While visiting New Orleans, we had to pay a visit to an old sugarcane plantation. There are many tours available, like swamp tours and horror walks, but we chose a plantation this time. There are several plantations that you can visit and we chose Oak Alley, which is probably the most famous one. It’s famous for the 12 oak alley that make up the road to the house. The oaks were planted around 1725 and nobody knows who planted them. The mansion was constructed in 1837 by Jacques Roman. It took 3 years to finish the whole building, which was of course built entirely by slaves. They even made the bricks for the house from mud of the Mississippi river.
The land and mansion now belongs to the Oak Alley association. You can read more about Oak Alley’s history here.
Oak Alley mansion.
On the road to the mansion.
Real slave cottages.
The backyard.
Inside the mansion.
The oak road.
Me and the love of my life.
Sugar canes and the burning of sugar cane plantation.
Burning of the land makes the crop grow better.
Some movies have been filmed here, at least partially, e.g. Interview with a Vampire. It was also said that Gone with the wind was partially filmed here, but I couldn’t find anything about it online. Maybe I will have to look at the movie again and see if I recognize any scenes.
If you visit New Orleans, I really recommend seeing one of the plantations. The history behind them is quite sad, but they sure are worth seeing. Just the architecture is amazing. Oh, and the good thing about visiting New Orleans in December, is that there are no mosquitoes! 😉
Have a great Weekend! And a Merry Christmas!
CC
with daring steps 