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10 Most Beautiful Historic Southern Plantation Homes You Can Visit

Southern charm: 10 of the most historical southern plantation homes.

With their historic architecture and stunning gardens, historical Southern plantation homes are full of old-world charm and beauty. More importantly, they have rich stories to tell because they played significant roles in our nation’s history. If experiencing the storied history and architectural beauty of a southern plantation home is in your future, then these charming historical Southern plantations should not be missed:

Pebble Hill Plantation

Located in Thomasville, Georgia, this antebellum plantation and museum was first established when Thomas Jefferson Johnson purchased the land in 1825. Johnson first raised cotton and then introduced rice, a profitable crop in Georgia during the 19th century.

After Johnson’s death, the plantation was inherited by his daughter, Julia Ann. In 1850, a lovely plantation home was built upon the property by English architect John Wind.

Julia and her husband struggled with the property during Reconstruction in the South, and the property was purchased by Thomas Melville Hanna in 1896. After his death, Pebble Hill passed to his daughter, Kate, who turned it into a hunting estate, which were popular during the mid-1880s.

Kate’s daughter, Elisabeth, inherited the plantation after her mother’s death in 1936 and decided to turn the plantation into a museum for all to enjoy. Today, the grounds are well-maintained and feature beautiful gardens that are worth exploring.

Evergreen Plantation

If Evergreen Plantation seems familiar, you might have seen it featured in Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film, “Django Unchained” . The stunning Greek Revival style building and plantation grounds were used as a backdrop to shoot some of the film’s scenes.

Located in Edgar, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans, the plantation is considered the most intact plantation in the South and still produces sugar cane to this day. As you explore the grounds, be sure to check out the 22 intact slave cabins, which are arranged in a double row along its oak alley.

Whitney Plantation

Whitney Plantation, located in Wallace, Louisiana, was also featured in “Django Unchained” — but this isn’t your typical historical Southern plantation. In 2014, the 2,000-acre property was converted into the first slavery museum in America.

Unlike other plantations, Whitney Plantation doesn’t sugarcoat the lives of enslaved Africans who worked the former indigo and sugar farm. Jim Cummings, the owner of Whitney Plantation, has spent millions on the museum’s artifacts and restoration to give visitors a true sense of life in the antebellum South.

Shirley Plantation

Dating back to 1614, Shirley Plantation is the oldest plantation in America . Located in Charles City County, Virginia, the plantation once produced tobacco that was sent around the colonies and shipped to England.

Although the land was originally settled in 1613, a portion of the land was granted to Edward Hill in 1638. Anne Hill Carter, who was born on the plantation, was the mother of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

In fact, Hill’s direct descendants continue to own and operate the plantation to this day, making it the oldest family-owned business in North America.

Nottoway Plantation

Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana, is home to the South’s largest antebellum mansion. The ornate, Greek and Italianate style mansion is bursting with opulence and demonstrates the vast wealth of prestigious sugarcane planter John Hampden Randolph.

Built in 1859, the jaw-dropping mansion has three floors and a total of 64 rooms, 165 doors, 12 hand-carved Italian marble fireplaces and 200 windows. The spectacular home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now a resort destination.

Belle Meade Plantation

Located in Belle Meade, Tennessee, the Belle Meade Plantation is a beautiful Greek Revival mansion that now operates as a museum. The land was originally purchased by John Harding in 1806 and used to produce cotton.

Harding quickly became one of the largest slave holders in the Nashville area. With his new fortune, he built a brick house on a small hill, which he called “Belle Meadow.”

What started as a 250-acre property would become a 5,300-acre farm that raised thoroughbred horses. The farm survived the Civil War and was passed down through generations of the Harding family until they ran into serious debt in 1893. The plantation was sold in 1906 and was converted into an educational non-profit organization in 1953.

Magnolia Plantation

Founded in 1676 by Thomas Drayton, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens is renowned for its beautiful gardens and rich history. Located along the banks of the Ashley River near Historic Charleston, S.C., the 464-acre property has survived natural disasters, as well as both the American Revolution and Civil War.

There is much to see and do at Magnolia, so be sure to carve out a couple hours to walk through all the gardens, take a tour of the magnificent plantation home and let the kids enjoy the petting zoo.

If you’re visiting the wonderful city of Charleston, you can’t miss Boone Hall. Located across the Cooper River in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Boone Hall is America’s oldest working plantation and the most photographed in the country.

People from across the world come to Boone Hall to see its famous Avenue of Oaks, explore the working plantation and Georgian-style home and experience the only live presentation of Gullah culture at The Gullah Theater. Educational and awe-inspiring, it’s easy to see why this historical Southern plantation draws thousands of visitors each year.

Destrehan Plantation

Established in 1787, Destrehan Plantation was originally a thriving indigo plantation and sugarcane farm. Situated 25 miles from New Orleans, this antebellum mansion is noted for its French Colonial style architecture, which was later modified with Greek Revival style elements.

Destrehan Plantation has a fascinating history that starts with the plantation’s second owner, Jean-Noel Destrehan, who was deeply involved in the state’s politics, serving on the Orleans Territorial Council and as a U.S. senator until he resigned after a month.

Destrehan paved the way for the Creole system of slave labor, in which head slaves were appointed to oversee tasks on sugarcane plantations. Although the history is dark, the plantation’s costumed historical interpreters do an excellent job of telling the rich stories of the Destrehan family and the slaves who worked there.

Belle Grove Plantation

A trip to Belle Grove Plantation gives visitors the opportunity to venture into the past and see what life was like for early settlers in Shenandoah Valley. Located near Middletown, Virginia, the 1797 antebellum plantation is still farmed today and features a large limestone manor house in Federal style architecture.

The impressive manor was built by Major Isaac Hite and his wife, Nelly Madison Hite, the sister of President James Madison. The home was originally named after Nelly’s grandmother’s home in Port Conway, Virginia, which is the site where James Madison was born.

Now a historic house museum, visitors can tour the large manor, an 1815 icehouse and smokehouse, a slave cemetery and a heritage apple orchard — all set against a stunning mountain backdrop.

Full of History and Charm

Before the outbreak of the Civil War, there were more than 500,000 plantations and farms in the South. Although many did not survive reconstruction, those Southern plantation homes that have remained well-preserved now offer an invaluable glimpse into our country’s storied past.

*************************************** About The Author: Traci Magnus was raised on the Charleston Coast and attended the College of Charleston before moving to New York City in the mid 1990s. Her first job in the Big Apple was with the renowned NYC real estate brokerage Douglas Elliman. For the next decade, she honed her marketing skills at some of Madison Avenue’s top advertising agencies. In 2006, she returned to Charleston along with her husband Glenn and their son Max. She joined the Dunes Properties team in early 2008 as Director of Marketing. ***************************************

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10 Notable Southern Plantation Tours...

8 Most Notable Southern Plantation Tours in the United States

History buffs with an interest in the southern part of the United States will enjoy these plantation tours. They offer insight into the history of slave labor, plantation living and how the south evolved into what it is today.

1. oak alley plantation, vacherie, louisiana.

view at the mansion at the Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, United States

Located in Louisiana, Oak Alley Plantation was first a sugar cane plantation started by Valcour Aime, who purchased the property in 1830. He established an enslaved community who worked the plantation. Then in 1836, Jacques Roman acquired the Oak Alley property and began to build his own home on the plantation. Accomplished entirely by slave labor, his home was built in Greek Revival style using bricks made on site and marble shipped in by steamboat to construct the dining-room floor. The self-guided exhibit at Oak Alley focuses on the lives and living conditions of those who were owned and kept on the plantation. Visitors learn about life after emancipation and can stop by the Blacksmith Shop, which acts as a tribute to Louisiana craftsmen and the history of forging metalwork.

Oak Alley Plantation has been the filming site of popular media works, including the 1993 film, Interview With a Vampire, and Beyoncé’s 2006 music video for the song Deja Vu.

2. Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville, Tennessee

Historical Landmark, Architectural Landmark

What started as a single log cabin is now a plantation located outside of Nashville, Tennessee that serves as an educational resource. Founded by John Harding in 1807, “Belle Meade” translates to mean beautiful meadow in old English and French . It began as a 250-acre property that eventually became a 5,400 thoroughbred horse farm. It had a Greek Revival Mansion, a train station and a rock quarry that supported five generations of owners and their enslaved workers. Today the site retains 34 acres of the original property, including the mansion and original homestead. It is dedicated to the preservation of Tennessee’s Victorian architecture and equestrian history.

Visitors to Belle Meade Plantation enjoy a tour of the property led by trained and costumed guides, who share the history of the mansion, as well as many other historic buildings like a horse stable, carriage house and log cabin. Free wine tasting is offered at the site’s winery after tours, and there is a gift shop and restaurant for visitors as well.

3. Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, South Carolina

Historical Landmark

A tree by the riverbank at the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Ashley River Road, Charleston, SC, USA

Back in 1676, Thomas Drayton and his wife Ann established the Magnolia Plantation along the Ashley River in South Carolina . The couple were the first in a line of Magnolia family ownership that has lasted for more than 300 years. During the Colonial era, the plantation saw immense growth due to the cultivation of rice. Once the American Revolution began, troops occupied the land and Drayton, along with his sons, became soldiers fighting the British. In 1825, Thomas Drayton’s great grandson willed the estate to his daughter’s sons, since he had no male heirs to leave the property to. One of the sons died of a gunshot wound, leaving the second brother a wealthy plantation owner at the age of 22. The American Civil War threatened the welfare of the Drayton family, the house and the gardens on the plantation. But the plantation recovered and saw additional growth of the gardens, which became the focus. The property was saved from ruin when it opened to the public in 1870. The plantation offers half-hour long guided tours taking visitors through the Drayton family home – the third in more than three centuries – and gives a glimpse of what plantation life was like in the 19th century onward. There are 10 rooms open to the public, furnished with antiques, quilts and Drayton family heirlooms. More than five years ago, Magnolia’s Cabin Project started as an effort to preserve five structures on the property that date back to 1850. The structures are former slave dwellings that are now the focal point for a 45-minute program in African American history .

4. Destrehan Plantation, Louisiana

The Destrehan Plantation in Louisiana was established in 1787. It is located 25 miles from downtown New Orleans. It was the home of successful sugar producers Marie Celeste Robin de Logny and her husband, Jean Noel Destrehan. By 1804, 59 enslaved workers inhabited the property, producing over 203,ooo pounds of sugar. The Destrehan Plantation was the site where one of the three trials following the 1811 Slave Revolt took place. It was led by Charles Deslondes, and was one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history.

Visitors can tour the restored plantation, which is surrounded by lush greenery and looks over the Mississippi River. Stories of the Destrehan family and those who were enslaved are shared through guided tours, which also feature historic exhibits and the opportunity to participate in period demonstrations. Plantation tours also include access to the Jefferson Room, which displays an authentic document signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Nottoway Plantation, White Castle, Louisiana

The south’s largest antebellum mansion is Nottoway Plantation. Located in Louisiana northwest of New Orleans and southwest of Baton Rouge, Nottoway is a Greek and Italianate style mansion full of extravagant features and details. It was completed in 1859 and the construction was commissioned by prestigious sugar planter John Hampton Randolph. The mansion became home to John, his wife Emily Jane, and their 11 children. As a wealthy businessman, John wanted no expense spared when it came to the home’s design. The 53,000 square foot mansion has 64 rooms with features like 22 massive exterior columns, 12 hand carved Italian marble fireplaces, 15 1/2 foot ceilings and a lavish pure white oval ballroom. Modern bathrooms with running water and a gas plant that provided gas lighting throughout the home were also installed per John’s vision.

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John’s wish was for the mansion to be a place where he could entertain visitors in extravagant and elegant style. He wanted a home that would be admired by all, seen by river boaters on the Mississippi River or riders on a horse drawn carriage traveling on Great River Road. When you visit Nottoway Plantation today, costumed plantation tour guides take you through the mansion, sharing details of the property’s construction and history. Over the years, Nottoway Plantation went through several different owners and years of decline, but managed to survive the Civil War. This is a testament to the loving care that the mansion has received by those who are determined to keep its history alive.

Pebble Hill Plantation, Thomasville, Georgia

The original owner of Pebble Hill Plantation in Georgia was Melville Hanna, who acquired the property in 1896. In 1901, he gave the property to his daughter, Kate. She immediately began construction on Pebble Hill, hiring architect Abram Garfield, and was actively involved in the design process. The first building was a log cabin that served as both a school and a playroom for her children. Several of the buildings were neo-classical brick structures that include the Plantation Store, the Pump House, the Waldorf and the Stables Complex.

Kate was a humanitarian who provided many benefits to the employees who worked on the plantation. Over 40 families of employees lived in furnished cottages, the Visiting Nurse Association provided medical services for employees and their families, and two schools were built and maintained for employees’ children in grades 1-7.

