Discover how elegant Old New Orleans differed from the countryside on a Louisiana plantation tour along the Great River Road. Be sure to allow half a day to explore and experience one of these beautifully preserved antebellum mansions. They only tell part of the story about the agricultural heart of the state. Visitors are usually most interested in discovering how the lives of plantation owners differed from that of their slaves.
Start Preparing a Louisiana Plantation Visit In New Orleans
If you’re visiting New Orleans, wander into the main museum of the Historic New Orleans Collection in the French Quarter. This is the place to study historic documents and wonderful old maps up till the Louisiana Purchase. The changing fortunes and boundaries between French, Spanish and American masters in the region is fascinating. Adults will find it a helpful background on plantation tours.
Drive or hop a streetcar along St. Charles Avenue for self-guided look at the picturesque Garden District. We loved rumbling past hundreds of stunning homes. Admire the alleys of enormous Live Oak trees draped in Spanish moss. Note all the manicured gardens tucked behind walls of pink and white crepe myrtle. The 13-mile-long St. Charles Avenue trolley provides a memorable and bargain tour of the district and its manor houses.
Choosing the Louisiana Plantation Tour That Interests the Family
Size is what makes the Louisiana plantations different from other local architecture. Farmers planted large parcels along the Mississippi River stretching up to Lake Pontchartrain. Plantations flourished growing on cotton, sugar cane and other crops vital to the region’s economy.
Plantation tours reveal how the plantation owners lived and how their homes are used today. Read on to decide which one or two to visit. Get the kids involved in the choice and they’ll be much better companions on the tour.
Here are some of our favorites, though newly restored plantations may be open at your visit.
Evergreen, A Living Sugar Plantation in Vacherie
Eager to see the Mississippi of Huck Finn, we drove about one-and-a-half-hours’ south to River Road in Vacherie. At Evergreen, we joined a fascinating 90-minute Louisiana plantation tour of what was originally a sugar plantation’s Great House. Farmers still operate as a sugar plantation to this day. The successful immigrant German farm family who built it learned from the local Creoles how to build. They constructed this Louisiana plantation above ground to avoid flooding. High-ceiling rooms vented the heat, and deep covered porches shaded all the walls.
They rebuilt the Evergeen you see today, the French Parterre, during the 1830’s. The classic Greek Revival home dates to the same era as slaves brought in to help with the land. Therefore, this Louisiana plantation tour provides more insight into social history than architecture. Evergreen claims to be the most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins.
The kids loved the Garconnieres. These adjacent cottages were reserved for boys once they became teens, and could no longer sleep 10 to a bed with sisters. Evergreen’s slave quarters and other out buildings, intact and restored, are also well worthwhile.
Oak Alley, Hollywood Plantation on the Mississippi
Nearby is Oak Alley, a much haughtier version of Louisiana plantation life. It was originally scoffed at by locals as belonging to “Americans.” That’s because those who settled after the Louisiana Purchase paid little regard to the native Creole building styles.
Oak Alley is often photographed for it entryway allee of 28 majestic Live Oak trees. They predate the brick mansion at their head and governed its style. This plantation tour reveals Oak Alley’s own tale of woe and fallen fortunes. Children will appreciate the costumed tour guides and their anecdotes of that era. Teens will like hearing that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt have both slept here (Interview With The Vampire.) Guides also share tales of the production of other things, from Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte to Primary Colors, filmed there, too.
In keeping with our quest for Southern culture, we stayed to dine at their popular restaurant. The plantation’s Oyster Po’Boy sandwiches came on thick soft buns filled with fried breaded oysters, sliced tomatoes and heaps of sweet mayonnaise. If you’re really into the days of old, you can rent one of nine century-old cottages on the property. Or, join one of the many escorted tours that depart from New Orleans. They provide a brief overview of the plantation economy during its heyday.
Laura Plantation, Where Slave Quarters Tell the Story
The Laura Plantation focuses on the Louisiana Creole lifestyle. Louisiana plantation tours began focusing on the fascinating slave quarters after fire destroyed the main house. Guided tours now showcase the history of four generations of women, both free and enslaved, who lived there.
Did you know that after Emancipation, many plantation slaves stayed on to farm their ancestral homes as paid laborers? Of course, times were hard for many and there were few choices for Blacks. The Laura Plantation’s tour guides give a very moving account of their daily lives.
Destrehan Plantation, Founded by French Nobility
In 1787, the colony’s treasurer to the King of France, Jean Baptiste Destrehan, built the largest sugar plantation in Saint Mary’s Parish. It was an eight-mile plot between the Mississippi and the Lake which took his name. Neglect ravaged the original Destrehan. Many changes included ownership by a freed slave. A terrific plantation tour makes the fully restored Greek Revival house an interesting attraction. We learned how the owners’ children would eat with the house cook and slaves. Not only did they dine together, everyone worked together to make the harvest a success.
There is a “hands-off” one-hour house tour. Kids, however, most appreciate the rambling grounds and enormous Live Oaks draped in Spanish moss. Check for daily demonstrations, ranging from traditional African-American herbal medicine to woodworking or indigo dyeing. It’s one of the closest properties to New Orleans — accessible by Lyft or Uber. Several scenes from 12 Years A Slave were filmed at Destrehan.
Whitney Plantation Focuses on The Story of the Enslaved
This non-profit Louisiana Plantation focuses on the history of slavery, both at the site and in the southeast region of the state. At no cost, you can tour their exhibits on the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery in Louisiana. The Whitney was an active plantation that produced sugar, indigo and rice between 1752-1975. Lifelike bronze statues who appear in many settings throughout the plantation tour bring the era to life.
Foreign visitors appreciate that the self-guided audio tour is available in six languages, to better explain more than 12 historic structures. They also offer interpreter-guided tours and have staff on hand to answer your questions. The public is welcome to peruse their extensive research database to discover the background and family relationships among the enslaved living there.
Several Families Worked to Restore St. Joseph Plantation
Louisiana Creoles built the Saint Joseph Plantation in 1830. The main house at 1,000-acre sugar plantation was for the plantation’s French doctor. Other prominent local families such as Josephine Ferry used it. Joseph Waguespack bought it after the Civil War. His descendants who have restored it authentically.
St. Joseph’s, a modest size house, showcases the sugar cane industry. Learn about the daily lives of slaves as seen through its slave cabins and remaining out buildings. Look out for the “Mourning Tours” in which they have live characters portraying some of the people that lived at St. Joseph and their mourning customs.
Trip Planning Details for a Louisiana Plantation Tour
You can dive into Louisiana’s plantation culture for a few hours or a long weekend, depending on your family’s appetite. Be sure to double check websites when planning, since most homes are closed at least one day of the week. Some have reduced hours in the summer; many have holiday celebrations with festive decor during winter.
Visit Louisiana Plantations for more information on the variety of plantations open for tours. Here are rural accommodations and hotels between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that are nearby.
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