Featuring homes such as the beautiful Merieult House in the French Quarter and Oaklawn Manor near Bayou Teche, this comprehensive guide highlights the finest plantation homes in all regions of the state. From Natchitoches's Melrose Plantation to Lafayette's Alexandre Mouton House, these homes have been an integral part of Louisiana, some from the periods of French and Spanish rule. Butler carefully describes each structure's architectural uniqueness and relates the home's significance. She notes private and public plantations and includes updated contact information, all organized by driving tours. This revised edition reflects recent restorations and includes a new section showcasing the homes in New Orleans' Garden District. This completely revised, full-color edition includes an updated list of significant plantation homes in Louisiana, complete with the historical background of each structure and descriptions of unique features. This modernized guide offers an expanded New Orleans section, highlighting both the famous Garden District and the historic French Quarter. Hours of operation, contact information, and directions to hard-to-find homes are also included. Illustrated with seventy-one color photographs, this guide captures the majesty and mystery of Louisiana's splendid homes. A native of St. Francisville, Anne Butler has reached a diverse audience through her interest in her home state's unique cultures. She has written articles for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Country Woman, New Orleans Magazine, and Country Roads and is the author of River Road Plantation Country Cookbook, Louisiana Swamp Tours, Acadian Plantation Country Cookbook, Bayou Plantation Country Cookbook, Weep for the Living, and Audubon Plantation Country Cookbook, all published by Pelican. Anne Butler has led a life of diversity, with interests ranging from criminology to cooking, homes located from the East to the West Coast, and jobs ranging from plantation owner to writer. A native of New Orleans, Butler received her bachelor's degree from Sweet Briar College in Virginia and graduated from Humboldt State in California with a master's degree in English. Having worked as a journalist, writer, and editor, she has written articles for many publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Country Woman, New Orleans Magazine, and Country Roads. She has also written a number of fiction and nonfiction books based on her numerous interests and lifestyles. Wishing to share the history of Louisiana and of her own family, Butler operates a bed and breakfast on the Butler Greenwood Plantation, which dates to the 1790s. She claims to now know just about everything there is to know about the area and is spreading her knowledge farther through her award-winning children's books, travel books, and cookbooks. Her first cookbook, Audubon Plantation Country Cookbook, named Best New Cookbook of the Year by Louisiana Life magazine, includes history, humor, people, places, vintage photographs, and, of course, delicious recipes to create a wonderful view of life in Audubon plantation country.  Butler's companion piece, Bayou Plantation Country Cookbook, offers the same wonderful mix of ingredients for the Louisiana bayou area. Louisiana Life describes her work as an illustrated gastronomic tour of this area's society, culture, and economics . . . a veritable social history in the guise of a cookbook. Butler frequently speaks at a number of venues, including schools, churches, book clubs, and civic meetings, to discuss topics such as writing, running a bed and breakfast, historic preservation, and crime. She conducts historic tours combined with book reviews in her home and writing studio. A member of many organizations, such as the Louisiana B&B Association and the West Feliciana Historical Society, Butler has appeared on a number of television news and talk shows, including Court TV with Catherine Crier and the Sally Jesse Raphael Show. She lives in St. Francisville, Louisiana, and has two children, Chase and Stewart.