After Kate’s death in 1936, her daughter Elisabeth “Pansy” inherited the plantation. She wanted it to become a museum, and in 1956 formed the Pebble Hill Foundation to make the property open to the public. After her death in 1978, the plantation became property of the Pebble Hill Foundation, which maintains and manages the estate today.

Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee

Located about 10 miles east of downtown Nashville, Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage offers self-guided audio tours and interpreter led tours of the former president’s estate. General admission plantation tours cover over 1,000 acres of farmland that used to be The Hermitage Plantation. The Hermitage was a self-sustaining property that relied on slave labor to produce cotton. President Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel lived there for several years in the late 1700s. The Jackson family survived on profits made from the crops that the slaves worked every day. When he first bought The Hermitage in 1804, he owned nine African American slaves. At the time of his death in 1845, he owned about 150 slaves who lived and worked on the property.

Although slaves could not legally marry, Jackson encouraged his to form family units. This was a way to discourage slaves from trying to escape, since it would be more difficult for an entire family to safely flee.

Take a plantation tour of the Hermitage to walk through the mansion, the exhibit gallery and the grounds, where both President Jackson and his wife are laid to rest. Costumed tour guides will share the detailed history of the Jackson family, the plantation and the buildings and original belongings that remain on the property.

James Madison’s Montpelier, Virginia

Ambrose Madison, a planter and slaveholder in Virginia, along with his wife Frances and their three children, arrived in 1732 to a plantation they called Mount Pleasant. One of Ambrose’s grandchildren, James, spent his early childhood at Mount Pleasant while construction began on a brick Georgian house that would later become the center of James Madison’s Montpelier .

It was on this very land that James Madison contemplated ideas and shaped the United States as the country’s fourth president. With 2,650 acres of horse pastures, rolling hills and scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, James Madison’s Montpelier offers insight into the Madison family history, and provides a deeper look into James Madison’s presidency . Just behind Mount Pleasant is the Madison Family Cemetery, where both James and Dolley Madison are buried.

Exhibits on the property include the 1910 Train Depot, which explores the African American struggle for civil rights . It opened in 2010 and is a permanent exhibit on the plantation. There’s also The Mere Distinction of Colour, which allows visitors to hear the stories of those who were enslaved at Montpelier, as told by their descendants. It recounts the events that took place at the Madison’s home, as well as the South Yard of the property, where the slaves lived and worked. The exhibition also explores how the legacy of slavery impacts race relations and human rights in modern America.

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11 Remarkable Southern Plantation Tours in the US

With their architecture and remarkable gardens, historic Southern plantation homes are full of old-world charm and beauty. But more importantly, they have rich stories to tell because they played significant roles in our nation’s history. Today, it’s hard to believe, but more than 50,000 plantations operated during the antebellum period.

The economy of the 17th- and 18th-century American South was due to an insatiable demand for cotton, indigo, rice, and tobacco. Though most of them folded after the abolition of slavery, many of these magnificent properties on which this economy was built still exist and are rich in history.

Most of the plantations you can visit today are located in the Deep South, including South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. The ones open to visitors tend to be more impressive and often managed by state historical societies or parks programs. If experiencing the storied history and architectural beauty of a southern plantation home is in your future, then these 11 Significant Southern Plantation Tours in America should not be missed!

Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, LA

This plantation was first a sugar cane plantation started by Valcour Aime, who purchased the property in 1830. He established an enslaved community that worked the plantation. But in 1836, Jacques Roman bought the Oak Alley property and began to build his own home on the lot.

Accomplished entirely by slave labor, his house was built in Greek Revival style using bricks made on-site and marble shipped in by steamboat. The self-guided tour at Oak Alley centers on the lives and living conditions of those who were owned and kept on this plantation.

While visiting, learn about life after emancipation and stop by the Blacksmith Shop, which pays tribute to Louisiana artisans and the history of forging metalwork. This plantation can be found in the 1993 film, Interview With a Vampire and Beyoncé’s 2006 music video for Deja Vu.

Belle Meade Plantation, Belle Meade, TN

What started as a simple log cabin is now a plantation outside of Nashville that serves as an educational source. Established by John Harding in 1807, “Belle Meade” translates to mean beautiful meadow in old English and French. What started as a 250-acre property would become a 5,300-acre farm that raised thoroughbred horses.

Besides a Greek Revival Mansion, it had a train station and a rock quarry and raised five generations of owners with their enslaved workers. Today the site maintains 34 acres of the original property, including the mansion and original home. It is dedicated to the conservation of Tennessee’s Victorian architecture and equestrian history.

Visitors can enjoy a tour of the property led by trained and costumed guides, who share the mansion’s history and other historic buildings like a carriage house, horse stable, and log cabin. Free wine tasting is offered at the location’s winery after tours, and there is a gift shop and restaurant for visitors.

Shirley Plantation, Charles City, VA

This location remains a working plantation and privately-owned home to this day. This is the country’s first plantation built in 1613, only six years after English settlers founded Jamestown. The “Great House” was styled initially in Anglo-Dutch architecture through continuous efforts and additions with mixed styles, creating a charismatic aesthetic.

The Hill family has been living on the property for 11 generations, keeping the estate in beautiful, restored condition. You can learn about the amazing women who kept the farm operating during the Civil War and saved it from falling by caring for wounded Union soldiers.

Tours highlight the history of the plantation, including the role of religion in colonial America, colonial education, the history of the Hill family, and the effects of the Civil War and Civil Rights against the plantation. A new slavery exhibit has also been built in the original 18th-century outbuilding.

Nottoway Plantation, White Castle, LA

This is the south’s biggest antebellum mansion. Located northwest of New Orleans and southwest of Baton Rouge, Nottoway is a Greek and Italian-style mansion full of luxurious features and details. Over the years, Nottoway Plantation went through several different owners and years of decline but managed to survive the Civil War.

It was completed in 1859 by prestigious sugar planter John Hampton Randolph. As a wealthy businessman, he wanted no expense spared when it came to the home’s design. The 53,000sqft mansion has 64 rooms with 22 massive exterior columns, 12 hand-carved Italian marble fireplaces, 15ft ceilings, and a lavish pure white oval ballroom. He also installed modern bathrooms with running water and gas lighting throughout the home.

He wanted a home that would be seen by river boaters on the Mississippi River or riders on a horse-drawn carriage traveling on Great River Road. When you visit today, costumed tour guides take you through the mansion, sharing details of the property’s history.

Sherwood Forest, Charles City, VA

This location is unique because it’s the only private home to be owned by two presidents. William Henry Harrison purchased the house under the name “Walnut Grove.” After his death, his successor John Tyler purchased the plantation in 1842, renaming it Sherwood Forest to show his outlaw position in the Whig party. He lived in the house from the time he left the office until he died in 1862.

The Tyler family has continued living here since then, keeping the house in excellent condition. The property is open for tours daily between 9 am and 5 pm. Only 30 minutes from Williamsburg, Sherwood Forest is a Greek Revivalist wonder with 25 acres of gardens, woodlands, and outbuildings both original and reconstructed.

Visit the gardens once used by Civil War troops and even learn about the ghost, the “Gray Lady,” who has allegedly haunted the Gray Room for the past 200 years, rocking back and forth in her rocking chair.

Pebble Hill Plantation, Thomasville, GA

Melville Hanna, who obtained the property in 1896, gave the estate to his daughter, Kate, in 1901, and she immediately began construction on Pebble Hill, being actively involved in its design process. She first built a log cabin that served as a school and a playroom for her children.

She then continued with neo-classical brick structures like the Plantation Store, the Waldorf, the Pump House, and the Stables Complex. Kate being a humanitarian, provided many benefits to the 40 employees who worked on the plantation. The Visiting Nurse Association offered medical services for employees and their families, and two schools were built and maintained for employees’ children.

After Kate died in 1936, her daughter Elisabeth inherited the plantation and turned it into a museum. Finally, in 1956 the Pebble Hill Foundation made the property open to the public, and they maintain and manage the estate today.

Whitney Plantation, Edgard, LA

This historical complex, which includes 12 structures, was initially called the Habitation Haydel. The Spanish Creole-style main dwelling and its surrounding buildings were built by slaves under the owner, German immigrant Ambrose Heidel, in 1752.

This plantation stands as a memorial to the slaves sacrificed on the property and others like it. The Field of Angels especially is a section of the slave memorial site, dedicated to 2,200 Louisiana slave children who died before they were three. Ultimately, thirty-nine children died at Whitney between 1823-1863, only six of which made it to five years old.

Also dedicated to the slaves of Whitney, you’ll find the Slave Quarters site. You won’t find the original buildings here because the previous owners advocated for their removal in an attempt to raise property values. The ones that stand were moved from other plantations, supporting the authenticity and educational value of the site.

Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Hermitage, TN

The President and his wife lived here for years, living off profits made from the crops that slaves worked daily. When he initially bought The Hermitage in 1804, Jackson owned nine African American slaves, and by the time he passed away in 1845, he owned 150 slaves who lived and worked on the property.

Tours here cover over 1,000 acres of farmland that used to be The Hermitage Plantation. It was a self-sustaining property, relying on slave labor to produce cotton. Although slaves could not legally wed, Jackson encouraged them to form family units to discourage slaves from escaping since it would be more difficult for an entire family to flee safely.

Take a tour of the Hermitage and walk through the mansion and its grounds, where President Jackson and his wife are buried. Costumed tour guides share a detailed history of the Jackson family, the plantation, its buildings, and original belongings that have survived on the property.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC

In 1676, Thomas Drayton, with his wife Ann, the first in the Magnolia family line that lasted for more than 300 years, established the Magnolia Plantation along the Ashley River. During the Colonial era, the plantation saw immense growth due to the cultivation of rice.

But once the American Revolution began, troops occupied the land, and Drayton and his sons became soldiers fighting the British. The American Civil War threatened the welfare of the Drayton family, the house, and the gardens, but the plantation recovered and saw additional growth of the gardens, which became the focus.

The property was saved from ruin by opening to the public and now offers guided tours taking visitors through the Drayton family home and gives a glimpse of what plantation life was like in the 19th century. This includes ten rooms that are open to the public, furnished with antiques, quilts, and Drayton family heirlooms.

Destrehan Plantation, Destrehan, LA

This Plantation in Louisiana was built in 1787 and is located 25 miles away from downtown New Orleans. It was home to successful sugar producers Marie Celeste Robin de Logny and Jean Noel Destrehan. By 1804, fifty-nine enslaved workers lived on the property, producing over 203,000 pounds of sugar.

This plantation is where one of the three trials after the 1811 Slave Revolt took place. Led by Charles Deslondes, it was one of the most significant slave revolts in US history. Visitors can tour the restored plantation, encircled by lush greenery, that looks over the Mississippi River.

Stories of the Destrehan family and those enslaved are shared through guided tours, which also feature historical exhibits and opportunities to participate in period demonstrations. Tours also include access to the Jefferson Room, displaying an authentic document signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

James Madison’s Montpelier, Montpelier Station, VA

Ambrose Madison, a slaveholder in Virginia, and his wife Frances and children arrived in 1732 at a plantation they named Mount Pleasant. James, the grandson of Ambrose, spent his early childhood here while construction on a brick Georgian house began that would later become the center of James Madison’s Montpelier.

This is the land where James Madison thought up ideas and shaped the US as the country’s 4th president. With 2,650 acres of rolling hills, horse pastures, and scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Montpelier offers insight into the Madison family history and provides a deeper look into Madison’s presidency. Exhibits on the grounds include the 1910 Train Depot, exploring the African American struggle for civil rights.

There’s also The Mere Distinction of Colour, allowing visitors to hear the stories of enslaved people at Montpelier, as told by their descendants. It recounts the events at Madison’s home and the South Yard of the land, where slaves lived and worked. The exhibition even explores how the legacy of slavery impacts race and human rights in modern America.

Speaking of tours in the US… There are plenty of them and we have some awesome estate tours to show!

Ricarda is our very definition of a wanderer. Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, she’s on a race to see and experience as much of the world as possible. She packed up her life one day and has been traveling by RV ever since, scouring the states to discover the many stunning views the US has to offer! Lucky for us, she’s also one of our senior writers so we get access to a lot of worth-telling insights about her amazing adventures.

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An Ethical Guide to Plantation Tours

By Sarah Enelow-Snyder

Middleton Place National Historic Landmark And America's Oldest Landscaped Gardens In Charleston SC.

Wormsloe is often cited as one of Savannah’s top attractions. A quick internet search describes it as a state park, famous for its avenue of oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, under which visitors line up to take pictures and even get married. Tripadvisor reviews call it “breathtaking,” “magical,” and “like a fairy tale.” You'd never know Wormsloe was actually a plantation that ran on the labor of enslaved people.

Many travelers approach plantations, a cornerstone of tourism in the South, as they would parks, museums, or historical sites: a beautiful place to learn something about local history before having a cocktail or going out to dinner. But plantations need to be experienced differently. Black people were enslaved, raped, tortured, and killed for hundreds of years on these lands. They are America’s concentration camps.

Rather than shy away from the painful truth, plantations must expose it. They are a vital educational resource with which to combat modern-day racism.

