Two Plantations

Houmas House

Today, we had two plantations scheduled (two of the four famous ones in this area).  Houmas House, named after the local Indian tribe here, was the most spectacular. Our guide was superb, she was funny, had a lot of stories, and was made good use of her singing voice. This land was bought from the Indians in the mid-18^th century and a French Provincial style home was built. Today, this is now the back side of the mansion, in which the kitchen is situated (the first time we've seen an attached kitchen since it would be a fire hazard). The front mansion was completed in 1828. The home has been through 14 owners through the years, the most famous being John Burnside, who bought the home in 1858 and managed to hold on to it when the area was occupied by Union soldier during the Civil War by claiming he was British. The tour starts with a long walk through the gardens, which are just spectacular. Upon entering the home, the entrance hall is decorated with a hand painted mural (not the original but still impressive).  Only about 10% of the furnishings were originally from the mansion, but there were some very unique pieces like: a sterling silver lobster server (image the cost of getting lobster here), one of 8 remaining silver statues of Lincoln made by Gutzon Borglum of Mount Rushmore fame, and several plates to display apples and other fruit (another way of showing how rich you were). The home is still being lived in by the current owner, so you can walk the entire home (except for his living quarters) with few restrictions (you can sit in the chairs, walk the carpet, and  touch the furnishings). We also heard about the typical funeral arrangements. The body would be displayed in a reed casket with fragrant flowers above for two days, just in case, the person wasn't dead. Even after being buried, they would put a cord in his or her hand attached to a bell above and a servant would stand all night above the grave. If the unconscious person woke up he could be “dead ringer” “saved by the bell” as observed by the “graveyard shift”.

Houmas House Gardens

Our second stop was a very different plantation: Laura, a Creole Plantation. Creole society was a mix of French, West African and Native American where class, not race, was key to social standing. For example, at one point there were more black slave owners than white. The original owner of the plantation, Guillaume Duparc, used to be the Spanish Governor, when the Louisiana Purchase occurred. He petitioned President Jefferson for some land and was granted this stretch of the Mississippi inland for 7 miles inland. He built this home/office in 1804. The architecture is West African and was constructed by Senegalese workers in a prefabricated manner. The Cypress trees were cut and shaped and brought to the site to be built without a nail. Then brick was laid between the pillars. When he died, his wife became the President of the Plantation. In Creole society women had full rights, including property rights. She had two sons and a daughter, but the daughter became the next President because she was the smartest of the children. The plantation is called Laura, because her granddaughter wrote about her life here, telling the stories from her childhood, including tales of both brutality and mercy to the slaves. The interior of the house was quite plain, but this was an interesting stop to see the very different architecture and the stories of life here.

Laura Plantation

We arrived at the Quality Inn in New Orleans, a reasonably priced hotel, 3 blocks from Bourbon Street. The hotel staff were excellent.  They pointed us to the Crescent City Blue and BBQ Festival happening a few blocks away. We enjoyed both good music and Louisiana Barbecue at the festival.