Destrehan Plantation | Laura Plantation | Oak Alley
Wednesday - 13 November 2002: New Orleans, Louisiana
- We have been traveling eight weeks today. DT has decided we should have
planned 6 to 12 months for this trip. Three just isn't enough. Though we are
enjoying the food in New Orleans - the city itself is not so lovely that you
would want to linger. Today we drove 130 miles (in our car) to visit three
plantations and had a lovely day, enjoying the sun and another of America's
Great River Roads.
Our first stop was the
Destrehan Plantation, built in 1787. The house is the oldest documented
plantation house left intact in the lower Mississippi Valley on a Wednesday.
DT and I were the only two people on the half-hour tour, so we had the guide
to ourselves and could ask a lot of questions. This French family was very
prominent in Louisiana politics. They were profitable sugar cane growers,
and perfected the granulation of sugar. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were filmed
here in several scenes of Interview with the Vampire
- written by New Orleans author, Anne Rice.
Destrehan Plantation
Destrehan Plantation kitchen
Living and Dining rooms of Destrehan Plantation
Destrehan Plantation covered porch
Next we crossed over the Mississippi and continued to
Laura Plantation. This plantation was a Creole Plantation and a
"working" plantation - these people had another mansion in New Orleans,
where they resided from January through Easter. They spoke only French and
if you didn't speak French, you were not their friend nor welcome in their
home (but they would do business with you on the porch).
Laura Plantation
The house was built in 2 years. 80 slaves from Senegal
arrived on the property with plans and orders from the family. Forty slaves
built the foundation and forty went out into the swamp to cut the cypress
trees for lumber. The foundation is built very deep under the ground, and
all the bricks were made on site. The house came together, in 1805, when the
foundation was finished and the guys came out of the swamp - with the house
completely ready to put together. Everything was measured and marked,
numbered and matched-up. It took 11 days to put the house up and not one
nail was used. Under the house, which was the storage area for wine and
foods, you can look up under the beams and still see the numbers written on
the boards! This plantation was almost always run by women and because of
the diaries of the 19th-century, 4th-generation owner, Laura Locoul,
there are more than 5,000 pages of documentation on the property. Laura
wrote down all the family history she could remember - and it is nothing
like a Gone With the Wind version of the old south. They had a rule
at Laura Plantation: If you are going to live in this house, you must work
in this house. Of course, since they had several hundred slaves, I am not
sure how much the owners actually worked... but it is a fabulous story. Lots
of family feuding, illegitimate children, voodoo and swearing.
The front porch of Laura Plantation
From the slave cabins on Laura Plantation came the
African-born tales of Br'er Rabbit. Our guide, Melba, was very funny and showed
us the bedroom where 67 babies were born. She said half of these children
lived to be over 100 years old. (Melba said if she ever has a free moment,
she comes into this room and takes a deep breath!) The property has twelve
buildings on the National Register of Historic Places,
including the home where Laura's evil Grandmother lived after she was asked
- by her daughter - to leave the main house!
Our last stop of the day was to the most beautiful house I have ever seen.
Oak Alley is one of the most celebrated sights in Louisiana. In 1700, 28
Live Oak were planted by a Creole farmer and he built a small home nearby.
In 1939, Jacques Telesphore Roman, a wealthy Creole sugar planter, bought
the property and built the present mansion for his bride. Seems she loved
Oak Alley, but after a few years wasn't so interested in her husband, and
spent most of her time at their OTHER mansion in New Orleans. (You know,
this is what America needs - less divorce and more two-mansion families.) I
loved Oak Alley because it is completely symmetrical, exquisite in its
simple detailing and beautifully furnished. The verandas on both levels
circle the entire house. All the windows could be opened for
cross-ventilation. If you like, they will serve you a mint julep on the
veranda!
Oak Alley Plantation
Master Bedroom
Rhett & Scarlet... er, I mean, DT and me, at the lovely Oak Alley Plantation
After a tour of Oak Alley, we walked around the grounds. Oak
Alley is just so lovely. If it wasn't haunted and in the middle of a
mosquito-infested swamp, I would have moved-in. Oak Alley still grows sugar
cane. (We saw sugar cane growing for miles and miles today.) But we didn't
see any restaurants and we were really hungry, as it was dusk by the time we
left Oak Alley. We did not follow the Great River Road back to New Orleans,
but hopped over to the Interstate and were back into town in about one hour.
If you are hungry, I suppose New Orleans is good place to be!
This was our last night in town and I still hadn't tried Pompano, so DT took
me to Arnaud's.
Arnaud's is a classic New Orleans restaurant - so old it felt I was
going back in time as we were escorted through the dining rooms to our
table. (Again, no reservation and we had a wonderful table in the jazz
bistro section of the restaurant.) The floors are mosaic Italian tile and
the chandeliers are ancient. Tuxedoed waiters hover. A three-piece jazz band
played in the corner. First we had a much-deserved cocktail - no we did not
have that mint julep on the veranda at Oak Alley - and relaxed, chatting
about our day and enjoying the music. For appetizers, the man I kiss
regularly had alligator sausage. (If it tastes like chicken, why not just
have the chicken already?) His reptile was served with a smoked onion and
apple relish. I tried Mushrooms Veronique, mushroom caps stuffed with grapes
and Boursin, encrusted in fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano. Now, we felt better!
Continuing on into the pages of the menu we chose salads (Caesar for DT, and
I chose the Belgian Endive served with roasted walnuts). I had Pompano David
- how appropriate - which was a simple grilled fish fillet, brushed with
olive oil and lemon juice. DT had Snapper Mitchell - grilled with fresh
tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic and Kalamata olives.
We had a lovely meal at Arnaud's. We were so hungry when we sat down, and
now we felt good. Full, but not too full. Then, those damned lagniappes.
Chocolate Devastation Cake. It devastated us, all right! The two of us
didn't even finish half of the cake and we were done for the night. The cake
fools you. It is a flourless cake, and your first taste seems so light and
fluffy. By the third bite, devastation sets in. After dinner, we walked for
an hour - down lively Bourbon Street - all the way to Jackson Square and
past Cafe du Monde. No beignets tonight for the Waddling Wanderers. This was
a big day!
RV Park:
Jude Travel Park
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