Joseph Jefferson House, Historic residence in Iberia Parish, United States

The Joseph Jefferson House is a 22-room house built in 1870 in the Moorish Revival and Gothic Revival styles. Most materials came from Louisiana, including cypress trees on the island said to have been planted by privateer Jean Laffite; only the roof slate and small mahogany pieces were imported.

The house was built in 1870 for actor Joseph Jefferson, who bought the island in 1869 as a hunting and fishing retreat. Before his ownership the island, then called Orange Island, had been acquired through a Spanish land grant by the brother-in-law of Jean Laffite. Jefferson died in 1905 and the estate passed to his family; John Lyle Bayless bought it in 1917, and his son later designed the gardens.

Joseph Jefferson made his name as Rip Van Winkle, the Washington Irving character he played in stage and silent film adaptations; the estate is also called the Rip Van Winkle House and Gardens. The site later took the name Bob Acres Plantation, after another role. Visitors today see the house and gardens on paid tours, with a cafe and gift shop on site.

The house offers paid tours, a cafe and a gift shop. Tours of the home and gardens closed in 2001 due to neglect, and Hurricane Lili damaged the site in fall 2002; owner Mike Richard, who worked here from 1969 to 1991, has since restored it. The house stands on Jefferson Island in Iberia Parish, Louisiana.

The property sits on Jefferson Island, a formation created by underground salt deposits pushing through layers of earth. This geological feature is part of a group of islands in the region formed in the same way.