The institution of slavery “translates into virtually every kind of social and economic racial disparity that you might think of today in terms of education, net worth, health, and mortality,” says Bernard Powers, director of the Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston and consultant with Middleton Place plantation. “It’s one thing to hear that. It’s another thing to go to a plantation site where you can see where the deed was done, see the implements of oppression, see the chains.”

Plantations are uniquely equipped to offer such an impactful, immersive experience. If such tours no longer existed, Powers says, “we would be far closer to developing an amnesia about what happened in the past, and the way in which the past continues to dog us in the present.”

Visitors are surprised to hear from Toby Smith, the lead interpretive aide at Charleston ’s McLeod Plantation , that the descendants of people enslaved at McLeod continued to live there, occupying huts without running water, until 1990. “It begins to sink in how very recent this is,” she says. McLeod’s Black visitorship rose after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, though Black and white visitors alike are “looking for answers.”

Some people don't want to hear about slavery when they're “on vacation,” says Brigette Janea Jones, former director of African American studies at Nashville’s Belle Meade plantation. But the experience can be life-changing.

“For many people, they leave feeling much better than they came, that they faced their fears,” Smith says. However, plantation tours vary tremendously, which poses a problem for travelers as they try to choose which one to visit. Some plantations celebrate the white slave-owning family and the upper-class furnishings of the big house with no mention of the atrocities that occurred there. Others are dedicated to honoring the lives of enslaved people, or are imperfectly working toward that goal.

This quandary also applies to historic houses, colonial attractions, and other slavery-era sites that functioned like plantations, but perhaps don’t look like them at first glance. Savannah’s Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters is one of the oldest examples of urban enslaved people’s housing in the South—but it was only in 2018 that “slave quarters” was added to its official name. Because of that, and its city setting, most visitors don’t view it as a plantation, says Bri Salley, marketing and communications manager for Telfair Museums, whose properties include Owens-Thomas. Visitors come primarily to learn about architecture and decorative arts, but receive an education on slavery too, hearing letters from enslaved people about their experience as cooks and groundskeepers.

With so many different types of plantations out there, with ranging emphasis on the history of enslaved people, we’ve created this guide to help travelers navigate their decision-making process. Here are some considerations for your next trip.

Take plantation tours that center Black voices

An exhibit inside the church at Whitney Plantation, in Louisiana

Look for plantations that focus heavily on the lives of enslaved people and tell their first-person stories, but more than that, look for plantations that employ Black historians, tours guides, and administrators. Avoid whitewashed storytelling that aims to make the experience more palatable, like tours that revolve around the slave-owning family and the luxurious furnishings of the big house.

Brigette Janea Jones is a fifth-generation Tennessean whose family was enslaved in Tennessee, and she led a Journey to Jubilee tour during her time at Belle Meade plantation, a tour that focused on the lives of enslaved people. She recited narratives recorded from enslaved people, whom she viewed as her own family, and the experience was very emotional for her. Journey to Jubilee began as an exhibit in 2007, but “grew like wildfire” once the tour launched in 2018, and there was a subsequent push not to have such segregated tours as they had been operating before she launched this program.

Jones says part of the solution was to put more Black artifacts, like portraits of enslaved people, inside the big house to acknowledge their role there, instead of regarding it as a purely white space. “White people can do this work,” says Jones about curating an experience that amplifies Black voices. “But Black people should be doing it.”

Avoid plantations that host weddings

When Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds had their 2012 wedding at Boone Hall Plantation, in South Carolina, activists sounded the alarm on the decision. Since weddings are a reliable source of revenue, many plantations are reluctant to give it up, but the practice is both inappropriate and disrespectful, drawing parallels to throwing a birthday party at Auschwitz. Similarly, avoid plantations that promote honeymoon packages, girls getaways, or other recreational products that detract from a serious discussion of slavery.

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For Pia Spinner, a descendant of people enslaved in Virginia and the education research assistant at Virginia’s Menokin plantation, this practice must stop industrywide. “No more plantation weddings,” she says, adding that while weddings did happen on plantations, those of enslaved people were often done in secret and went unrecognized. Menokin does not host weddings.

While the revenue may be tempting, a different business model is possible, says Joy Banner, director of communications at Whitney Plantation outside New Orleans . Whitney is famous for focusing exclusively on Black lives, and it does not host weddings or other events that detract from this mission. “There is opportunity to be honest and still have a sustainable business,” she says.

Look for the living descendants of enslaved people

Plantations should collaborate with the living descendants of people who were enslaved on the property. Descendants should have a say in how their family stories are told, how the property is managed, and how the organization interacts with the surrounding community.

Joy Banner is not just an employee at Whitney Plantation—she’s also a descendant of people enslaved on that very property, and she says that descendants are a crucial part of fulfilling Whitney’s mission. Besides herself, descendants occupy various other positions within the organization, including as interpreters and front desk staff.

“You’re gonna need to contact the descendant community,” says Janea Jones, advising other curators to collect the oral histories of descendants when developing their historic interpretations. In addition to working with Belle Meade in Nashville , Jones also worked with nearby Rippavilla plantation.

At Middleton Place, living descendants have joined the board of trustees and contributed valuably to the plantation’s storytelling, says Jeff Neale, director of preservation and interpretation. For years Middleton hosted separate reunions for Black and white descendants, until the first integrated one in 2006, a turning point says Neale, who joined Middleton in 2009. “From what I was told, people were a little worried, but it turned out to be an incredible experience.”

Large iron bowls used by enslaved people for boiling and refining sugar cane at Whitney Plantation

Ask about reparations

It’s ideal, though rare, for a plantation to give reparations to its living descendants, or allow descendants to have a say in how reparations are administered. Some plantations are working toward this, either in the form of direct monetary compensation or bolstering economic activity in the descendant community.

There’s an ongoing discussion at Menokin about compensating descendants, Spinner says. “I truly believe that all sites that want to work with the descendants of the people that they owned and benefitted from should compensate them.” McLeod is also considering compensating descendants, some of whom have visited and given feedback on the experience, says Smith.

“The descendants that contribute to the narrative of a plantation should be compensated,” says Banner of Whitney. “What that compensation looks like should be directed by the descendants.” She says plantations should make some kind of direct payout to descendants, though this has not been instituted at Whitney, and the pandemic put big collaborative projects like this on the back burner.

Direct payouts aside, Whitney has fostered some economic activity for the descendant community. Years ago Banner's sister opened a bakery near Whitney, and after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the business closed. When Whitney opened to the public in 2014 and attracted visitors to the area, the business reopened as Fee-Fo-Lay Café , and it became a place where Whitney visitors could continue their conversations about slavery’s legacy. Descendants starting their own businesses is “the most powerful access that a plantation can give to a descendant community,” Banner says.

Broaden your view of when slavery happened

A view of the big house at McLeod Plantation, in Charleston

The story of slavery is not confined to a 250-year period. Plantation tours should discuss the lives of African people before the transatlantic slave trade, the fact that plantations were built on land taken from Indigenous peoples , and the links between slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, police brutality, and other current events.

For Spinner at Menokin, it’s important to acknowledge the murder and displacement of Native peoples to make way for plantations in the first place. “We do bring up the fact that this is Rappahannock land,” she says, adding that there are ongoing discussions about how to better include the tribe, honor its legacy, and have members use the land—to hold ceremonies, for example.

“Our Native American brothers and sisters were here first,” says Smith of McLeod. On her tours, she also traces enslaved people back to their lives on the African continent. She takes visitors down to Wappoo Creek and goes backward in time, by river to the Port of Charleston, by ocean back to Africa, and that opens up a discussion about the diversity of languages and cultures there. This topic is particularly personal for Smith. When her great-great grandmother was a young girl, she was taken away from her family in what is now Ghana, and brought to the United States. Smith says she mourned this familial loss. “Tell the story of who they were before they were captured,” she says. “America only knows Black people as captured.”

Last but not least, it’s crucial to connect the past to the present. Plantations should explain how slavery gave way to rampant lynchings during the Jim Crow era, alongside which police brutality flourished, long before the Black Lives Matter movement of today. During this time, countless George Floyds were killed, many of whose deaths did not spark nationwide protests.

Honest storytelling is fundamental to this entire effort, says Banner of Whitney. “If we are true to what the plantation was about, the difficulty of the labor that was involved, the system of slavery that kept people in prison on this land, rather than treating it like it’s this beautiful southern resort that was just magical for everybody, then we will be able to contribute a huge amount of progress toward racial healing.”

For more information

Whitney Plantation: 5099 Louisiana Highway 18, Edgard, LA 70049; whitneyplantation.org McLeod Plantation: 325 Country Club Drive, Charleston, SC 29412; https://ccprc.com/1447/McLeod-Plantation-Historic-Site Menokin Plantation: 4037 Menokin Road, Warsaw, Virginia 22572; menokin.org

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Oak Alley Plantation Tour

Oak Alley Plantation is one of the most sought-after plantation tours in the South. For the true Antebellum plantation experience, you simply can’t miss out on the mansion that has been dubbed the “Crown Jewel” of the River Road Plantations. Thanks to its pristine setting and photogenic line of live Oaks leading to the entrance, Oak Alley plantation is frequently featured in movies and TV series. From the moment you set foot on the grounds, you’ll see why: the home itself has been beautifully renovated, and furnished with period furniture and decorations. The original trees, older even than the structure itself, still grace the property. And recreated slave cabins house photographs, informational guides, and memorials to the many slaves who worked the plantation. When you experience the house, slave cabin exhibits, and grounds, you’ll get a firsthand experience of a traditional Antebellum plantation.

History of oak alley plantation

Originally named Bon Sejour, Oak Alley was built in 1837-39 by George Swainey for Jacques Telesphore Roman, brother of Andre Roman who was twice governor of Louisiana. Joseph Pilie, Jacques Telesphore Roman’s father-in-law, was an architect and is thought to have provided the design of Oak Alley. Square in plan, the interior has a central hall from front to rear on both floors. Rooms at the first floor rear were partitioned and adapted to modern uses at the time of restoration in the 1920s. Equally significant is the impressive double row of giant live oak trees which form the oak alley, about 800 feet long, from which the property derived its present name. Planted before the house was constructed in 1837, this formal planting is a historic landscape design long recognized for its beauty.

Visiting The Plantation

While visiting Oak Alley, be sure to enjoy the cafe and restaurant, which offer refreshing drinks, made to order meals, and traditional Southern fare like pralines and gumbo. Oak Alley tour guides will be dressed in traditional period garb to complete the immersive experience. And after you tour the house and snap shots of the famous Oak trees, take a walk through the many exhibits and slave cabins surrounding the house, which offer a more in-depth look at plantation life and the Antebellum era. You can easily spend a few hours or a full day exploring one of Louisiana’s most sought-out attractions. Before you leave, pick up a cookbook or souvenir from the expansive gift shop. Our tours fill up fast! Call 504.834.1770 or visit our online booking portal to book your tour today.

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Plantation homes of the South

By USA Specialist Carla

Almost everywhere you go in the South, history calls. You hear it in the jazz, blues and soul music that drifts from bars — genres that began in the fields of the sugar plantations. You smell and taste it in the Creole food, which blends the many cultures that settled here. And you see it in the architecture, from antebellum mansions to New Orleans’s French Quarter.

I find it’s impossible to appreciate the modern day here without looking back to the region’s roots. One of the surest ways of doing this is by visiting a plantation. While many that are open to the public brush over their role in the slave trade, others face the past head on. Visiting gives you a rounded view of the region and a renewed understanding of its character today.

How to fit plantation visits into a wider trip

It’s easy to plan a plantation visit (or several) as part of a wider self-drive trip through the South . I recommend driving north to south so you can visit Memphis ’s National Civil Rights Museum first, which helps to set the scene. Most plantations are clustered along a stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana. You could stop at one or two of them en route to New Orleans , or visit on a day trip from the city. Another option is to stay overnight at one, which gives you a chance to explore Plantation Country in more depth.

Alternatively, you could visit plantations on a self-drive trip through South Carolina that focuses on the state’s history.

Which plantations to visit in the South: our recommendations

Whitney plantation, visit for: an in-depth look at slavery.

Main house at Whitney Plantation, Louisiana

Established in 1752, Whitney Plantation is by far the best plantation in the region for confronting its history of slavery. Its museum focuses solely on the lives of the 350 enslaved people who were forced to live and work on its land for more than a century.

I find the level of research and curation the current owners have undertaken staggering: you’ll find exhibits detailing first-hand accounts from enslaved people, photographs and original items from the time, and poignant memorials.

You can visit the property’s two self-guided exhibits, one of which changes regularly while the other focuses on slavery across Louisiana. I also recommend joining an hour-and-a-half tour led by one of the plantation’s guides, who each have in-depth knowledge of its history.

As well as showing you the main house (which is traditionally known as the ‘Big House’), built in 1790, your guide will lead you to the original enslaved peoples' cabins and historic outbuildings, including a freedmen’s church where you can learn about enslaved peoples’ spirituality. You’ll also find out more about the slave revolt that occurred in the region in 1811, marked by a memorial featuring sculpted heads impaled on pikes.

