New Orleans : The Plantations

We are camped in Convent Louisiana on the shore of the Missisipi it's right across the street, We are camped on the grounds of the Poché Plantation one of the plantations surrounding us, we are in the heart of what is called Plantation Row.

So since we are both interested in the history and the experience we intend to visit as man as possible. As I mentionned we are camped at one and the tour of it is included, there are three other across the Missisipi in Vacherie Louisiana, the bridge to cross is only 10 miles from our campsite and about the same distance on the other side. They are Laura's House, St-Joseph Plantation and Oak Alley.

The first one Laura's House a Cajun Plantation of bright colors has a fantastic guide, very interesting. The site is restored to period and well maintained. There are slaves quarters to visit and gardens complete with banana trees. The life of the slaves is a big part of the history that is told.

Laura's House

Slaves Quarters for 2 Families at Laura's Plantation

The Second Plantation we visit is St-Joseph, it is still a sugar cane plantation today. This plantation is not restored and maintained as well it was one of the last to be opened to the public on the tourist circuit but it has some interesting tidbits of history as well as many artifacts.

St-Joseph Plantation

Old School House

The third one we visit has retainded most of it's live oaks in the front of the house, a lot of old oaks had to be destroyed when the levee along the Missisipi was built at the begining of the 20th century by the corps of enginers. The oaks in front of the house are more then 500 years old and a magnificent sight that dwarfs you. This Mansion if very well restored and full of priceless antiques. It also has a restaurant, we were hungry and decided to eat there, the food was good and the price reasonable. For the visit of the house the staff is dressed in period costumes, personaly I find that it ads to the overall experience.

Oak Alley Plantation the oaks were at least 300 years old before the house was built

The next day we visited the Poché Plantation, the tour that was included with our campsite, the visit was sceduled for 11h00 and the tour was given by the owner a very friendly guy. He just aquired the place a few years ago and he's in the process of bulding the grounds the mansion is restored and filled with antiques, he rents the rooms upstairs as a kind of Bed and Breakfast.

Poché Plantation

After that visit we drove about 11 miles on the same side of the river to Houma's House the Plantation that is the most highly acclaimed. They even have a five star restaurant, once again we ate there. The grounds are like a botanical garden complete with ponds and fountains. The tour is given by a guide in full attire velvet dress and all, the owner lives in the house and is an avid antique collector the amount of silver in this house is unbelivable he even has a Silver Roastbeef serving charriot and other very fine pieces includin a silver sculpture of Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum the man who sculpted Mount Rushmore.

Houmas House Gardens

Inside Houmas House

It was enough for that day so we kept the last one 10 miles from our camp on the same side of the Missisipi but in the opposite direction from Houma's House for the next day. That plantation called San Francisco was purchased by Marathon a big oil company in the south for the land they needed to build their refinery, it' so big the first time I passed beside it at night I tought it was a city. Their plan was to demolish the house, already this one doesn't have any land in the front the levee and road passes 50 feet from the house. Fortunatly someone in the board of directors decided to save the house so now it stands on a lot of 400 feet by 400 feet in the corner of a giant refinery. It is the least restored of the houses as far as furnitures but the did a lot of work to restore the original faux finis and embelishment on the inside walls and cellings.

San Francisco Plantation