Chancellor Michael Martin called Thursday a win for the University.
He was referring to the newly announced partnership between the LSU Rural Life Museum and Baton Rouge’s L’Auberge Casino and Hotel that will result in preserving artifacts found on the former Chatsworth and Longwood plantations.
Martin said it expands his plans to establish strong public and private partnerships at the University.
“It’s another one of those models we can point to when we’re looking for other opportunities, and we can say, ‘Here’s how it works, here’s how it can work when a great university and a great private sector come together and make something special,'” Martin said.
L’Auberge is a casino and hotel occupying 575 acres stretching from River Road to Nicholson Drive slated to open this summer. The land was formerly the site of a Native American village and then Chatsworth Plantation.
L’Auberge will pay the Rural Life Museum $1.3 million to oversee the excavation of artifacts found on the casino’s River Road property, which will then be analyzed and displayed in the museum.
David Floyd, director of the Rural Life Museum, said he’s excited about the two-year project because it allows the museum to “help preserve another important site.”
Mickey Parenton, L’Auberge vice president and general manager, said the company is looking forward to developing a relationship with the University.
L’Auberge approached the museum with the project idea, and Floyd said he applauds the company for doing so.
“We’re preserving artifacts that would’ve been covered in concrete,” he said. “It is our hope that we’ll take many of these artifacts and put on yearly exhibitions at this museum to ensure that not only visitors, but students who come here … will also understand their historic past and how important that piece of River Road is.”
Floyd said he expects to find items that were used for processing sugarcane, as well as several personal items from people who lived and worked on the plantation.
“It gives us a better picture of who worked on the plantation,” Floyd said, adding that some Baton Rouge residents still have family ties to past plantation workers.
 
——
Contact Emily Herrington at [email protected]