While things like this were disturbing to see, I also found it refreshing that the plantation had gone to great lengths to show the reality that enslaved people faced — something many others try to hide.

Laura Plantation

Visit for: an insight into the lives of plantation owners.

Originally owned by a French-Creole family, the Duparcs, Laura Plantation was established in 1804 and is still set among sugar-cane fields today. Its Big House has a distinctive Creole style, painted in shades of red, green, ocher and gray, with a balcony running along its entire width.

I found the tour guides here exceptional, bringing the stories of the people who lived here to life in their Southern drawl. While there’s a detailed exhibit about slavery on the plantation, complete with photographs, personal biographies and documents related to those enslaved here, the tour mainly focuses on the Duparc family.

The diary of Laura Duparc-Locoul, who was born in 1861 and raised on the plantation, was discovered some years after her death. It paints a vivid picture of plantation life, and it’s around this that the tour is based. Her memoirs detail everything from everyday occurrences to family feuds and affairs with enslaved people.

Taking the 80-minute tour is almost like seeing the plantation through Laura’s eyes. You’ll explore the restored rooms of the Big House, walk through three of its gardens and see some of the historic outhouses within the grounds. Your guide will also show you inside one of the slave cabins, built in the 1840s, where the contrast between rich and poor is most striking.

Oak Alley Plantation

Visit for: beautiful grounds and a one-off stay.

Used as a filming location for several movies and TV shows, Oak Alley is the most familiar of the South’s plantations. Its grand antebellum mansion is framed by an avenue of oak trees, which curve inwards to form a tunnel leading to the house’s dazzling white columns and shuttered windows.

While admittedly the tour here isn’t the best, with guides sometimes downplaying the role of slavery, it does give you the opportunity to look around one of the area’s most attractive mansions for an insight into the lives of the wealthy.

For me, the highlight of visiting Oak Alley is exploring its extensive grounds. You can stroll through its 1920s formal garden and find a peaceful spot to yourself among its wide green pastures dotted with oaks.

Make the most of the grounds by staying overnight in one of the plantation’s cottages. Some have stood for more than a century, others are more modern, but all provide a comfortable and unusual base for the night. And, you’ll have access to the property’s grounds after other visitors have left.

While Oak Alley’s restaurant is open for breakfast, come evening there’ll be no staff, though you can arrange for a light dinner to be left in your cottage ready for your arrival (or stop by one of the restaurants en route to the plantation).

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Top-rated historic plantations to visit in the deep south

The southern United States has a rich history and culture. One of the best things to do while visiting states such as Louisiana and Georgia is touring historic plantations. If you’re planning a trip to the south, consider adding at least one of these places to your itinerary.

Head to Demopolis to see the Gaineswood plantation. This place dates back to the mid-1800s and took almost 20 years to build. Gaineswood is an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture and features domed ceilings, chandeliers, decorative mirrors, marble mantels, and many other original furnishings. All are welcome to visit this well-preserved 19th century estate designed and built by Nathan Bryan Whitfield.

If you’re anywhere near southwestern Georgia, the Pebble Hill plantation will not disappoint. This plantation features a three-story home and several buildings throughout the estate. Guests are welcome to tour the house and the grounds and soak in the beautiful surroundings. Feel free to have a picnic before you leave; this plantation also features a picnic area that anyone is welcome to use. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even book a stay at the overflow cottage or firehouse apartment. The cottage can fit up to 10 people, and the apartment is big enough for two couples. Both of these lodging accommodations offer comfortable furnishings and satellite TVs to help you feel at home.

Oak Alley is undoubtedly a sight to behold. This national historic site was built in the late 1830s and features Greek Revival architecture. Most notably, the mansion has over two dozen free-standing columns that act as beautiful structural supports. The oak trees you see out front have been there since the 1700s. These old-growth trees line both sides of the street to create a natural archway that welcomes all visitors who tour this place. It is about an hour south of Baton Rouge and an hour west of New Orleans, but the long drive will always be worth your while.

Mississippi:

The Brandon Hall plantation provides a unique stay for guests. This bread and breakfast inn features five rooms, plus two 1,000 square foot cottages to help you feel right at home. You can have continental breakfast in your room, allowing you to eat whenever you want. A self-guided tour of the main house is included in your stay. If you don’t have time to book an overnight visit, you will have to see it during the spring or fall pilgrimage since Brandon Hall doesn’t offer regular tour times. This historic place sits on 45 acres of land and has a lovely terraced garden, gazebo, and pond right outside.

South Carolina:

Millford Plantation in the central part of the state is one of the best-preserved examples of Greek Revival architecture in North America. This jaw-dropping estate is certainly impressive both inside and out. The main house was completed in the early 1840s, and the grounds feature outbuildings such as the laundry room, kitchen, servant quarters, stable, spring house, and porter’s lodge. If you’re looking for a stunning national historical site to visit, Millford Plantation is hard to beat.

We hope you can visit some of these historic plantations during your travels in the southern United States. Check out this itinerary for a route that takes you to all of the plantations on this list.

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10 Notable Southern Plantation Tours in the United States

Saturate yourself with knowledge about what life on a southern plantation was like with one of these excellent and informative tours..

History buffs with an interest in the southern part of the United States will enjoy these plantation tours. They offer insight into the history of slave labor, plantation living and how the south evolved into what it is today.

The self-guided exhibit at Oak Alley focuses on the lives and living conditions of those who were owned and kept on the plantation. Visitors learn about life after emancipation and can stop by the Blacksmith Shop, which acts as a tribute to Louisiana craftsmen and the history of forging metalwork.

Oak Alley Plantation has been the filming site of popular media works, including the 1993 film, Interview With a Vampire, and Beyoncé’s 2006 music video for the song Deja Vu.

Oak Alley Plantation, 3645 Louisiana 18, Vacherie, LA, USA

Belle Meade Plantation, 5025 Harding Pike, Nashville, TN, USA, +1 615 356 0501 ext. 125

The south’s largest antebellum mansion is Nottoway Plantation . Located in Louisiana northwest of New Orleans and southwest of Baton Rouge, Nottoway is a Greek and Italianate style mansion full of extravagant features and details. It was completed in 1859 and the construction was commissioned by prestigious sugar planter John Hampton Randolph. The mansion became home to John, his wife Emily Jane, and their 11 children. As a wealthy businessman, John wanted no expense spared when it came to the home’s design. The 53,000 square foot mansion has 64 rooms with features like 22 massive exterior columns, 12 hand carved Italian marble fireplaces, 15 1/2 foot ceilings and a lavish pure white oval ballroom. Modern bathrooms with running water and a gas plant that provided gas lighting throughout the home were also installed per John’s vision.

When you visit Nottoway Plantation today, costumed tour guides take you through the mansion, sharing details of the property’s construction and history. Over the years, Nottoway Plantation went through several different owners and years of decline, but managed to survive the Civil War . This is a testament to the loving care that the mansion has received by those who are determined to keep its history alive.

Nottoway Plantation, 31025 LA-1, White Castle, LA, USA , +1 225 545 2730

Pebble Hill Plantation, 1251 US-319, Thomasville, GA, USA, +1 229 226 2344

Located about 10 miles east of downtown Nashville, Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage offers self-guided audio tours and interpreter led tours of the former president’s estate. General admission tours cover over 1,000 acres of farmland that used to be The Hermitage Plantation. The Hermitage was a self-sustaining property that relied on slave labor to produce cotton. President Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel lived there for several years in the late 1700s. The Jackson family survived on profits made from the crops that the slaves worked every day. When he first bought The Hermitage in 1804, he owned nine African American slaves. At the time of his death in 1845, he owned about 150 slaves who lived and worked on the property.

Take a tour of the Hermitage to walk through the mansion, the exhibit gallery and the grounds, where both President Jackson and his wife are laid to rest. Costumed tour guides will share the detailed history of the Jackson family, the plantation and the buildings and original belongings that remain on the property.

Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, 4580 Rachels Ln, Hermitage, TN, USA, +1 615 889 2941

In 1825, Thomas Drayton’s great grandson willed the estate to his daughter’s sons, since he had no male heirs to leave the property to. One of the sons died of a gunshot wound, leaving the second brother a wealthy plantation owner at the age of 22. The American Civil War threatened the welfare of the Drayton family, the house and the gardens on the plantation. But the plantation recovered and saw additional growth of the gardens, which became the focus. The property was saved from ruin when it opened to the public in 1870.

The plantation offers half-hour long guided tours taking visitors through the Drayton family home – the third in more than three centuries – and gives a glimpse of what plantation life was like in the 19th century onward. There are 10 rooms open to the public, furnished with antiques, quilts and Drayton family heirlooms. More than five years ago, Magnolia’s Cabin Project started as an effort to preserve five structures on the property that date back to 1850. The structures are former slave dwellings that are now the focal point for a 45-minute program in African American history .

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, 3550 Ashley River Rd, Charleston, SC, USA, +1 843 571 1266

Visitors can tour the restored plantation, which is surrounded by lush greenery and looks over the Mississippi River. Stories of the Destrehan family and those who were enslaved are shared through guided tours, which also feature historic exhibits and the opportunity to participate in period demonstrations. Tours also include access to the Jefferson Room, which displays an authentic document signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Destrehan Plantation, 13034 River Rd, Destrehan, LA, USA, +1 985 764 9315

Considered the most opulent plantation house in North America , the San Francisco Plantation House is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, about 40 minutes outside of New Orleans. In the early 1800s, Elisee Rillieux sold the land that later became the San Francisco Plantation House to Edmond Bozonier Marmillion and Eugene Lartigue, profiting $50,000. Edmond was in debt, despite being a successful crops planter. His financial problems stayed with him for the 26 years he owned the property. He continued to acquire slaves and purchase land, but didn’t make investments in sugar machinery.

The plantation was prosperous for a while in the mid-1800s, but in 1853, Edmond hired expert builders and skilled slaves to convert the plantation into a prestigious residence for his sons. Valsin and Charles were the only two of Edmond’s and his wife Antoinette’s eight children who didn’t die from tuberculosis, the same disease that killed Antoinette in 1834. The main construction on the house was completed two years later and Edmond then hired artists to create hand painted ceilings, painted door panels, faux marbling and faux wood graining throughout the home.

When Edmond passed away in 1856, his son Valsin took over the plantation. In 1859, he tried to sell the estate, but wasn’t able to due to a legal conflict involving his sister-in-law, Zoe Luminais. When the conflict was resolved in 1861, war and reconstruction prevented the possibility of sale for 15 years. Valsin died in 1871, and in 1879, Achille D. Bougere purchased the property for $50,000.

Guided tours are conducted by professional costumed guides who take visitors through the colorful plantation, exploring a slave cabin, a one room school house, and the property, which was restored in both 1970 and 2014. Blacksmithing and demonstrations also take place on the property, where you’ll find a gift store as well.

San Francisco Plantation House, LA-44, Garyville, LA, USA, +1 985 535 2341

Ambrose Madison, a planter and slaveholder in Virginia , along with his wife Frances and their three children, arrived in 1732 to a plantation they called Mount Pleasant. One of Ambrose’s grandchildren, James, spent his early childhood at Mount Pleasant while construction began on a brick Georgian house that would later become the center of James Madison’s Montpelier .

James Madison’s Montpelier, 11350 Constitution Hwy, Montpelier Station, VA, USA, +1 540 672 2728

Evergreen Plantation has 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins. Along with Gettysburg and Mount Vernon , Evergreen Plantation has been granted landmark status due to its agricultural acreage. It is located between New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisina. It is a privately owned working sugar cane plantation where people currently live and work.

The plantation offers tours that highlight 250 years of family ownership, emphasizing the dependence on slave labor and the later labor of freed slaves. The buildings that visitors pass on the tours have deep architectural significance, explained by a professional guide, who also discusses the plantation’s reliance on agriculture in order to survive. The Evergreen Plantation takes the interpretation of the site very seriously, basing the tours on 500 pages of documentation from a public archeology project funded by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities . Ongoing research in oral history and cultural backgrounds of the area also play a large role in the information presented via Evergreen Plantation tours. Evergreen Plantation, 4677 LA-18, Edgard, LA, USA , +1 985 497 3837

Visit These 9 Historic Plantations In South Carolina For An Unforgettable Experience

Robin Jarvis

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From the Upstate to the Lowcountry, South Carolina has several historic plantations that are open for tours. You may recognize a few of these and others may be newly added to your radar. Each wonderful property has major history behind it, as well as just being beautiful and interesting to visit. Tour all of these historic plantations in South Carolina for unforgettable experiences.

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South Carolinians have done a wonderful job of preserving so much of the plantation history in the Palmetto State. Visit any one, or ALL, of these historic plantations for an experience you’ll never forget.

Have you toured any of these yet? And which is your favorite? We’d love to know in our comments.

OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Tour of Historic Plantations & Homes

By prince george winyah church women.

For over 75 years, the Prince George Winyah Church Women have hosted the Tour of Historic Plantations and Homes each spring. In this self-guided tour, visitors have a unique opportunity to tour select historic plantations, town homes, and gardens located in and around Georgetown County, South Carolina. Tickets are required, and we recommend you purchase them in advance. All money raised by the Tour is allocated to community outreach and the preservation of our historic church buildings. The success of the Tour has made a difference in the lives of the poor, the friendless, and the needy in our community, which continues to be our prayerful aim in this endeavor.

Save the Date

March 28-29, 20 25, georgetown, south carolina.

“Phenomenal! The sheer number and variety of homes and plantations we visit is incredible, but it is the irresistible southern hospitality of this community that has me hooked."

Plan Your Tour

While the tour of homes is the main event, we offer several other tour features to enhance your time on tour.

Founded in 1729, Georgetown, South Carolina, is located in the heart of the South Carolina lowcountry. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the region became home to many indigo and rice planters who once exported so much rice that Georgetown County was once the wealthiest county in the United States. Though indigo and rice are no longer major exports for the region, many of the plantations, town houses, and gardens left by the planters remain and have been preserved by Georgetown's present-day residents. The Tour of Historic Homes and Plantations is self-guided and gives tour-goers a unique opportunity to tour properties, many of which are generally closed to the public, at their own leisure.

300 Broad Street, Georgetown, SC 29440

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Evergreen Plantation
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The most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places

Wander the grounds of the most intact plantation complex in the entire South. Evergreen Plantation has 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins in their original, double row configuration. In fact, Evergreen Plantation joins Mount Vernon and Gettysburg for having achieved the nation’s highest historic designation and has been granted its exceptional landmark status for the plantation’s agricultural acreage.

The Evergreen Plantation tours include the main house as well as the complex’s preserved slave quarters and other dependencies. Dating back to 1790, the “Big House” began its existence as a raised Creole house, and was remodeled to its present form in 1832. The 90-minute tour emphasizes the plantation’s dependence on slave labor, as well as the labor of freed African-Americans later in its history that was necessary to operate such a multifaceted enterprise. With so many of its structures still intact, Evergreen Plantation offers visitors an real representation of the plantation culture in Louisiana.

Walk through an allée of one hundred, 200-year-old live oaks as you tour this living history book. Hear the stories highlighting two and a half centuries of family ownership, learn about the architectural significance of Evergreen Plantation’s many buildings , and discover how the plantation was rooted in and reliant on agriculture. As a privately owned, operating sugar cane plantation where people continue to live and work, Evergreen Plantation is simply a must-see during your trip to New Orleans Plantation Country.

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Explore the 10 historic estates in the River Parishes of Louisiana and discover the stories rooted in their past.

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Create memories learning the folklore of our swamps and viewing gators in their natural habitat.

ANDOUILLE Trail

Andouille was created here, so get out and try the local smokehouses that each have their own version of the "best".

OUTDOOR RECREATION

The region out here is perfect for outdoor enthusiasts to explore and find adventure.

Lac Des Allmands

Famous for catfish, Lac Des Allemands is a haven for outdoor sportsmen.

Enjoyed around the world, Perique can only be grown and processed out here.

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Cajun and Creole cuisine are as necessary to our culture as the people who make it.

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Tour buses, shuttles and local airports are all transportation options for the River Parishes.

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Louisiana's River Parishes offers a wide range of lodging options from rustic and quaint to upscale and luxurious.

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101. Experience a Southern Plantation

Visit one of the many historic plantations located around Charleston , about two hours by car from Hilton Head. This is a charming trip back in time to a period when cotton was king and rice ruled, when vast tracts of land were held by a few families, and when slaves bore the weight of the economic success of the South.

We have romanticized the southern plantation era in such epics as Gone With the Wind , but today we can catch a glimpse of just how grueling and heartbreaking those times could be. Due to the efforts of many private families and organizations, plantation life is accessible to the general public. All are open year around and offer a variety of daily and seasonal tours of the grounds and buildings.

Boone Hall (circa 1681), privately owned and listed on the National Register, is one of America’s oldest working, living plantations where crops have been grown and produced continuously for over 320 years. It boasts one of the world’s longest oak-lined avenues. Some tours are offered only seasonally. The plantation is located off U.S. Hwy. 17 at 1235 Long Point Road in Mt. Pleasant, about 20 minutes from downtown Charleston ( map ). (843) 884-4371.
Drayton Hall (circa 1738), owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a National Historic Landmark, is the oldest preserved plantation house open to the public. Tours are conducted daily. The house is located at 3380 Ashley River Road (U.S. Hwy. 61), about 30 to 40 minutes northwest of downtown Charleston ( map ). (843) 769-2600.
The Hampton Plantation State Historic Site (circa 1750) is one of the area’s most beautiful colonial-era rice plantations. The grounds are open year around, but house tours are conducted on a seasonal schedule. It is located in McClellanville, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Charleston off U.S. Hwy. 17 ( map ). (843) 546-9361.
Magnolia Plantation (circa 1679) has the oldest public gardens in the country, and is the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry, first opening its doors to visitors in 1879. A variety of historic and nature tours are available year around on a seasonal schedule. It is located on between Drayton Hall and Middleton Place at 3550 Ashley River Road (U.S. Hwy. 61), about 30 to 40 minutes northeast of downtown Charleston. (800) 367-3517 ( map ).
McLeod Plantation (circa 1851), a former sea island cotton plantation, was first owned in 1671 and became McLeod Plantation in 1851. It is now owned by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission and includes numerous historic buildings, including the main house (built 1855). Guided tours are available daily except Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The plantation is located at 325 Country Club Drive on James Island, just south of Charleston of U.S. Hwy. 17 ( map ). (843) 795-4386.
Middleton Place (circa 1741) is a National Historic Landmark and one of South Carolina’s most enduring southern icons. A variety of historic and nature tours are conducted daily, some with seasonal hours. It is located at 4300 Ashley River Road (U.S. Hwy. 61), about 30 to 40 minutes northwest of downtown Charleston ( map ). (800) 782-3608.

For more information, see Inzanout’s Charleston .

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20 Plantations You Should Visit in the United States

Oak Alley Plantation - St. James Parish, Louisiana

The complexities of plantation tourism cannot be denied; however, they attract thousands of visitors every year. From history lovers, engaged individuals looking for ideal wedding locations, or anyone who wants to enjoy the seemingly endless nature. Plantations are characterized by beautiful neoclassical mansions, eye-watering alleys, and they stand on acres of lush farmland.

Some famous Southern plantation houses have been featured in movies, and you cannot deny how incredible they look. The plantation system began in the early 17th century after the British were offered large tracts of land for making it to the US after a grueling journey. Most of the settlers inhabited the South, where they combined their vast properties with settlements which eventually became plantations.

The landowners turned to slavery as a source of manpower to maintain their plantations and therefore captured people from Africa and brought them in forced labor . Some plantations— especially the smaller ones have remained private residences while most of the others have become historical sites that tourists can visit.

For a long time, the plantation tour narratives have been all about the furnishings and historical architecture. However, plantations are putting that aside and confronting their dark history in an educational and respectful way. Most people are learning the essence of visiting these plantations to understand and reconcile with the dark side of American History. Whether you are planning a self-drive or a group tour, we have compiled a list of the best plantation tours in the United States. Read on to get an idea of what to expect from 20 of the best plantations in the US.

20. James Madison’s Montpelier - Orange County, Virginia

This historic home covers 2700 acres and is located in Orange County, Virginia . The plantation house was inhabited by James Montpelier, who was the fourth president of the United States, and his wife, Dolley. On this land, James Madison came up with his enduring legacy of a government by the people. The plantation features terrific views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and some vast horse pastures. The property also contains exhibits such as the 1910 Train Depot that looks at the African American struggle for civil rights. The plantation also gives its visitors a detailed account of the stories of enslaved people as told by their descendants.

19. Nottoway Plantation - Iberville Parish, Louisiana

Nottoway Plantation is the largest existing Antebellum Plantation in the South. The Nottoway Plantation covers approximately 31 acres. It features 40 rooms, including two fantastic honeymoon suites, a restaurant that serves Louisiana cuisine, and other fantastic amenities such as tennis courts, gyms, and a hair salon. In 2019, the Plantation was sold to Joseph Jaeger , who owns several New Orleans hotels . During a routine visit to the plantation, you will enjoy costumed tour guides around the mansion as you get a detailed history of the plantation and how it was constructed.

18. Houmas House Plantations - Burnside, Louisiana

One of my friends visited this plantation, and after seeing her photos and those posted on the Houmas House website, I felt obliged to go there myself. Houmas House has appeared in several movies, such as Hush Sweet Charlotte and several TV shows. The residence began as a modest two-story structure in 1774 before undergoing various renovations to its present state. The plantation contains some beautiful gardens that include a magnificent pond with a rare kind of Japanese lily. If you are a foodie, you are certainly not left out. The Houmas House contains three restaurants and is one of the best places to have dinner. If you are seeking an overnight stay, you have the option of booking one of their luxurious cottages as you reminisce on the whole plantation experience.

17. Pebble Hill Plantation - Thomasville, Georgia

If you fancy a trip to Thomasville in South West Georgia, you must visit Pebble Hill Plantation. The 3000-acre plantation has a beautiful house that boasts crystal porcelain furnishings and magnolia-filled grounds with the long leaf pines which are prominent in southwest Georgia. If you get a chance, you should definitely visit this beautiful place. The plantation also has a dog kennel, a historic cemetery, and brick horse stables which take you back to the sporting days of the early 1800s.

16. Destrehan Plantation - Destrehan, Louisiana

Destrehan was established in 1787 and is the oldest antebellum plantation home in the Lower Mississippi Valley. The mansion is built in typical French Colonial style with some elements of Greek Revival architecture. Destrehan Plantation is open seven days a week but remains closed during major holidays from 9 am to 4 pm. The plantation offers guided tours that explain how things were, including the culture, music, and the food.

15. Rose Hill Plantation - Bluffton, South Carolina

Rose Hill was an antebellum plantation home for Dr. John William and his wife. Although it is not clear who the plantation is named after, recent information has suggested that it was named after John Rose, the plantation owner, in the early 1800s. The main house has a Gothic Revival Design, although much of it was damaged by a fire in 1987. The plantation boasts of some majestic oak magnolia trees, exotic wildlife, and extremely lush natural beauty. Social amenities in the plantation include a swimming pool, a large playground, a tennis court, and a golf course.

14. Jarrell Hill Plantation - East Juliette, Georgia

If you want to see what a typical middle-class southern farm looks like, you need to visit this plantation. Jarrell Hill dates back to 1847 and was owned by one family for 147 years. The 600-acre plantation had a total of 42 slaves that worked in the vast cotton fields. The plantation allows you to visit various buildings, including a steam-driven sawmill, slave quarters, and cotton gin that will get you to imagine what life was like on the plantation. The plantation is open from Thursday to Saturday.

***Permanently Closed

13. Linden Plantation - Natchez, Mississippi

Few plantations offer unadulterated beauty, quite like Linden Plantation. The plantation was built in the early 1800s, and it sits on ten acres of beautiful gardens that native animals and plants and beautiful rows of magnolia and Eastern red cedar trees. A tour through the whole plantation takes about one and a half hours, where you will see antique valuables belonging to the original Brabstorm family.

12. Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage - Nashville, Tennessee

The Hermitage is the former house of Andrew Jackson, who was the seventh president of the USA. A typical visit to the Hermitage will take you two and a half or three hours, depending on the highlights that suit your needs. A tour around the Hermitage entails a visit to Alfred’s cabin and a visit to the garden where you can see Rachael and Andrew Jackson’s final resting place. You can also visit the mansion, where you will be able to take in the view of the plantation from the stunning Hermitage balcony.

11. Evergreen Plantation - Wallace, Louisiana

The balance between Evergreen Plantation history and slavery is quite impressive. A guided tour will take you through the history of the daily which owned the plantation, which is the most intact plantation in the South. More than 400 individuals occupied the plantation throughout its history, and you can learn about the lives of the slaves who lived in the original 22 slave cabins.

10. Belle Meade Plantation - Belle Meade, Tennessee

A trip to the Belle Meade Plantation usually involves two tours where you hear the history of the plantation, based on real-life experiences from the Harding and Jackson families and the women and children who worked in the plantation. You can also explore the place through a unique guided segway tour through the arboretum and the fields. You can also enjoy a flurry of activities offered to immerse you in the history of Tennessee .

9. Sion Hill Plantation - Havre de Grace, Maryland

Sion Hill Plantation comprises apartments that are built on an old sugarcane plantation. The apartments experience the breeze of the Atlantic Ocean throughout the year, and the old mahogany trees in the expansive agricultural piece of land are breathtaking. Sion Hill’s construction began in 1785, although the progress was a bit slow. The unfinished house was later sold in 1799 to Minerva, who was supposed to marry Commodore John Rodgers. The history of the place is fascinating, and the views are worth the trip.

