Welcome to The Centre for French Colonial Life,  featuring the Bolduc LeMeilleur, and Vallé historic properties and its orientation and exhibits facility at 198 Market St., at the corner of Market and Second Streets in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. 

 

 The Centre for French Colonial Life is owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Missouri, and managed by French Colonial America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to education, research, and preservation.

 

Admission to the Centre for French Colonial Life orientation and exhibits facility is free.

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Tickets for guided tours of the Bolduc and LeMeilleur houses are $10 for adults and $5 for children, and may be purchased at the Centre for French Colonial Life orientation and exhibits facility.

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Museum hours are:

• Monday through Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

• Sunday, from Noon to 5:00 PM

• PLEASE NOTE WE WILL BE CLOSED ON THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS EVE, CHRISTMAS DAY, NEW YEAR'S EVE AND NEW YEAR'S DAY

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News and Events

 

Thank you to our new sponsors and partners: Jenkins & Kling for sponsorship of the Living History Program, and Mississippi Lime for major assistance with maintenance on the Bolduc House.

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The Living History program will close for the season after our last session at the LeMeilleur House on November 30th from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM.  Living history sessions will resume in March 2020.

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The Rose Garden at the Jean-Baptiste Vallé house has also closed for the season and will reopen in Spring of 2020.

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More events to come from FCA in 2019 will include:

 

December 31st, 6:30-8:30pm: La Guignolee Watch Party with Dennis Stroughmatt; Enjoy an evening with Dennis Stroughmatt and see the Ste. Gen Guignolee perform at both the Centre and the Bolduc House

For more information on these upcoming events, please call (573) 883-3105.

 

The museum campus, consisting of five late-18th and early 19th century historic structures — as well as the new exhibits and education building — tells the story of early French settlement in the upper Mississippi valley, and the development of a unique French Creole culture in this region, even during the time period when it was controlled by Spain, and later by the United States after the Louisiana Purchase.  Our current exhibits will introduce visitors to the stories of the people and processes that contributed to French Creole culture in this region, the importance of Spanish control, and the archaeology of French Creole settlements such as St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve and various sites in the Illinois country. 

 

For more information, please call us at 573-883-3105.