Great Oaks Plantation

AN AERIAL PHOTO of Great Oaks circa 1951, right after it was constructed. The building at the top is the main house. At lower right is the home of Toy and Adele Williamson. Toy was an architect who built Great Oaks in the late 1940's for his father and mother as a twin to Richland Plantation in Norwood, LA. Richland was built in 1820 by Elias Norwood. The building at lower left was a home Toy built for his wife's sister. Woody and Diane Jenkins bought Great Oaks in 1984 with the exception of the Williamson home, lower right. From 1987 to 2004, the building at lower left was the first home of WBTR-TV, Channel 19, Baton Rouge's first Independent television station. It is now owned by the Manship family and broadcasts from the same facility as WBRZ-TV. In 2015, the Williamson home was purchased by the Jenkins' youngest daughter Catherine Jenkins Newsome and her husband Saul Newsome. That marked the first time since the late 1960's that Great Oaks was owned by one family.

Doing some Spring gardening at Great Oaks