Richard W. Norton (1886-1940) helped discover the Rodessa oil field in north Louisiana in the early 1920s. In 1946 his son, Richard W. Norton Jr., and Mrs. Norton created the R. W. Norton Art Foundation in his name, and the gallery it built opened to the public in 1966. A south wing was added in 1990 and a north wing in 2003. The building has twenty-four exhibition rooms and was planned, in the words of its history, to be light, open and ready to expand.
The collection runs from European paintings by Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema and Mary Cassatt, and a sculpture by Auguste Rodin, to American work from the colonial period to the present, including Hudson River School landscapes and pieces by Frederic Remington and Charles Marion Russell. The rare book collection includes a double elephant folio of John James Audubon's The Birds of America.
The gallery sits within 40 acres of landscaping. The azalea gardens hold more than 15,000 plants, including several hundred native azaleas, along a winding path past a stream, a pond, benches and outdoor sculpture; Southern Living featured them in 2005. The foundation lists the museum as open Thursday through Sunday afternoons and the gardens Wednesday through Sunday, sunrise to sunset. Admission is free. Photography and videography are not allowed inside or on the grounds, and the grounds are closed to weddings and private events. The address is 4747 Creswell Avenue.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour