CONTACT:    Michaela York                                    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                        (225) 644-6000                        

CHEF JOHN FOLSE VISITS BOOTIFUL

ST. FRANCISVILLE

HAUNTED TOUR OF ST. FRANCISVILLE PLANNED

In ongoing efforts to promote and support Louisiana’s culture and cuisine, Louisiana Off the Menu, a new division of Chef John Folse & Company, will take a group of 50 people on a haunted tour of historic St. Francisville.  The trip, scheduled for Mon., Oct. 30, will depart White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge at 11:00 a.m.

Participants will begin the tour with lunch on the grounds of Rosedown Plantation, one of the most intact, documented examples of a domestic plantation in the south.  Rosedown was established in the 1830s by Daniel and Martha Barrow Turnbull, and remained in the hands of their descendants until the 1950s.  Guests will also tour this beautiful plantation, with over 374 acres of lush, verdant gardens, and perhaps meet some of its more elusive residents.

Grace Episcopal Church, organized March 15, 1827 and one of Louisiana’s oldest Protestant churches, is the next scheduled stop on this tour.  The present Gothic structure was built between 1858-1860, its cornerstone laid by Leonidas Polk, the Fighting Bishop of the Confederacy. Severely damaged by shelling during the Civil War, Grace Episcopal Church nevertheless saw the burial of its rector, Federal gunboat captain John E. Hart.  A Mason, Hart had desired a Masonic burial, and fighting stopped for a day while Confederate and Union Masons honored a brother's request.

The quintessential small, quaint town of St. Francisville offers a wide variety of family run stores.  Guests will visit numerous shops, art galleries and antique stores on this historic main street.

A visit to St. Francisville would not be complete without a ghost tour at the Myrtles Plantation.  Handprints in the mirrors, footsteps on the stairs, mysterious smells, vanishing objects, death by poison, hangings, murder and gunfire – guests will see first-hand why the Myrtles Plantation has been coined “One of America’s Most Haunted Homes.”

The group will then return at approximately 6:45 p.m. to conclude the tour with dinner at Chef John Folse’s White Oak Plantation.  Cost per person is $60, which includes lunch, dinner, transportation and admission.  Reservations must be received by Oct. 27.  Call Sabrina at (225) 644-6000. 

Chef John Folse is the owner and executive chef of his Louisiana-based corporations including Lafitte's Landing Restaurant at Bittersweet Plantation, White Oak Plantation, Chef John Folse & Company Bakery Division, Chef John Folse & Company Manufacturing and Bittersweet Plantation Dairy. He is the author of numerous cookbooks and hosts a nationally syndicated television cooking show, "A Taste of Louisiana," and a radio cooking talk show, "Stirrin' It Up With Chef John Folse."  Additionally, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University is named in his honor.
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