Laura Plantation
2247 Highway 18
(Great River Highway)
Vacherie, LA 70090
Vacherie, LA 70090
(888) 799-7690 Toll Free US only
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(225) 265-7690
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Ticket Office opens at 9:30 AM.
First tour of the day begins at 10:00 AM.Final tour of the day begins at 4:00 PM.
Admission:
ADULT: $18.00CHILD (AGES 6-17): $5.00
CHILD (AGES 0-5): FREE
AAA, NAT’L TRUST, MILITARY and WE SAVE-- ADULT: $16.00
Even though we thought our main focus for our recent trip was New
Orleans, we spent much more time on the outskirts. We had looked at various brochures about
many of the upriver plantations and decided that exploring one would be fun and
interesting. Many of them had sort of
the same look…pillared porches, oft painted white. One stood out from the rest. It was a “creole” plantation which had a
totally different look. Since we had
decided that we were only going to visit one on our own (none of those high
priced tours for us), we chose the one that appeared most unusual. We chose Laura. We drove approximately fifty miles north of
New Orleans and had a wonderful tour with an excellent bi-lingual
(French/English) guide named Bryan. He
said his name of Bryan did not sound very Creole, but his last name left no
doubt. He started our tour in French.
But, when he got an entire group that shared the doe in the headlight
look, he immediately switched to English.
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| Guillaume DuParc & his wife Nanette Prud'homme He had a rather racey past in France and came to America about the time that Lafayette abnd Rochambeau offered their services to a struggling infant county. He and other family members maintained property in France. |
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| Elizabeth, the next President. Her husband owned property in France. She added wine making to the inventory. Sales were quite good. |
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| Some artifacts |
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| Bryan, our wonderful guide |
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| Louis de Meziere DuParc & wifw Fannie Rucker |
The tour started on the front porch and then moved
to the area under the house. There were life-size
cutouts of some of the original inhabitants.
The house was full of artifacts…most original to one or more generations
of the family.
The permanent name of this huge sugar plantation was
named for its last President. In the
Creole world, the control (President) did not necessarily pass to the eldest
son as is common in British Common Law.
Louisiana law and rights of passage came through the heritage of French
law. The President of a plantation
usually chose the person believed to be the most competent (and probably the
smartest) as the successor. Therefore,
there were both males and females who became President and, thus, ran the
plantation.
The plantation house was where business was
conducted. Most of the Presidents had their
“home” in the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Originally, traversing the fifty-ish miles by river—2 hours to go
downstream—6 to 8 hours to return upstream, they “commuted” later by train,
which took about ninety minutes.
I found the construction of the house particularly
interesting. It was elevated. As one faced the front of the house, the
entrance for conducting business with the male President was on the left; the
female President, on the right. Each
room had a desk and a bed. When there
was a female President, the Creole business folks did not find it unusual to
have a bed in their “office.” However, as
time moved on, and the Yankee, particularly New England traders and
businessmen, were appalled at doing business with a woman in which there was a
bed. Bryan explained that the desk was
moved into a separate room, thus the Creole gave up a bit of their culture. Of course, all their business was done in
French. Again, more of their culture was
forfeited as the language of business moved toward English, eventually much of
the early Creole culture was absorbed into the American way.
The floor-length windows between the male and female
side were not used as a doorway. The picture at the top show both the windows and the doors. The two outer are the entrance doors. When
the windows were open, a chair may have been placed in front of them so that
one would know that it was not the entrance.
The entrance would have been the next set of what looked like the same
type of structure, but were to be the doors. The two on the inside are the brazees (or windows for breezes...I am not sure of the spelling and spell check burbed, but did not give a good spelling)
The main building was built fairly high above
ground. Trees were planted from the river
to almost the front door. The breezes
were forced through almost like a funnel.
So, even without modern air conditioning, the house was somewhat cool
even on the hottest days of the summer. There are four live oaks--all named--which are between 160+ years and well over 200 years old.
We were told the difference between “Creole” and “Cajun.” Creoles were early settlers when Louisiana
was still owned by the French –long before the sale of the Louisiana Purchase
to the US under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803. Cajuns were those folks (and their descendants)
who had been relocated from Arcadia (Nova Scotia) in the 1750’s. They had been placed in what we would call
internment camps for many years.
Although both are descendants of the French, they came to Louisiana in
two totally different ways. The Creoles
came by choice. Many of the Creoles
still maintained property in France. The
Cajun population, however, was forced to relocate and are/had been descendants
of the French through many generations in Canada.
The Creoles plantation owners were Catholic and, by
law, all slaves had to also be Catholic. Bryan explained the way slaves were valued. He also mentioned that it was a maternal society and a slave was a slave through his/her mother's line. A slave owner could father a child who would still be a slave as his mother was. Some of the slave quarters have survived. After the Civil War, most of the slaves stayed with the plantation. Of course, now they received wages. The original slave houses had only one room. After the War, many added more space by adding a porch and perhaps another room or two.
Back portions of the house had been torn down by the
owners that bought the plantation from Laura’s family. There are many original
buildings…some in great need of restoration.
But each one has its own story and the partnership will eventually be
able to accomplish their goals in refurbishing.
The building in which the rest rooms are housed complement the architecture
of the other buildings
The grounds are beautiful. A vegetable garden had been planted. Lots and lots of hundred gallon cast iron
kettles lounge around the grounds. Today
they are filled with various plants, but they were originally used in
processing sugar. Sugar cane is still grown as the facility is owned by
the St. James Sugar Co-op—bought in 1992. Thirteen acres are leased to Laura Plantation
Co., LLC, a for-profit partnership created to save and open the property as a
cultural and historic tourist attraction.
A fire in 2004 and Katrina the following year
presented a great many challenges to its operation, including the loss of many
jobs. Many employees have been able to
return (some as volunteers who feel a great loyalty to their heritage).
We found two resident cats that seemed to care less
that all these people that came to visit them.
The web-site has a great FAQ section and does answer
many questions that normally arise.
Like any place that has good marketing, one buys
ones tickets in the gift shop and must pass through the same gift shop as the
means of exit. I bought the book of
Laura’s memoirs from which most of the information from the history of the
plantation was gleaned. Laura’s family
and neighboring plantations were able to furnish local history and artifacts.
I also bought a mix for a lemon bread pudding which
I am saving for company and some postcards.
The shop also has a great selection of books, local music, local food
items, local craft items.
I was happy we chose this plantation as it has a bit
of a different history than many of the other.
Learned a lot. Enjoyed it
tremendously.
