Louisiana Plantation

Several pages of information, photographs and a virtual tour of this plantation ...

Smith, J. Frazier and Leicester B. Holland. Plantation Houses and Mansions of the Old South. Dover Pubs., 1994. ... [Read More]

French Creole Architecture
The rural French Creole building tradition is also known for the use of pigeonniers to ornament the plantation. Domestic pigeons had value not only as a delicacy but as a source of fertilizer. However, as noted by Louisiana plantation specialist Barbara Bacot, it was less a taste for squab than for status that exalted the pigeonnier. Bacot, in Louisiana Buildings, 1720-1940 , notes that in France only landowners had the right to keep pigeons under the Old Regime, and some of the landed gentry chose to frame their houses with pairs of dovecotes. In Louisiana, pigeonniers used in the form of monumental towers set near the main house continued as a fashion well into the 19th century. By contrast, on English plantations, where birds were sometimes kept, the roost or dovecote would typically have been little more than nesting boxes set in the gable of the barn. ... [Read More]

Parlange Plantation House
Vincent de Ternant received the plantation grounds from a French land grant and developed the 10,000 acres into an active plantation facing the False River. When de Ternant's son Claude inherited the plantation, he changed the cash crop from indigo to sugarcane and cotton. When Claude died his second wife, Virginie remarried another Frenchman, Colonel Charles Parlange, from whom the plantation took its name. Together they had one son, also named Charles, who survived the Civil War to begin a distinguished career as a State Senator, United States District Attorney, Lieutenant Governor, Federal judge, and finally Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. When Virginie died, Charles and his wife moved to New Orleans and Parlange was left to tenants for the next 20 years until Charles' son, Walter, left New Orleans to return and take up the life of a plantation farmer. Today 1500 acres surround Parlange, which is still used as a cattle and sugarcane plantation. ... [Read More]

Text Only -- National Register of Historic Places Southeastern Louisiana
Situated on River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the Laura Plantation complex is located just upriver from the west bank community of Vacherie. The plantation is significant for its raised Creole plantation "big house" and its rare collection of outbuildings, including six slave quarters, that illustrate the development of a sugar cane plantation from the antebellum period well into the 20th century. The land on which Laura plantation stands was originally owned by André Neau, who obtained it through a French royal land grant in 1755. In the late 1700s, the plantation became the property of the Dupare family and was divided between two family members in 1876. The house continued in the hands of Dupare heirs until 1891, when Dupare descendant Laura Locoul sold the property to A. Florian Waguespack. A condition of the sale was that the plantation and house continue to be called "Laura". Constructed c.1820, the main house at Laura has a raised brick basement story and a briquet ... [Read More]

Welcome to Louisiana.gov
Miscellaneous facts about Louisiana, containing a description of the diverse people in Louisiana, regional and statewide tourism and recreation information. Provides a brief history of the state, including Louisiana industry, Louisiana emblems, Cajun culture, and plantation homes. ... [Read More]

San Fancisco Plantation House
San Francisco's floor plan is unique as well, but the interior's primary significance lies in the fine murals attributed to Dominique Canova. The cost of San Francisco Plantation House, along with the paintings and other interior decorations, may have given rise to the house's name. One legend holds that the French phrase "son saint-frusquin," or "the shirt off his back," was a description of what the construction of the house cost its first owner, Edmond Marmillion. This became mistranslated into San Francisco. Another legend holds that the name celebrated the port of entry to northern California, then undergoing the gold rush of 1849. A further legend states that the name changed from Sans St. Frusquin to San Francisco when Achille D. Bougere purchased the plantation house in 1879. San Francisco was originally preserved by the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Clark Thompson. The house is now owned by the San Francisco Plantation Foundation and has been restored to its former glory. ... [Read More]

Cane River Creole National Historical Park (National Park Service)
Cane River Creole National Historical Park is located within the Cane River National Heritage Area in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. The park includes 44.16 acres of Oakland Plantation and 18.75 acres of Magnolia Plantation. The two park sites include a total of 67 historic structures remnant from 200 years of plantation life. Due to the preservation and restoration work in progress on these buildings and the grounds, limited services are available to the public. There is much work to be accomplished, and actually seeing the work in progress is an incredible opportunity that all are welcome to experience. Formal tours of Oakland Plantation are provided free of charge each day at 1:00 p.m. Self-guided tour maps are available at the Main House. Visitors are welcome to strol the grounds every day from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., on this self-guided visit. Our small, but dedicated staff will assist you if you have questions. Just look for the National Park Service uniform or nametag. ... [Read More]

Welcome to Louisiana.gov
Sample Louisiana's five travel regions and explore the Louisiana's many attractions. Discover the New Orleans French Quarter, Cajun country, antebellum plantation homes, Jazz music, food, deep sea and freshwater fishing, hunting, Mardi Gras, and more than 100 other festivals. ... [Read More]

The River Road
Although visitors tend to focus upon the big house, one must remember that plantations historically had a large number of buildings. Far from the rural idyllic view we have today, plantations were factories aimed at producing a cash crop on a large scale for world export. Each was in effect a self-contained community. Joseph Holt Ingram, in his The Southwest by a Yankee, 1835, noted that plantation appurtenances constitute a village in themselves, for planters always have a separate building for everything. From a practical standpoint, the sugar house and the slave quarters, rather than the big house were probably the most important of these buildings. ... [Read More]

Florida Parishes
Because they do not fit the state's well known French Creole and River Road plantation stereotypes, Louisiana's Florida Parishes are little known outside the state. However, citizens of South Louisiana (and especially of New Orleans) have enjoyed the region's natural beauty and healthy climate for well over a century. The Florida Parishes lie east of the Mississippi River and north of lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain in the southeastern portion of the state. The region contains eight parishes: East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, West Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington. Although the area's name implies cohesiveness and a shared developmental pattern, this is not completely true. Certain parishes share a common heritage, while others followed divergent patterns of growth. Plantation and small farm agriculture, railroads, the lumber and vacation industries, and multiple ethnic groups--all have contributed to the growth and heritage of the region known ... [Read More]