8. Laura Plantation - Vacherie, Louisiana

The construction of l'Habitation Duparc, which was later renamed Laura Plantation, began in 1804 and was completed in eleven months through the help of highly skilled slaves. The plantation is located some 600 feet north of the River Mississippi and was opened to the public in 1994. It was the first plantation in Louisiana to include the history of the slaves as part of its tour. Here, you will find compelling personal stories about the place passed through the generations. You will also get to see photographs with the faces of the real people who lived there.

7. Glenfield Plantation - Natchez, Mississippi

On 2nd January 1865, Glenfield Plantation was attacked by looters and union soldiers who were determined to take the home. However, the Cannon family fought back and saved their home from invasion. Quite fascinating, right? If you want to experience and discover more about the history of the place, you should definitely visit. The plantation offers Candlelight Ghost Tours at a discounted rate, and it also contains a restaurant with a 24-hour common area.

6. Boone Hall Plantation - Charleston County, South Carolina

This beautiful historic gem is located in Charleston County, South Carolina . It was built in 1681 and is one of the oldest and most photographed plantations in America. From the buildings to the colorful gardens, everything about Boone Hall is a reflection of the colonial style. The plantation offers daily historical talks as well as agricultural and horticultural demonstrations. The plantation has been used to film some Hollywood productions such as North and South, American Idol, and The Notebook.

5. Monmouth Plantation - Natchez, Mississippi

If you are seeking an authentic trip to the south, Monmouth Plantation is a perfect choice. The historic inn gardens in Monmouth were built in 1818 and have been marked as a National Historic Landmark. The plantation features the award-winning restaurant, “Restaurant 1818,” where you can enjoy some fine dining. The 26 gardens in the plantation are beautifully landscaped, and you should expect some gracious hospitality from their amazing staff.

4. Oakland Plantation - Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana

Oakland Plantation is one of the most aesthetically pleasing plantations that you will come across. The plantation began as a farming area back in 1785 and has housed eight generations of the French Creole family. The plantation contains sixty historic buildings set within a picturesque landscape. You can visit the Oakland Plantation, which is usually open for self-guided tours every from Wednesday to Sunday. Self-guided tours on the The Oakland main house happen on Saturdays and Sundays.

3. Magnolia Plantation - Charleston County, South Carolina

Magnolia Plantation’s history can be traced to the mid 18th century, although the plantation operations began in 1830. The plantation contains some surviving farming technology that includes cotton picker tractors, cotton gins that are steam and animal-powered, and 21 buildings that demonstrate more history about the site. The 21 buildings, which is unusually high for a plantation, consist of slave quarters, which had 70 cabins for a large number of slaves. There is a cellphone app that can assist you on a self-guided tour of the place. However, the main house is privately owned and therefore not open to the public.

2. Whitney Plantation - Wallace, Louisiana

From my several plantation visits, many plantations water down the history of enslaved people and what actually happened on their property. However, Whitney Plantation focuses on just that. You can take a self-guided tour using an app that will take you through the plantation, where you will get to see the museum, slave quarters, and several memorials. The plantation initially had 20 slaves, and Indigo was the main crop before they switched to sugarcane. The place is very well kept, and the staff are amazing.

1. Oak Alley Plantation - St. James Parish, Louisiana

This plantation derives its name from the great oak trees that line up the driveway as you approach it. Oak Plantation offers unforgettable memories for anyone who makes the trip to this magnificent piece of land. It is one of the most famous and recognizable plantations in the US. A typical tour will take you through the interior rooms of the plantation and an outdoor tour where you can soak in the clean air from century-old oak trees, which are so breathtaking to see. The plantation also has a restaurant, a gift shop, and ready-made sandwiches and snacks. Oak Alley Plantation is a must-visit for anyone looking to explore historic sites in Louisiana.

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Louisiana Plantations Guide: 12 River Road Plantations

Last updated: December 18, 2023 - Written by Jessica Norah 69 Comments

We recently visited 12 Louisiana plantations along Louisiana’s River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Louisiana’s River Road parallels the east and west banks of the Mississippi River for about 70 miles (about 100 miles of actual road) through the Louisiana parishes of St. Charles, St. John, and St. James. Prior to the American Civil War, this river road was lined with approximately 350 antebellum plantation homes, from relatively simple farm houses to grand Versailles-like mansions.

Many early Louisiana plantations grew rice, indigo, or tobacco, but by the mid-nineteenth century the majority were growing sugar cane, which became the most profitable cash crop in the state. Louisiana would become the most wealthy state in the country by the onset of the Civil War, made possible only by the forced hard labor of thousands of slaves who worked at these plantations.

Not surprisingly, the Civil War and the end of slavery left most of the large plantations unprofitable, and many Louisiana plantations slowly declined into states of ruin or were converted into industrial estates. Today, the River Road reflects both the past and present, winding past bayous, levees, strip malls, oil refineries, sugar cane fields, historic communities, majestic live oaks, and a handful of remaining plantation mansions.

Over a dozen of the plantation homes are open to the public for tours, and all are different so it can be difficult to decide which to visit. Some tours focus on the lives of the owners, some focus on historical furnishings, and one is dedicated to slavery. One is a family owned working sugar cane plantation, one includes 37 buildings listed on the National Register, one allows you to tour with your dog, and one is framed by a famous oak alley. Several have restaurants on the premises and a few offer on-site accommodations.

Here is our comprehensive guide to the Louisiana plantations along the River Road, complete with a FAQ section, a short guide to each of the 12 visited plantations, and our own personal impressions of each!

Nottoway Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Table of Contents:

Visiting the River Road Louisiana Plantations

There are a number of Louisiana plantations open to visitors, and below we cover 12 plantations that we have personally visited, that are situated along the Mississippi River in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and are regularly open for public tours. We did not include plantations that are only open infrequently to the public or plantations located north of Baton Rouge (there are several) or ones more further afield in the state.

While it may seem that all plantation tours would be the same, the houses, tours, exhibits, and atmosphere of each plantation is different. Most travelers have limited time and budgets, and it can be difficult for visitors to narrow down which might be the best fit.

We have created the following FAQ to help readers decide when to visit the Louisiana plantations, how to visit the plantations, and which plantation(s) to visit.

Best time of year to visit Louisiana plantations?

It really depends on what you mean by “best”, but we’ll break it down by best weather, best prices, and least crowds. In terms of weather, you’ll find relatively warm and mild weather most of the year in Louisiana. You’ll get the best weather between the months of November and May, expect it to be warm but not too humid. June to the end of November is hurricane season, so expect rain and possible storms and rain is also common in the spring.

Mosquitoes can exist in Louisiana all year, but are worse during the summer months and are generally fairly active from about March to October.

The most crowded times are around the New Orleans festivals and events, so avoid them if you are looking for smaller crowds and better hotel prices. The biggest events are the Sugar Bowl (early January), Mardi Gras (February/early March), French Quarter Fest (April), Jazz Fest (April/May), and Halloween.

The months of July, August, and December tend to be the least crowded but July and August are the most humid and hot. July and August also tend to be when hotels offer their cheapest rates.

Those looking for a good balance might consider December, May, or June. During the month of December, many plantations are decorated for the Christmas holiday season.

Cost of Louisiana plantation tours?

Plantations tours vary in price but are not cheap. They generally range from about $15 to $25 per person and all include a guided tour. Tipping of plantation tour guides is appreciated and often expected if you enjoyed the tour, but is not obligatory.

Louisiana River Road plantation discounts?

Discounts are available at many plantations for AAA members, seniors, children, active military, and local residents. There are also some local discount cards, such as the New Orleans Pass, that may include free entry into some of the plantations.

The Go City New Orleans Pass currently (as of February 2020) includes free entry to both the San Francisco Plantation and the Oak Alley Plantation, as well as a number of other attractions and tours in and around New Orleans.

How to get to the River Road plantations?

The best way to get to most of the Louisiana plantations is to drive there as public transit options are very limited in the area. If you don’t have your own car, you can join a group bus tour, a private tour, or hire a private car service to take you to the plantations of your choice.

There are a lot of options from New Orleans for tours (group and private) but almost no tour options from Baton Rouge (consider a car rental or private transfer option).

Here are several day tours we’d recommend checking out:

This day tour from New Orleans give you the option to visit 2 plantations of your choice from the following: Oak Alley, Laura Plantation and Whitney Plantation.
This tour from New Orleans includes St. Joseph and Laura Plantations
This half day tour gives you a choice of visiting 1 of either Laura Plantation, Oak Alley or the Whitney Museum plantation.
This small group tour from New Orleans visits Houmas House and Madewood Plantation and includes lunch.
This small group tour from New Orleans visits Whitney Plantation and St. Joseph Plantation.
This half day tour takes visitors along the River Road and then allows them to choose to visit one of the following plantations: Oak Alley, Laura Plantation or Whitney Plantation.
This full day tour includes visits to Houmas House and Laura Plantation, lunch, and a Cajun swamp tour.
If you want a private and customized tour (so you can visit whichever plantations you wish) you might consider this 6 hour private tour .

To find more tour options, we’d recommend checking out Viator’s tours as they offer lots of different day tours, both group tours and private tours from New Orleans.

Private transportation services in the area include Flagship Limousine LTD. and Five Star Transportation .

Note that there are taxis and Ubers; however, many people who have used Uber have found themselves stranded at plantations for long periods of time because there are few drivers who will do pick-ups from this area. So you are better off arranging a day tour, private transfer, or scheduled taxi (with pick-up and drop-off arranged in advance).

How do I book a plantation tour?

Tour reservations are generally unnecessary (however, be sure to call ahead for tours at Poché Plantation or Ormond Plantation) unless you are traveling in a large group. However, a few of the plantations offer the ability to book tour times in advance online or by phone, such as Whitney Plantation, San Francisco Plantation, and Destrehan Plantation, and this is wise to do if you know when you want to visit and are limited on time.

If you do not have a reservation, I would advise showing up 30 minutes or so before the tour time you want to better ensure you get your desired time as tour times do sometimes sell out.

How many plantations can I visit on a day trip?

First I would recommend looking up tour times in advance, and you should allot at least 2 hours to visit each plantation plus travel time. Some plantations you may want to eat at or enjoy the grounds so you’ll want to allot more time.

Best to plan ahead about lunch, some plantations serve food, some allow picnics on property, and there are also a few other food options along the River Road.

In terms of how many plantations, most people are happy with visiting 2 plantations, but 3 plantations is definitely doable in a day if you plan ahead.

Note that many plantations are not open 7 days a week and all close for certain holidays. If you are really interested in exploring the plantation area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, I’d consider spending the night to have more time to explore. You can sleep overnight at one of the plantations or sleep at one of the area’s hotels, motels, or B&B’s.

Being respectful and aware during plantation visits?

For most visitors, a plantation visit is about seeing a historical home, an entertaining tour, and learning a bit about plantation life. However, for many visitors, the tours can be more emotional and powerful and hearing about plantation life, especially information about slavery, can really have an impact (whether positive or negative).

Some visitors are going to be descended from plantation owners and some are going to be descended from former slaves; some may even be directly connected to the visited plantation. We met people who were both during our tours, some as visitors, some as owners, and some as staff. Some people are trying to learn or understand their heritage so it is good to be aware of this and try to be respectful with your questions, comments, and behavior. In no way should you feel guilty or afraid to ask genuine questions, but sensitivity would be appreciated by your fellow tour participants.

Sometimes the insensitive comments may come from the staff themselves who may promote a romanticized view of plantation life. Some plantation tours do gloss over the horrors of slavery, and while this may appeal to some visitors, it can feel very insensitive to some visitors. So be mindful and hopefully this guide will help you determine which plantation tours may be a good fit for you, whatever your interests or background.

Best plantations for wheelchair users and those with reduced mobility?

Few of the Louisiana plantations along the River Road are fully wheelchair accessible. As historical homes, many do not have step-free access to their second floors. But several do have ramps and some even have elevators. Many offer wheelchair accessible toilets on site.

Houmas House Plantation is probably the most wheelchair accessible plantation as it offers step-free access to both floors of the main house, restaurant, gift shop, and most of the buildings on the plantation property. There are even often golf carts with drivers who can help take those with limited mobility around the property!

Another notable property is Destrehan Plantation which can offer step-free access for visitors to its main house, gift shop, and almost all the buildings on its property.

Other plantations that those traveling with a wheelchair or reduced mobility may consider checking out are Nottoway Plantation, Oak Alley Plantation, Whitney Plantation, Ormond Plantation, and San Francisco Plantation as each offers partial wheelchair accessibility.

Many of the plantations that offer overnight accommodation, can accommodate wheelchair users in certain rooms or cottages.

For those with special needs or requirements in terms of mobility or accessibility, I’d call ahead to ask to see if needs can be safely accommodated. Tour guides in most cases can not provide assistance to guests (in terms of carrying wheelchairs, assisting people up stairs) during tours, and it is strongly recommended that guests who need assistance visit with a companion.

