Hundreds of New Orleans plantations used to line the Mississippi River throughout Louisiana. Now there are few, mostly preserved as historical landmarks and educational centers, lest we forget our grim but important past.
New Orleans, overall, is a place that keeps the past close. History is so intertwined with every day that it’s often like walking around a historical re-enactment site.
I grew up in Detroit, where we have the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. There, Ford reconstructed an entire historic town made of homes and buildings related to famous people, places, and events. He transported the buildings from around the country. Once he established the town, he hired actors to perform in character year-round. They still do.
In Greenfield Village, you can see Thomas Edison’s laboratory, Noah Webster’s house, and the Wright Brothers’ bike shop. It’s like walking into a fabulous time loop. As kids, you could attend for a whole school day and do all your schoolwork on small slate boards. It was different. New Orleans is like that, except there are no paid actors. These characters are just part of the fabulous fabric of the Crescent City.
There are several plantation houses within about an hour’s drive from the city. A few of them offer tours of the homes and grounds. I never pass an opportunity to explore beautiful architecture and history.
New Orleans Plantation history
In this area of Louisiana, there used to be over 400 New Orleans plantations. On old maps, you can see thin strips of land containing sugar cane farms owned and run by individual families. Some, with more acreage, prosperity, or better management than others, survived. The most enduring remain as historical sites now open for tours and storytelling. The land of some, sold to corporations, still operates farms.
As you tour these homes, the guides try to give you a sense of life on the plantation. The décor and displays present it as a way of life in those times. There is a lot of beauty in the “simpler” times, for sure. However, it also brings home the horrors of slavery in a way that nothing else can do. It is a perspective-shifting experience for anyone.
The New Orleans sugar plantations were known to be harsh environments due to the climate and difficulty of the work. In the past, plantation guides didn’t always talk about slavery, but now, thankfully, they do.
Oak Alley Plantation
Oak Alley is the most visually spectacular plantation in the area. It has the most amenities. Therefore, it’s the most popular of the New Orleans plantations. It sits, as do all plantations here, along the Mississippi River. Their positions are due to the fertile land. Additionally, the river was the primary source of transportation before automobiles. It also provided a much-needed cool breeze in the hot Louisiana summer.
I’ve been to Oak Alley three times. I never tire of the spectacular view it provides. You stand on atop the levee and look back at the vast, two-story home. Its ornate white columns surround it. The house, for me, isn’t the best part, though – it’s the trees. Oak Alley is positioned at the end of two columns of massive live Oak trees. These trees form a canopy from the river to the house. That is why it is named Oak Alley.
Fun fact: An “allée” is a straight walkway. It is a passage lined on both sides with trees or tall shrubs of the same species.
This type of tree landscaping on plantation property isn’t uncommon in the south, but they’re always a sight to behold. The 28 live oaks line the walkway from the Mississippi River to the front of the house. They form a surreal tunnel. These are the most photogenic collection of trees in the New Orleans area.
Inside the Oak Alley Big House
It costs $25 for a house tour and access to the plantation grounds and former enslaved people’s cabins.
Inside the “Big House,” a guide leads you through the house. You will see the antique furniture. The rooms are set up as they would have been during its occupation. As with most houses of this period, the room layout is stacked above and below. They have floor-to-ceiling windows for a breeze in the summer. There is a fireplace for warmth in the winter.
This house, like others of the same era, used one side for entertaining. It was filled with their best furniture, paintings, and accessories. The other side of the house held the bedrooms and living quarters. There are no bathrooms, closets, or kitchens. Cooking was done in an outbuilding and brought to the dining room when ready. Without plumbing, the residents required a trek to outhouses. These people may have been rich, but life was not easy.
Hard Life in New Orleans Plantations
Back then, screens didn’t exist, and I can’t imagine the difficulty of open windows in this swampy land. You can imagine the bugs, and it’s no wonder so many died of Yellow Fever. That, combined with the ridiculous amount of clothes people wore back then, is just mind-boggling.
Outside, you can follow the signage and trails on a self-guided tour of the property and enslaved quarters. The displays feature old enslaved cabins. They show the meager living conditions. Historical documentation of the people who lived there as enslaved laborers is available. The sales documentation is especially telling and sad. They show how “comparable slaves” were priced differently based on their likelihood of running away. It raised so many questions in my mind, many answered on the tour, and others never to be understood.
What to Do at Oak Alley Plantation
This is a plantation you can spend an entire day exploring. You can also spend several days by visiting the restaurant, bar, and overnight cabins.
- Oak Alley Restaurant is in a 19th-century cottage near the historical grounds. It serves traditional Cajun and Creole dishes. I’ve never eaten here, but I’ve heard it’s great.
- The “Spirits” Bar offers southern drinks like the mint julep, Sazerac, hurricanes, and local brews. You can enjoy your drink on the back porch. It overlooks the grounds, offering a view similar to what you might have had a few hundred years ago. You must have a mint julep while in the south.
- The Oak Alley Plantation Inn offers one and two-bedroom cabins. These cabins are located off to the side of the property. Prices start at $175 a night.
The Laura Plantation
The Laura Plantation is a Creole-style house. It is painted maroon, green, and yellow. These colors make it stand out dramatically from other houses around it. It’s right down the road from Oak Alley, so visiting both on the same day is easy and recommended.
A guide takes visitors to the front of the house. They will talk about the history of the buildings and the family that owned the home. Additionally, they explain the general ways of sugar plantations in the south. The trees out front catch breezes, and the branches blow as you walk through an old herb garden.
The famously colorful house had been painted white at one time to hide their Creole roots. Louisiana was banning French. They were trying hard to Americanize everything. At that time, they painted the house white to blend in. Preservationists have peeled back the layers of white paint. They restored the old colors on Laura Plantation. Now, it stands out once again.
Life on the Laura Plantation
Inside the house, a guide takes you from room to room. Each room opens into the next and the next with a porch wrapping around outside on upper and lower levels. The kitchen is outside, and there was no bathroom.
The rooms in this plantation are ornate but not overly so. Plantations, first and foremost, were farms. The owners’ homes in the city would have been much lusher. Many “farmers” may have owned several plantations and city homes, plus summer homes near the water. I say homes, but I mean mansions.
The Documents of Enslavement
At the back of the property, similar to Oak Alley, there are old enslaved quarters. Documents outline the buying, selling, and pricing of humans. That these cabins exist at all is amazing since most were destroyed. Luckily, some still survive.
The enslaved person’s cabins in the back were much smaller and sparser. In contrast, the big house brought a noticeable pall over the group. It’s hard to witness, but we must.
Once slavery was abolished, there were few ways for once-enslaved people to earn a living. Many enslavers hired them. They charged them rent. Enslavers paid them with certificates they could only use at their own plantation store. So any chance of them taking advantage of their freedom was low.
New Orleans Plantation Region
Eventually, unable to maintain their crops and make a profit, plantation owners sold the land. Later big corporations took over the growing and processing of crops instead of individual families. But now, much of our agriculture comes from other places where inhumanly cheap labor is easier to come by.
The New Orleans region used to have over 400 plantations along the Mississippi River. Now there are fewer than a dozen. Almost none are still functional. Suburbs and corporate farms replaced them.
There is so much more to learn about plantations. Visiting a few of them is a good way to start. These two are excellent. The gift shops sell many books about the lives of these families and the plantations up to the current day.
You can take a guided tour of the Laura Plantation and grounds for $25. Unlike the Oak Alley Plantation, you’re not allowed to walk around unguided, but the tour is detailed.
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