Kent Plantation House

Pierre Baillio and his wife Magdelaine Lacour had the Kent House built on a Spanish land grant of the mid-1790s, and it was finished in 1800. Its historical marker calls it the oldest known standing structure in Rapides Parish. Historian Michael Wynne counts 80 to 82 enslaved people under Baillio. Robert Hynson bought the house from Baillio's heirs in 1842 and named it for his birthplace, Kent County, Maryland. Wynne says Hynson held 120 to 122 enslaved people by 1859, making him the 31st-largest slaveholder in Louisiana.

Wynne leads the Enslaved Persons Tour, held each February. It stops at bricks that carry the fingerprints of enslaved brickmakers, a table fan an enslaved person worked through the whole meal, and the mats where two enslaved people slept at the foot of their owner's bed. On February 4, 2023, the house unveiled a memorial stone and plaque outside the quarters. Researcher Father Chad Partain could find only nine names, all in baptism records of the Catholic church in Mansura. KALB's report on the unveiling gave 40 to 46 enslaved people at the plantation, a lower count than Wynne's.

The house was moved two blocks after a 1963 demolition plan, listed on the National Register in 1971 and opened to the public in 1975. Guided tours leave the gift shop on the hour, Monday through Saturday, and take in the house, kitchen, milk house and blacksmith shop.