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Our cottage at the bed
and breakfast at Oak Alley Plantation
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Another room at the b&b.
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The living room
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Dinner that they served
us when we arrived and settled in.
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Destrehan Plantation, one of
the oldest homes in the entire
Mississippi Valley, built in 1787
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Staircase inside
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Plantation store
(My friend Lisa)
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Very, very old Oak tree
Amoco Oil bought the land in
1914 and built a refinery there.
Amoco closed the refinery in 1959 and
the house fell to decay. The house had been
abandoned before, right after the civil war.
During that time, thanks to an
old legend that Jean Lafitte the pirate
hid treasure in this house, looters left
holes in the walls and stripped the house
of everything except a 1400 lb marble tub.
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Slave cabin
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Slave cabin inside
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Vegetable garden
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Demonstration on how
the bricks were made
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Back of the plantation house
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Slave cabin
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Old urn that used to be
used to stir maple syrup
as it cooked
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Plantation house kitchen
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HUGE and heavy marble bathtub
rumored to be a gift to the family
from Napolean Bonaparte... when
the plantation house was abandoned
after the civil war, everything was
stolen from the house except this tub
which weighs 1400 lbs and couldn't
be stolen!
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Bedroom
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Destrehan sitting room
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Bedroom
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Bedwarmer (slaves would
fill the pan with hot coals
to warm the beds before bedtime)
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Destrehan tour guide on the
front balcony of the house
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Very old pool/billiards table
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Destrehan himself
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Tools and things from the era
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I am not sure who this is.
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Or this.
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Sign.
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House front, note the Spanish moss
that hangs from the trees
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Houma's house plantation
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Sign
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Gorgeous gardens
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gardens
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Cute!
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Gorgeous gardens
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The plantation house
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Beautiful! Named after
the indigenous Houmas Indians
who occupied the land originally.
By 1803, this land
was a successful sugar cane
plantation, which became very
grand and beautiful under the ownership
of Caroline and John Preston in 1825.
Irishman John Burnside bought the
plantation in 1857 for $1 million, and the
plantation prospered.
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More Gardens.
The house and land were
saved from the Union soldiers
destruction when Burnside flew
a British flag out front, claiming
immunity as a subject of the British crown.
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Maple syrup tub.
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Side of the house.
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Entry to the side
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Beautiful staircase
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Burnside's portrait, and a silver
serving cart from the 1800's
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So pretty!
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A baby's high chair and walker
from the 1800's
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Rocking horse too
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The mississippi is just
beyond the gate, when I was
there, they were preparing for
a wedding
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The current owner of Houmas House,
Kevin Kelly, who lives full time in
the plantation house, has two very
spoiled and very sweet dogs.
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The plantation house built in
1805 in Vacherie, Louisiana. The
house caught fire in 2004 from old
wiring (which had been added to the
house in the 1900's), so the scaffolding
here is from restoring the house after
the fire (Katrina did no damage in 2004.)
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Guillaume Duparc and Nanette Prudhomme
had slaves build the house in 1805, on
land granted to them by Thomas Jefferson
for Guillaume's service to the states.
Guillaume actually had fled France in
his 20's, because the police were after
him for murder.... but in the United States,
he was an honored officer!
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Guillaume and Nanette's daughter, Elisabeth, had a son, Emile,
who married Desiree, and they had a daughter together, named Laura.
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Old photograph
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Pictures of Laura
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Pictures of Laura
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Pictures
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The family tree, showing
four generations of plantation
owners. First Nanette, then Elisabeth,
then Emile for a short time, and
finally Laura, after whom Emile named
the plantation in a desperate effort
to convince her to take over it's operation.
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Laura's plantation house,
under repairs after the fire
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Old buildings, part of the plantation
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This was Elisabeth's house when she
retired and Emile and then Laura took
over the plantation. Elisabeth continued
to give suggestions and orders from her
residence here. When the Union soldiers
boated up and down the Mississippi destroying
plantation homes, Elisabeth insisted on
staying rather than fleeing to New Orleans,
and she was killed in her home.
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I think this was a kitchen,
back then the kitchens were
separate buildings from the main house.
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Slave cabins.
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More slave cabins.
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Photos
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Another photo
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A spinning wheel
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Pottery and kitchen items
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Things found near the slave cabins
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Kitchen items
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Self explanatory :)
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A chair and several old pottery pieces
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nottoway01
Nottoway plantation
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HUGE, but not as grand
as Houma's house
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I enjoyed this plantation
the least, due to the history
of the plantation being un-told
by tour guides, and most of the
house was not included on the tour.
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Built in 1858 by Henry Howard,
a New Orleans architect, for John
Hampden Randolph. Mrs. Randolph sold the
mansion after her husbands death in 1889, to
Desiree Landry. The mansion has 64 rooms,
7 staircases, and 53,000 square feet.
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Notice the height of the table and chairs,
due to the fact that people were much shorter
in the 1700's and 1800's than they are now.
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The ballroom.
