Hi, Friends! I have one day - Saturday, March 16 - to drive around and I would like to visit one plantation house. I will be in Baton Rouge, so I could go north or south. From on-line research I'm leaning towards Nottoway, Magnolia Mound, or Rosedown. Any advice on these? Any other suggestions

Just topping your post because we are headed that way soon too. We are actually driving up from New Orleans and Nottaway is on our list of places to see

Have been to Rosedown. It was nice. Sorry I haven't much else for you, we kinda got bored after a bit. Very pretty and worth seeing of course.

Maryclaire, IMHO, with a drive to St. Francisville you would be able to see more than one home, and if you do go there, go see the old school. We found it enchanting and our imaginations came to life there. Keep in mind that you do not have to tour each home, driving by sightseeing can be just as much fun. http://www.stfrancisville.net/

Another option for many houses close together is Natchez, but not sure if you'd want to drive there, visit, then drive back. It's about a 2 hr drive from B.R. Pre-civil war more millionaires lived there than anywhere else in the US, so you can imagine how many plantation homes are in that immediate area. To get an idea of all the homes, try:
http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/houses.htm

Nottaway and Rosedown are awesome, but not much else in the immediate area. A drive down the River Road towards N.O. would be wonderful, but the drive takes time and the houses are spread out down the river.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/louisiana/riverroad.htm

You'd get the best bang for your time and $ at St. Francisville or Natchez.

Go see Magnolia Mound while visiting in Baton Rouge, since it is in town.

I was just in that area last. I was planning to visit Nottoway but when I mentioned his to the owner of the B&B where we were staying she said she used to work there and lately they haven't been keeping it up she suggested Houmas instead which we planned to do but ran out of time. Not sure how far you wnat to go but we enjoyed Oak Alley and Laura which are very close to one another. We did visit Rosedown and that was very good.

I've probably missed you but I'll try to offer a suggestion just in case. First, Baton Rouge has its St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday, beginning at 10 am. Lots of fun with lots of green beads and green beer!! Streets in the Hundred Oaks/Garden District/Perkins Road area will be blocked off beginning at 9:30 am. Secondly, I would either go to Nottoway (I was interested in the previous comment). We always take our out of town visitors there. It's impressive (very large home) and the tour is good with only a short drive from BR over the Mississippi River bridge. If not there and so you won't have lots of driving time, I would suggest Magnolia Mound Plantation and the LSU Rural Life Museum, also in town at I-10 and Essen Lane.