The Burden Museum and Gardens launched Thursday, combining the LSU Rural Life Museum, the LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden and the Windrush Gardens into a single marketing effort that will better promote the 440-acre property as a tourist destination for both cultural and natural beauty, according to LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens Director Jeff Kuehny.
Burden, located on Essen Lane, is home to the museum and gardens as well as AgCenter horticulture research and extension efforts. The launch means the three facilities and their programs will complement one another as part of a unified attraction, which better fulfills the gardens’ mission to promote the value of plants, Kuehny said.
“That mission is to promote the importance of plants and the environment to the spiritual, physical and mental well-being of the community of Baton Rouge … but also the state and the world,” Kuehny said.
LSU Rural Life Museum Director David Floyd said he expects increased visitation to Burden as a result of Thursday’s launch, especially because it is the only tourist attraction in Baton Rouge open at 8 a.m. — a convenient time for visitors who are in town on business and don’t have meetings until later in the day.
The museum, which focuses on rural culture and the history of Louisiana agriculture, also hosts several events for children, which is important because they can learn valuable lessons on how life used to be, Floyd said.
Though Burden is located near Interstate 10, visitors can escape city life once they “cross that little bridge and feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere — agricultural Louisiana,” Floyd said.
Kuehny said while it is time to make extension a greater part of Burden’s overall mission and “put a public face on it,” research is equally important.
Burden provides space for University faculty and students to grow crops such as strawberries, soybeans and sweet potatoes to use in studies. The research done at Burden includes a wetlands and erosion project that uses a faux levee built with leftover soil from work at a nearby sewer pumping station.
Kuehny said the AgCenter plans to move its East Baton Rouge Parish extension office from downtown Baton Rouge to Burden. Putting specialists closer to ongoing extension work like that at Burden will make it easier to introduce new programs, he said.
Vice President for Agriculture Bill Richardson said promoting the museum and gardens as one exemplifies the benefits of consolidating University and AgCenterresources.
“This is the next logical step in getting us all together working on behalf of the whole of LSU for what we do here for research and our outreach programs as well as the Rural Life Museum and gardens,” Richardson said.
“That mission is to promote the importance of plants and the environment to the spiritual, physical and mental wellbeing of the community of Baton Rouge … but also the state and the world.”
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.