late 1700s Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.

2. Etienne de Boire developed, in New Orleans, a process to granulate sugar (Imperial Sugar is processed today just below Bocage on the Mississippi River).

3. In 1803,  Thomas Jefferson, for the newly formed United States of America, bought the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon.

4. In 1811 Robert Fulton invented the steamboat. Earlier in England, James Watt worked on converting the steam engine from vertical motion to rotary motion.

The lower Mississippi Delta (south Louisiana) had prime agricultural land, technology, an influx of new "Americans" and the Mississippi River was the principle transportation highway.

Regions began to specialize their crops according to soil types and climate. Sugar cane was the primary crop between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Most of the sugar plantations had their own sugar mills to process the crop (the ruins of the Bocage sugar mill are visible on the property today).  It was a time of prosperity in the South and by the 1850s there were more millionaires between Natchez and New Orleans than in the remainder of the new republic of the United States.

Plantation houses were frequently much smaller than we envision today.   In the early Louisiana plantations, there was no need to consolidate all the functions of the plantation into one house.   If horses and carriages needed to be housed, barns and carriage houses were built.  Slave quarters dotted the plantations, and much of the labor required to maintain a plantation was slave labor.   Literally if there was a function, a building was built to provide for that function.  Plantations were small villages without need of outside influences.   

Bocage in French means "shady retreat". As it stands today, it is one of the finest grand manors in Louisiana.  Because it was remodeled by architect James Dakin in 1837, it is not only steeped in heritage of it's ownership, but steeped in architectural history.  Dakin was the designer of the Old Louisiana State Capitol building, often described as a "Gothic masterpiece".   

Karen Kingsley, writes in her book, Buildings of Louisiana, "Certainly Ashland-Belle Helene and Bocage achieve an austere purity of form that places them among the best and, in the case of Bocage, the most original interpretations of American Greek Revival style in the nation."

Interestingly, both Ashland and Bocage were grand houses tied to the successful planter Emanuel Marius Pons Bringer.  Bringier came to Louisiana from Provence, France by way of Martinique in the late 18th century. He had extensive land holdings between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Bringier built Bocage in 1801 as a wedding present for his 14 year old daughter, Francoise and her husband Christoph Colomb, a descendant of Christopher Columbus. Their marriage was apparently successful, perhaps because of a division of labor. She ran the plantation and handled all business transactions. Christoph saw himself as an artist and entertainer and devoted his time to these endeavors. 

Ashland Belle Helene was built for Monsieur Bringer's granddaughter, Anne Guillemine Nanine Bringier, by her husband, Duncan Farrar Kenner.

About Us

Le Reve Bocage (The beautiful shady retreat), a Louisiana corporation, is in the process of restoring Bocage Plantation.  The house is complete; the grounds, outbuildings, and furnishings will be continually restored.

Bocage Plantation is located on River Road (Hwy 942) approximately 20 miles south of Baton Rouge, off Interstate 10.  We are located between Houmas House and l'Hermitage plantations.  Please see the below map for directions.