Near St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana — The American South (West South Central)
Audubon Memorial
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, July 8, 2005
1. Audubon Memorial Marker
Inscription.
Audubon Memorial. . Oakley Plantation, 3 miles east, where John James Audubon painted 32 of his "Birds of America." It was built in 1799 by Ruffin Gray and acquired as a state park in 1947 from Miss Lucy Mathews.
Oakley Plantation, 3 miles east, where John James Audubon painted 32 of his "Birds of America." It was built in 1799 by Ruffin Gray and acquired as a state park in 1947 from Miss Lucy Mathews.
Erected 1964 by Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry.
Location. 30° 46.9′ N, 91° 20.683′ W. Marker is near St. Francisville, Louisiana, in West Feliciana Parish. Marker is on State Highway 965, 0.1 miles north of U.S. 61. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Saint Francisville LA 70775, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, February 16, 2015
3. John James Audubon
This 1822-23 self-portrait of John James Audubon hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
“Naturalist John James Audubon painted this self-portrait when he was thirty-seven. Until that time, his drawings of birds had been a hobby while he worked as an import merchant and later as a mill operator in Kentucky. As the idea for a publication called The Birds of America took form, he traveled to Louisiana and began to create large watercolors of birds in their natural settings. In Natchez in 1822 an itinerant portrait painter named John Steen gave Audubon some lessons in oil painting and this self-portrait was a result. The precision of the features is similar to the portrait drawings Audubon had made in Louisville a few years earlier. Audubon went to England in 1826; the first engravings for The Birds of America were created that year. The full set of "elephant folio" volumes was completed in 1838. ” — National Portrait Gallery
Photographed By David Seibert, circa 1968
4. Oakley Plantation House
Credits. This page was last revised on November 20, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 16, 2015. This page has been viewed 395 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on July 16, 2015. 3. submitted on September 12, 2017, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. 4. submitted on September 9, 2017, by David Seibert of Sandy Springs, Georgia. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
Editor’s want-list for this marker. A wide view photo of the marker and the surrounding area in context. • Can you help?