After getting several questions related to accessibility, steps, and wheelchair access from readers, we have tried our best to offer information related to accessibility for each Louisiana plantation. We now have a section on Accessibility under each plantation section listed later in the article. This information was provided to us by staff at these plantations and we do our best to keep it updated.

If you have visited any of these plantations as someone with reduced mobility, we’d love to heard about your experiences in the Comments section at the end of this article. Your info can help future travelers!

How to Decide Which Louisiana Plantations to Visit?

It can be difficult to choose which Louisiana River Road plantations you want to visit. Most people choose to visit two or three plantations. All are worth considering but all are different and will appeal to different people.

We go over the best plantations for those looking for grand homes, historical information, slavery information, antiques, fewer crowds, photography locations, gardens, filming locations, and dozens of other factors to help you decide which are the best plantation homes for you to visit!

Most grand and opulent Louisiana plantations?

Houmas House Plantation and Nottoway Plantation were probably the most grand with the most opulent furnishings. A third choice would be Oak Alley but it does not quite have the size or grandeur of the other two. These are the three plantations I would highly recommend checking out for those looking for grand plantations and those in search of something that will remind them of Tara or Twelve Oaks from Gone with the Wind . These are also three of the most popular and busy plantations.

Which plantations have tour guides in costumes?

For those who like costumed guides (all in antebellum period dress), I’d recommend considering Oak Alley, Nottoway Plantation, Houmas House Plantation, San Francisco Plantation, and Destrehan Plantation. For those who are not fans of costumed guides, I’d suggest avoiding the above.

Houmas House Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Which plantations offer in-depth information on slavery?

In recent years, plantation tours have begun to include more information about slavery into their tours and exhibits so the topic was at least mentioned in all of the house tours we took. For those looking to learn about slavery and its role in Louisiana plantation life, Whitney Plantation is the only plantation tour dedicated to the topic and there are some wonderful slavery memorials on the property.

Other plantations tours that seemed to have more of a focus on slavery were Laura Plantation and Evergreen Plantation. Magnolia Mound Plantation also offers a self-guided “Back of the Big House” tour focused on slavery and the role of African-Americans who lived at the plantation. Notable exhibits on slavery were also at Destrehan Plantation and Oak Alley Plantation.

Which plantations are still working plantations?

St. Joseph Plantation is a family-run working sugar cane plantation and has been run by the same family since 1877. The guided house tours and gift shop are primarily run by family members so you’ll like get the chance to speak to people who have a true connection to the house and property. Evergreen Plantation is also a working plantation with the land leased out for sugar cane production.

Which plantations have the best furnishings and antiques?

All the plantations houses are at least partially furnished and all contain at least some antique pieces, but few have many original furnishings. Magnolia Mound Plantation stood out for its authentic colonial, Louisiana, and French antiques (most not original to the house) and the great depth of knowledge the guide seemed to have on the collection.

Houmas House also had a lot of antique pieces on a much more opulent and elegant scale and several were pointed out during the tour, although few were original to the house. St. Joseph stands out as having probably the most original family pieces, many from the Reconstruction era.

St Joseph Plantation Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Which plantations are most intact with original dependencies?

In addition to the main house, plantations would have historically had dozens of other buildings such as barns, slave cabins, overseer’s cottages, mills, etc. The most intact plantation on the River Road is Evergreen Plantation with numerous surviving dependencies (although some have been highly renovated), including 22 slave cabins. Laura Plantation and St. Joseph Plantation also have a number of original dependencies on the property that you can see.

Many of the other plantations have antebellum buildings on the property for viewing that have been moved from nearby plantations or reconstructed buildings using period-consistent techniques, including Magnolia Mound, Oak Alley, Destrehan Plantation, and San Francisco Plantation.

Which River Road plantations have the best gardens?

Houmas House Plantation had by far the best gardens during our visit, featuring both native flowers and plants as well as exotic ones. Laura Plantation also had smaller but notable gardens and Evergreen has a formal hedge garden behind the house. Most of the rest of the plantations have only small gardens or no gardens at all, but most have landscaped grounds and majestic oak trees.

Which Louisiana plantations have the best oak alleys?

Both Evergreen Plantation and Oak Alley Plantation have gorgeous oak alleys. Oak Alley has two actually, with one being the famous one framing what would have originally been the front entrance to the main house. Evergreen Plantation has a much longer oak alley that is draped with the characteristic Spanish moss (missing at Oak Alley).

I think that all the plantations we visited have grand oak trees on the property, many of the trees being over 200 years old with the trees at Houmas House, Whitney Plantation, and St. Joseph’s standing out in my mind.

Best craft demonstrations?

Destrehan Plantation offers the most variety and most frequent period craft demonstrations, with demonstrations and lectures on about a dozen different topics including blacksmithing, cooking, bousillage, and carpentry. Oak Alley also regularly offers blacksmithing demonstrations using its original 1890’s forge.

Destrehan Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Which plantations have the best gift shops?

Most of the plantations have gift shops. Those with the largest gift shops include Oak Alley, Nottoway, Houmas House, and Destrehan Plantation. St. Joseph was notable for its unique handmade items (I bought a pair of locally made earrings), Whitney Plantation for its selection of books, particularly on the subject of slavery, Oak Alley for its food items, and Destrehan for its on-site handmade blacksmith items.

Best plantations for history buffs?

All of the plantations have wonderful historical homes and information so I think all have some appeal to history lovers. The history of the plantations here spans the time when Louisiana was held by the French, Spanish, American, and Confederate governments, making for some interesting history. Destrehan Plantation stood out in terms of history as it is very well documented and visitors have access to hundreds of historical documents and artifacts, even a document signed by Thomas Jefferson.

Others that stood out a bit more were Magnolia Mound Plantation, Evergreen Plantation, San Francisco Plantation, Laura Plantation, Whitney Plantation, and St. Joseph Plantation. The majority of house tours focus on the antebellum period, with Magnolia Mound being the most focused on colonial history, Whitney Plantation on history from a slavery standpoint, St. Joseph on the Reconstruction era to present, and Laura Plantation on the history as experienced by one family over the generations.

Best plantations for photographers?

All of the plantations offer something for a photographer. Oak Alley is the most photographed of the plantations and the shot of the oak alley framing the house is stunning; however, just about everyone takes this photo. If you really want to photograph it, we’d highly recommend staying overnight so you have legal access to the property at sunrise and sunset as we did.

The Evergreen oak alley is also stunning and it shades 22 original slave cabins in their original positions. The statues of the slave children and angel memorial at Whitney Plantation are quite emotionally powerful. San Francisco Plantation is the most colorful and probably unusual in terms of architectural features, and you’ll also find some color at both Laura and Poché Plantation. Laura has a couple interesting looking derelict dependency buildings (especially the old mother-in-law).

The restored interiors of Nottoway, Oak Alley, and Houmas House are quite impressive, especially the White Ballroom at Nottoway. Houmas House has the most impressive gardens. Neither Magnolia Mound nor San Francisco allowed interior photos during the times of our visits. For those wanting to do professional or commercial photography or filming, most plantations can arrange for shoots outside visitor hours for a fee.

Evergreen Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Best plantations for architecture lovers?

This is a hard question and we are not experts in architecture, but the 12 plantations we visited represented a range of architectural styles and I would recommend choosing plantations with differing styles. Originally the most common style of the plantation houses in the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century was the raised French Creole style (or Spanish Creole or West Indies style). For examples of this style consider Magnolia Mound, Laura Plantation, St. Joseph Plantation, Ormond Plantation, and Whitney Plantation.

Then in the mid-nineteenth century many houses were built in the Greek Revival style and many of the Creole style houses were converted to Greek Revival. For Greek Revival houses (or those restyled in this manner) consider Houmas House, Nottoway Plantation, Oak Alley Plantation, Destrehan Plantation and Evergreen Plantation.

You also get a few unique houses built later in the nineteenth century that took on different styles such as Victorian Renaissance (Poché Plantation) and Steamboat Gothic (San Francisco Plantation). Other unique features include the painted ceilings in San Francisco Plantation and the original painted murals (interior and exterior) at Whitney Plantation.

Some of the plantation’s main houses have been heavily restored and renovated (e.g., Evergreen, Oak Alley, Houmas House), some have focused more on conservation and preservation (Magnolia Mound, St. Joseph, Whitney), and Laura was almost entirely rebuilt following a 2004 electrical fire.

San Francisco Plantation Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Best plantations for movie lovers?

Almost all of the plantation houses or properties have been used for filming, whether it be commercials, TV series, films, or music videos. Oak Alley, Houmas House, Destrehan, Whitney, St. Joseph (and sister property Felicity Plantation), and Evergreen Plantation have all been used for major American movie or TV productions. Filming was happening or had recently happened at several of the plantations we visited during our trip.

Some popular films and series shot at River Road plantations were Interview with the Vampire , 12 Years a Slave , Primary Colors , The S keleton Key , Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , Django Unchained , and the 2016 Roots mini-series. See specific plantation guides below for which movies were shot where.

Most haunted River Road plantations?

Plantations are often considered to be haunted places, generally related to suicides or mysterious deaths of the plantation owners or wrongful deaths of slaves. Laurence and I are not very into haunted places or the paranormal, but since something related to hauntings or ghosts was mentioned enough in the tours I thought I’d mention it.

Oak Alley, San Francisco, and Houmas House all had mentions of the paranormal on the tours we did. However, the most interesting real-life mystery stories had to be at Ormond Plantation with the mysterious disappearance of one owner and the hanging of another!

If you want to learn more about the haunted histories and ghostly tales related to Louisiana Plantations, consider getting a copy of this book .

Least crowded Louisiana River Road plantations?

The crowds at some plantations can make a visit much less enjoyable for some people. Some plantations we’d suggest considering for a less crowded experience would be Magnolia Mound Plantation, St. Joseph Plantation, Evergreen Plantation, and San Francisco Plantation. Whitney Plantation tends to attract a more serious traveler but is now a part of many bus tour stops so now has more visitors.

Ormond Plantation as a bed-and-breakfast and Poché Plantation as a bed-and-breakfast/RV park are also great bets for a crowd-free experience; free tours are included with a stay at either of these plantations.

Several of the plantations are very popular group bus tour stops, including Oak Alley, Laura Plantation, Whitney Plantation, and Destrehan Plantation. These can get very crowded at times. If you are interested in visiting the busier plantations, best tip for avoiding huge crowds would be to get on the first or last tour of the day. You can also call ahead and ask the best times for a given day as big groups have to schedule in advance at most of the plantations.

Food, Drink, and Lodging in Louisiana’s Plantation Country

We’ll share where to eat, drink, and stay in Louisiana’s Plantation Country along the River Road. We share lots of options between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Many plantations offer on-site restaurants, cafes, and even accommodation options.

Where to eat between Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

The predominant type of cuisine served in the area is Cajun (or Creole). You’ll also find general American and Southeastern favorites. We recommend trying local Cajun favorites like jambalaya, gumbo, rice and gravy, etouffee, Andouille sausage, crawfish, and boudin. Po’ boys, fried catfish, fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, cornbread, pecan pie, and other Southern and New Orleans dishes are also very typical here.

Here is a partial list of some local cafes and restaurants (ordered by location from Baton Rouge to New Orleans):

Grapevine Cafe in Donaldsonville – Quirky and colorful restaurant featuring local art, live music, and Cajun foods. Serves Cajun classics as well as steak and seafood. Full bar. Lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch.
Spuddy’s Cajun Foodsd in Vacherie – This well-loved simple place serves homestyle Cajun favorites like po-boys, gumbo, and fresh handmade sausages. Serves lunch, coffee, and snacks.
Nobile’s Restaurant and Bar in Lutcher – A restaurant in a historical building serving a mix fo Cajun and American dishes. Baba is their signature dessert. Serves lunch and dinner.
Fatty’s Restaurant in Garyville – Casual spot serving Cajun dishes such as gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee, and stews along with the typical American food. Serves lunch and dinner.
Buddy B’s in Garyville – This long-time local family restaurant serves up casual Cajun and American dishes. Serves breakfast and lunch.
Wayne Jacob’s Smokehouse & Restaurant in LaPlace – Best known for their smokehouse Andouille sausage, brisket, and other meats. Also serve a number of other Cajun and American classic dishes, including burgers, po’boys, salads, and fried catfish. Serves lunch and Sunday brunch.
Truck Farm Tavern in St. Rose – Family-friendly restaurant serves homestyle and comfort American food as well as seafood and BBQ. Serves lunch and dinner.
Many of the plantations also have on-site restaurants and dining options (see next section)

Although there are several of dining options in the area, many are not open daily so check current hours before deciding where to go! Note that many of these are not open for dinner and most close fairly early. Many are also not open on weekends. So it is always a good idea to figure out what you plan to do for dinner before evening comes around if staying in the area. Sometimes the nearest option may be a 30 minute drive away.

For those visiting this area on a day trip, I’d try to do lunch at one of the plantations to save time as several have dining options for lunch.

