Baton Rouge

The Magnolia Mound Plantation House is a French Creole house constructed in 1791 near the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Many period... documents refer to the plantation as Mount Magnolia. The house and several original outbuildings on the grounds of Magnolia Mound Plantation are examples of the vernacular architectural influences of early settlers from France and the West Indies. The complex is owned by the city of Baton Rouge and maintained by its Recreation Commission . It is located approximately one mile south of downtown. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The plantation house, first a cottage, was one of the earliest buildings in the city of Baton Rouge. The land was owned originally by James Hillin, an early Scots settler who arrived in 1786, who lived there with wife Jane Stanley Hillin, five children, and six enslaved Africans: Thomas, John, Lucia, Catherine, Jenny, and Anna. On December 23, 1791, John Joyce, from Cork County, Ireland, purchased the 950-acre property. He, his wife Constance Rochon and their children lived in Mobile, Alabama.
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Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson is an American bassist, singer, record producer, entrepreneur and television personality. He is best known as a judge... on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Jackson has won a Grammy Award as a producer. Jackson was born on June 23, 1956, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, His first marriage, to Elizabeth Jackson, was dissolved in 1990; they had one daughter named Taylor. In 1995, Jackson married Erika Riker, with whom he has two children, a 14-year-old daughter named Zoe and a 12-year-old son named Jordan. In 2003, Jackson lost 114 pounds following gastric bypass surgery. He stated in a February 2008 television commercial that he has type 2 diabetes. Jackson played in bands with Carlos Santana and Jerry Garcia. In the early 1980s he played on three albums for Jean-Luc Ponty and with the rock band Taxxi. From 1986 to 1987 he was a session musician for the rock group Journey. Jackson played on Journey's 1986 album Raised on Radio. He moved to Italy in the late 1980s and played on a record by Italian pop star Zucchero.
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Torrence Hatch , better known by his stage name Lil Boosie, is an American rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Hatch was bestowed the nickname Boosie... by his family, and he was raised in southside Baton Rouge. He is currently serving time in the Louisiana State Penitentiary ; Hatch was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to drug charges. Hatch grew up in a poor neighborhood of Baton Rouge, and his father was absent from his childhood. He played basketball while attending high school but was expelled for drugs, so Hatch decided to become a rapper. He worked with rapper C-Loc and his group Concentration Camp and made his debut on C-Loc's fifth album, It's a Gamble in 2000 as his old alias Boosie. Shortly afterwards, Hatch joined growing record label Trill Entertainment which was backed by its CEO the late Pimp C of UGK. Soon after, Trill independently released his debut album For My Thugz as his new alias Lil Boosie in 2003. Later, Boosie teamed with label mate Webbie, on their collaboration albums Ghetto Stories and Gangsta Musik. In 2006 Boosie's major label debut album Bad Azz, was released.
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Andrew Eugene Pettitte is an American baseball starting pitcher who has played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball , primarily for the New York... Yankees. He has won five World Series championships with the Yankees and is a three-time All-Star. He ranks as MLB's all-time postseason wins leader with 19. Pettitte was drafted by the Yankees organization in 1990, and he signed with them a year later. After debuting in the major leagues in 1995, Pettitte finished third in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year Award. In 1996, he led the AL with 21 wins and was runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award, and two years later, he was named the Yankees' Opening Day starter. Pettitte established himself as one of the "Core Four" players who contributed to the Yankees' late-1990s dynasty that produced four championships. Pettitte won the 2001 AL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award in helping his team win the pennant. After spending nine seasons with the Yankees—a stint in which he won at least 12 games each season—Pettitte signed with the Houston Astros in 2004.