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The sign.
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Oak Alley Plantation.
My 2nd favorite on this trip.
(Laura being my favorite!)
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The house.
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The oak trees, famous here.
The trees are Live Oaks planted
in the early 1700s long before the
house was built (probably for someone
else who wanted to build here but never
did.) The alley of Oaks lead from the
front of the house, to the Mississippi,
offering a river view down the alley.
oakalley04
Built in 1837 for Jacques
Roman. Roman died before the
plantation saw prosperity, and
his widow, more interested in
New Orleans society than she was
the business of sugar cane, let
the business fall to ruin. The house
was sold at auction in 1866, and fell
to disrepair through a succession of
owners until the 1920s when it was
completely abandoned. Cattle tromped over
the beautiful marble floors and ruined
what was once a beautiful manor house.
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The alley of oaks
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A steamboat parked on the
banks of the Mississippi, the
people aboard came to Oak Alley
for a tour.
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This was neat!
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Ormond Plantation, originally
an indigo plantation, later
turning to sugar cane when sugar
cane was the white gold of the south.
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Circa 1910
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Two owners of this plantation
had mysterious deaths, one was
called out to a duel during dinner
and was later found hung in the oak
tree.... another disappeared altogether
never to be seen again.
quarter01
Yeah. But LOOK, they
have moderate prices!
Note the sign in the
background that says
"female impersonators."
Yikes.
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The old slave auction building,
some windows still have bars on them.
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This building is in downtown
New Orleans, it used to say
"New Orleans Slave exchange" but
all that's left of the sign is "Change."
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A very old pharmacy in
the French Quarter
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This hotel was once a home
of the Locoul family (the
owners of the Laura Plantation.)
The family spent the off-season
of sugar cane farming here, and also
stayed here for social events in
New Orleans. The family fled here
when Union soldiers bombed Laura
plantation, but of course Elisabeth
refused to flee and was killed when
the family fled without her.
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The rich man's grave at
The Cemetery in the French
quarter... in this type of
burial, everyone gets their own
drawer.
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The poor man's grave... everyone
gets stacked on top of each other.
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Laura's grandmother and
grandfather's grave (Raymond
and Elisabeth)
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Marie Laveau, voodoo queen
is buried here, the X's are
for wishes you make...
Some X's are circled indicating
those wishes were granted.
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Pretty latticework indicating
French architecture
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San Francisco plantation
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Kitchens were in the bottom
of the house, separate from the
family's living space
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Old bedroom
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Built in 1856 by Edmond Marmillon.
The family was undoubtedly Louisiana French,
who traveled Europe frequently, and those
travels are reflected in the architecture of the home.
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Beautiful parlor, where
parties were held. Note the
hand painted ceilings, which
still contain the original paint.
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Marmillon.
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sanfran
stjoseph01
My 3rd favorite plantation,
St. Joseph's plantation, yes,
it's Catholic! Because it's
privately owned instead of being
owned by the Historical Society,
it can keep it's religious roots
(most of the American plantations
were Catholic in nature, originally.)
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The piano.
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The plantation is one of the
few actual working sugar cane
plantations left... they demonstrate
how the cane is planted and processed
right there on the plantation. If you
are there during the right time of year,
you get to taste the cane!
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Old cash register used
to conduct plantation business.
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The railroad put in specifically
to transport the sugar cane around
on the plantation.
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The open upstairs that
catches the breeze off the
Mississippi river. This is
how the home was cooled, with
open doors on opposite sides of
the house, to always catch the
cool breeze off the river.
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The house was built by a
wealthy French doctor in 1830.
It features a 10 room main house,
slave cabins, school, detached kitchen,
and 2800 acres of rich sugar cane farmland.
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Built for the Scioneaux family using
slave labor, the 12,000 square foot
residence was sold after the Civil war,
to Alexis Ferry and his wife, Josephine (who
was the daughter of Valcour Aime, the wealthiest
man in the South at at that time. Aime's own
plantation home burned to he ground. A nearby
plantation house, Felicity, was built for Josephine's
sister.) The Movie Skeleton Key with Kate
Hudson, was filmed at both St. Joseph and Felicity
plantations.
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The only patch of original
wallpaper left.
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Cypress mantle. Cypress is
abundant in Louisiana, and
it was featured in all of these
old plantation homes.
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Baby bathtub, warmed by
the heat of the fire.
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A failed attempt in the 1900's at
indoor plumbing.
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stjoseph24
An aerial view of St. Joseph plantation,
seen on the lower left... but notice
Oak Alley plantation right next door, see
the two long rows of Oak Trees that lead
straight to the Mississippi?
Note the sugar cane fields, too, on the upper left.
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Old kitchen.
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The old schoolhouse.
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The plantation house, and
schoolhouse on the left.
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swamp01
Cajun Pride Swamp Tour
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Yeah. We stayed in the boat.
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Old cabin in the swamp
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Cypress tree
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Baby Alligator on his shoulder.
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Feeding the alligators
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