Tags
Adaptive Reuse, Ascension Parish, Bernadette's Restaurant, Burnside, Burnside Station, Dornier House, Gas station, Helvetia Plantation, Historic Preservation, ideas, Louisiana, Louisiana history, microbrewery, Moving buildings, Plantations, Restoration, River Road, The Cabin Restaurant, weddings
This year is The Cabin Restaurant‘s 40th anniversary. A lot has happened at The Cabin over the last four decades. Six buildings have been moved onto the property (not including The Cabin itself!), including the Schoolhouse, two slave cabins from Helvetia plantation, Bernadette’s Restaurant, and the Dornier House. All these buildings support the restaurant/wedding/event operations at The Cabin in one way or another. However, one building that often gets overlooked is the old Burnside Station.
The Burnside Station, featured in the picture above, was the first building on this property, which sits at the corner of Hwy. 44 and Hwy. 22. Built in the early 1950’s, Burnside Station was originally a gas station and auto shop. The station operated for about 30 years, but was eventually closed in 1984, which is when the property really became oriented around The Cabin and its restaurant activities.
Today, Burnside Station sits empty. We plan to begin restoration of the building soon, but first we need to find a proper use for it. So I am reaching out to you, blogging community, for help in finding the best use for the Burnside Station. I had considered a microbrewery, but we are limited by the space in the building (the building is about 950 sq. ft., with an additional 625 sq. ft. of space in the courtyard behind it).
I look forward to your brainstorming and your ideas. This is very neat building that has been a landmark in the Burnside/River Road community for the last 60 years. It deserves to be adaptively reused in its own, unique way. Thanks for your help!
- Front of the station
- Right side of the station, closest to The Cabin
- Inside of the car bays (we’ve been using them for storage)
- Inside of the car bays (we’ve been using them for storage)
- Panorama of the car bays
- A photo of Burnside Station and The Cabin, circa 1984