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Carly Rae Patterson is an American singer and former gymnast. She is the 2004 Olympic All-Around Champion and a member of the USA Gymnastics Hall of... Fame. She currently lives in Allen, Texas. Patterson was at her cousin's birthday party at Baton Rouge's Elite Gymnastics club in 1994 when coach Johnny Moyal, a three-time Israeli Olympian, noticed her talent and suggested that she begin to take lessons. Originally, her mother was hesitant about it, but Carly started tumbling and jumping around her house. There was not much room, and as her mom did not want her to get hurt, she enrolled her in gymnastics. In 2000, Patterson participated in the Top Gym Tournament in Belgium and won the silver medal in the all-around and the bronze medal for balance beam, her favorite event. At the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia, she was ranked second in the all-around before the final rotation. She missed three landings on the floor exercise, however, and finished seventh overall. "I don't know what happened," she said. "I can't give up, I will keep going. I was happy with my first three rotations, especially beam.
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Ben M. Sheets is an American baseball starting pitcher. He was a four-time All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist, but his career was hampered by... injuries. Sheets graduated from St. Amant High School and went to college at Northeast Louisiana University on a baseball scholarship. He once struck out twenty batters in a game against Louisiana Tech. Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round of the 1999 draft, he made his professional debut with the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League. In August, against the Idaho Falls Chukars, Sheets struck out eight batters while allowing just one hit through five innings. Later in the month, he was promoted to Class A Stockton of the California League. In his seven minor league starts that year, Sheets averaged a strikeout ratio of 10.09 batters per nine innings. In 2000, Sheets was on the United States national team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
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Louis Edmonds was an American actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was best known for his roles in Dark Shadows and All My Children. Edmonds... appeared in the musical Ernest in Love in 1960. He acted on the supernatural soap Dark Shadows as Roger Collins from 1966–1971. His other roles on Dark Shadows were Joshua Collins , Edward Collins , Roger Collins PT , the adult Daniel Collins , Amadeus Collins , and Brutus Collins . On All My Children, he played Langley Wallingford/Lenny Wlasuk from 1979-1995, who was married to Phoebe Tyler portrayed by Ruth Warrick. He received Daytime Emmy nominations in 1984, 1985 & 1986. He also received Soap Opera Digest Award nominations in 1989 & 1990. Edmonds left the show due to ill health.
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Shane West is an American actor, punk rock musician and songwriter. West is best known for portraying Eli Sammler in Once and Again, Landon Carter... with Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember, Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret, and Dr. Ray Barnett in ER. He is currently portraying Michael in The CW action drama television series Nikita. Shane West was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Leah Catherine and Don Snaith , both of whom were musicians. He has a younger sister Simone and a much younger half-sister Marli Ann. His parents divorced in 1982. At the age of 10, West moved to California temporarily with his mother and Simone. He is of Cajun French descent through his mother. West has had regular roles in the television series ER as Dr. Ray Barnett and Once and Again as Eli Sammler and had a small appearance in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the episode "Go Fish" and a leading role as Landon Carter opposite Mandy Moore in the film A Walk to Remember. West won the Young Hollywood Award Male Superstar of Tomorrow in 2002.
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Raful Neal was an American, Louisiana blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and reared by his aunt and uncle on a... tenant farm in Chamberlin, West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, Neal took up the blues harp at age 14, tutored by a local player named Ike Brown and influenced by Little Walter. Neal's first band, the Clouds, also included the guitarist, Buddy Guy. Neal debuted on vinyl in 1958 with a single for Don Robey's Houston, Texas based Peacock Records. But "Sunny Side of Love" was not successful. Neal's debut album, Louisiana Legend, first emerged on King Snake Records and was picked up by Alligator Records in 1990. I Been Mistreated, Neal's follow-up, was released on Ichiban Records the following year. Neal toured around the world and in 1997 he contributed harp to a couple of tracks on Tab Benoit's Live: Swampland Jam record. Neal's next long-player, Old Friends, appeared in 1998. After a long bout with cancer, Neal died in Baton Rouge, in September 2004. Nine of his ten children are also blues musicians, and several performed with him on his later releases on the Alligator label.
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