There are also grocery stores in the area where you can pick up food for picnics and meals if you have a self-catering accommodation.

Which plantations offer places to eat?

Currently, the following plantations have at least one on-site eatery or restaurant: Nottoway Plantation (all 3 meals and snacks), Oak Alley Plantation (breakfast, lunch, drinks), Houmas House Plantation (all meals, drinks, dinner reservations needed), and Ormond Plantation (lunch and dinner, dinner reservations needed, not daily).

Reservations are not usually necessary for lunch, but they are typically needed for dinner. Plantation restaurants are not typically open 7 days a week so do check ahead.

Both Oak Alley Plantation and St. Joseph have picnic tables that you can use if you bring your own food and Laura Plantation offers some vending machine food and refreshments in its gift shop. If you are staying overnight at a plantation, breakfast is normally included in the room rate.

Oak Alley Plantation tour overnight New Orleans Louisiana

Which plantations offer overnight accommodation?

The following plantations currently offer some form of overnight accommodation on the property, either in a cottage, an inn, or in the main house from north to south: Nottoway Plantation, Houmas House Plantation, Poché Plantation, Oak Alley Plantation, and Ormond Plantation. See next section for links to each.

There is also a 13th plantation, Palo Alto Plantation which is not open to public tours (although they do weddings and special events) but they do rent out the Kitchen Cottage on the plantation. See Where to Stay section below for a description and links for each.

If you want to stay overnight in an actual main plantation house, Ormond Plantation, Poché Plantation, and Nottoway Plantation offers rooms and suites in the main house. Poché Plantation is also a RV resort and offers spots and facilities for those traveling by RV or campervan. You can also read about when we stayed overnight at Oak Alley Plantation .

There is also Madewood Plantation near Napoleonville – this plantation is not along the River Road but it is not too far away (about 40 to 45 minutes). It doesn’t offer public tours but does offer accommodation in a 1846 plantation home plus another house on the property. A good option if you can’t find availability in any of those along the River Road.

Where to stay along the River Road between Baton Route and New Orleans?

If you are planning to stay a night (or two) along the River Road, there are a number of accommodation options. In addition to the plantations that offer on-site lodging mentioned above, there are also several traditional hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and vacation rental spots along the route. The towns along the route are fairly small in size so most have limited accommodation options, so it is good to book in advance if you can.

Vrbo can be a good option for those wanting to stay in a house, cabin or apartment, although options are more limited than in a city. You can check out Vrbo options in this area here .

In terms of where to stay along the road, I’d decide on based on what plantations you want to visit, your route, and your destination. Here are some places to consider, north to south along the route.

One place to consider is the Donaldsonville, LA area lodging, which is within about a 15 minute drive of both Nottoway Plantation and Houmas House Plantation. The Baton Rouge airport, Oak Alley Plantation, and St. Joseph Plantation is about 30 miles away. Some recommended options:

The Inn on the River in Donaldsonville – Hotel located in the historic downtown area that includes continental breakfast and has a pub. The hotel is in a converted 1911 brick building that originally housed a local department store. The single and double rooms have a modern feel while the suites have a historic feel.
Holiday Inn Express in Donaldsonville – A well-rated chain hotel with an outdoor seasonal swimming pool.
170 year Old Plantation Kitchen Cottage in Donaldsonville – A renovated self-catering cottage that was once used as the kitchen dependency for the main house on Palo Alto Plantation. The main house and kitchen cottage are believed to date to circa 1847.
Nottoway Plantation in White Castle – A plantation offering both rooms within the main house as well as within cottages on the property. Offers an on-site restaurant and resort style facilities.
Houmas House Plantation in Darrow – This plantation offers rooms and suites in cottages on the property and has an on-site cafe and restaurant.

Another place to consider is lodging around Vacherie, LA, which is close to Laura, St. Joseph, Oak Alley, Poche, Evergreen & Whitney Plantations. This area may also fit well for an overnight stop people driving between New Orleans and Baton Rouge as it is around the midpoint. A few options:

Auberge Du Chene Vert in Vacherie – A family-run bed-and-breakfast with a large front porch and hot cooked breakfast.
Cottage on the Farm in Vacherie – A 2 bedroom private cottage with continental breakfast. Currently only takes reservations by phone.
Poché Plantation – This plantation offers B&B rooms in the main house and cottages, and is also a RV, campervan, and camping park.
Oak Alley Plantation – Oak Alley offers accommodation in both historical and modern self-catering cottages on the same property as the plantation house. Breakfast included in restaurant and dinner can be arranged.

Finally, you might consider the Luling, LA area which is close to Destrehan and Ormond Plantations and is not far from the New Orleans airport. A good location for those arrive or leaving the next day from the airport in New Orleans. A few options:

Motel 6 in Luling – A budget motel with a seasonal outdoor pool. Diner located next door.
La Quinta Inn & Suites in Boutte – A well-reviewed hotel with free breakfast and a seasonal outdoor swimming pool.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites near Saint Rose – A 3-star hotel located 2 miles from the airport. Hotel provides free airport transfers and has a sun deck, outdoor swimming pool, and on-site restaurant.
Ormond Plantation – This plantation offers rooms in the main house and includes breakfast. Dinner is sometimes available, depending on the day of the week.
Destrehan Plantation – This plantation offers 2 guest cottages on site.

Further resources about the River Road Plantations?

Each plantation has its own website that will offer all you need to know about admission prices, tour times, whether tickets can be booked in advance, closure dates, restaurant openings, lodging booking, contact information, etc. and these links are all included below in this post.

If you are looking for more information on planning your trip consider the Baton Rouge tourism website , New Orleans tourism website , Louisiana River Parishes website (includes 8 of the 12 plantations included in this post), and Louisiana State Tourism website for those traveling further afield in the state.

For plantations to visit beyond the River Road, check out this list of plantations located throughout the state. For books about plantations in Louisiana, you can check out Vestiges of Grandeur (beautifully photographed book of the past and current River Road plantations) and this Pelican Guide guidebook (plantations and grand homes throughout Louisiana).

Laurence has also written a great posts about top things to see in Baton Rouge and our experience visiting New Orleans during Mardi Gras .

Guide to 12 Louisiana Plantations along the River Road

We have created a short guide to each of the 12 River Road Louisiana plantations that lists the same criteria for each plantation for easier comparison. We also share our own personal impressions about our own visit to each of these 12 Louisiana River Road plantations.

The plantations line the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and plantations are listed from north to south, starting with plantations closest to Baton Rouge and ending with those closest to New Orleans. Note that when driving, plantations are on both sides of the river so it is not a linear route. If driving, have a GPS or good map with the plantations marked as some are not well signed from the road.

Below is a map of the River Road plantations. You can double click on the map photo or click here to see or interact with the detailed map.

River Road Louisiana Plantations from Baton Rouge to New Orleans Louisiana map

Magnolia Mound Plantation

Magnolia Mound Plantation was originally built as a fairly humble settler’s home in the late eighteenth century, but was soon expanded to be the main home of a wealthy landowner. The plantation is an easy visit from downtown Baton Rouge and is known for its collection of Federalist, Louisiana-made, and French furniture and decorative art objects.

Magnolia Mound may not be the grandest plantation home, but it is a great attraction for those who love historical homes and antiques. The focus here has been on the preservation and conservation of the property.

Magnolia Mound Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Address: 2161 Nicoholson Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 Magnolia Mound Plantation Website: www.brec.org/magnoliamound Original Date of Main Plantation House: circa 1791 (exact date unknown) Architectural Style: French creole Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: The house was built in the 1790s by John Joyce, an Irish immigrant who had purchased the property from James Hillin . This house was originally built as a small 4-room settler’s house and later expanded to suit the needs of a plantation owner and his large family. It is currently run by The Recreation and Park Commission for the Parish of East Baton Rouge ( BREC ) which operates a number of parks and recreational sites in the area. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can only be visited with a guided tour, but the gardens and other buildings are self-guided. For those interested in slavery, a special tour focused on slavery and plantation life is available but must be booked in advance. Tour guides are not costumed. Main House Furnishings: Few are original, but items are period consistent and many are notable antiques. Magnolia Mound is considered to have one of the best collections of Louisiana-made objects from the colonial period. It also includes French pieces from the same era. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains a reconstructed kitchen, a slave quarter house (antebellum, but moved from another former plantation River Lake Plantation), an original overseer’s house (c. 1870), an old well, and a pigeonnier (c.1820, but from another plantation). Slavery Information: There is a small amount of information on slavery on the main tour, but there is a self-guided “Back of the Big House” tour focused on slavery and the role of African-Americans who lived at the plantation. There is also an antebellum slave quarters building on the property for viewing. Gardens: There is a small kitchen garden, a small crop garden (sugar cane), and some grand 200+ year old live oak tress on the property. Photography Allowed: Photography was not allowed inside the main house, but was allowed outside and inside the kitchen and minor buildings. Food: No Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: The main historical home at Magnolia Mound Plantation requires 10 steps to enter and exit; however all other main buildings on property have step-free access and are wheelchair accessible. These include the kitchen and gift shop. There are wheelchair accessibility toilets on site. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: We were not able to find any regularly operated day tours from New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Lodging: No Crowds: Small – this is not typically a busy property and is not very well-known in comparison to many of the other plantations. However, can get busy when school or bus groups arrive. Most Unique: The age of the property, state of preservation, antiques, and impressive knowledge of the guides of the house and antique furnishings.

Our Impressions of Magnolia Mound Plantation

This is a great historical gem of a property located on the outskirts of Baton Rouge. On the day we visited, we were the only visitors for the next tour but we were joined as we started by another couple. The guide was very knowledgeable about the house and the furnishings. My favorite quote from the tour was “This floor [the original cypress floor] was laid while George Washington was president”.

The period furnishings in this house and the attention to them made this tour stand out to all the others; we would highly recommend this tour to those interested in historical properties and antiques. We recommend leaving time to do the self-guided “Back of the Big House” tour focused on slavery.

This is not a flashy Greek Revival mansion so it would likely not be a great fit for those looking for the most photogenic grand plantation homes. It is perfect for those looking for a more rustic plantation house where you can get a sense of the late 18th/early 19th lifestyle. Magnolia Mound Plantation is a great plantation to visit if you want to avoid the crowds you’ll find at many of the other plantation homes.

Nottoway Plantation

Nottoway Plantation, known as the White Castle, is believed to be the largest surviving antebellum plantation in the American South. Built just 6 years before the Civil War, it is also one of the youngest and grandest of the Louisiana River Road plantations. Nottoway Plantation is perfect for those day tripping from Baton Rouge and looking for a grand plantation house.

Addr ess: 31025 Highway 1, White Castle, LA 70788 Nottoway Plantation Website: www.nottowayplantation.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: 1 859 Architectural Style: Greek Revival and Italianate styles Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: The house was built by sugar cane magnate John Hampden Randolph and he lived here with his wife and 11 children. The Randolph sold the plantation in 1889 and it was then in the possession of a series of owners. It is currently run and maintained as part of the larger resort and conference center that are also on the property. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can only be visited with a guided tour, but the gardens and museum are self-guided. Tour guides are costumed in antebellum period clothing. Main House Furnishings: Some house furnishings are original, but most are period consistent pieces. Other buildings to visit on property: There is a 2-room museum that provides more information on the house, family, and slavery at the plantation as well as a short film. There are no other historical places to visit on the property except a family cemetery. Slavery Information: There is a small amount of information on slavery on the main tour, and some additional information can be found in the small museum. Gardens: There are small flower gardens and some large 200+-year-old live oak trees on the property near the mansion. A path to a Mississippi River viewpoint is located near the front entrance to mansion, and is worth walking as you don’t see the river from most of the plantations as the levee blocks the views that these plantations once had. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed throughout. Food: Yes, a cafe and a restaurant. Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: The Nottoway Plantation tour has 4 steps to reach the 3rd floor of the main house. However, the house has an elevator and the other floors are wheelchair accessible. A visitor who cannot climb the steps can still hear the guide from outside on the 3rd floor. The gift shop, cafe, museum, and most of the garden paths are accessible. The cemetery is not wheelchair accessible. Wheelchair accessible toilets are available. Some of the overnight accommodations are wheelchair accessible and have roll-in showers. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: We were not able to find any regularly operated guided day tours to Nottoway, but should be able to arrange a private tour from New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Lodging: Yes, guests can stay in cottages on the property near the house or even in a few of the bedrooms in the main house. Resort facilities are also on the property. Check prices here . Crowds: Medium to Large – Many visitors come here to tour the opulent mansion (close to Baton Rouge) but the property also hosts a number of conferences and events. Most Unique: Opulent large furnished mansion, beautiful white ballroom, and guests have ability to stay in main house (or cottages). Nottoway Plantation is the largest antebellum mansion in the American South.

Our Impressions of Nottoway Plantation

Nottoway Plantation is large, opulent, and beautiful–the 53,000 square foot mansion boasts massive exterior columns, hand-carved Italian marble fireplaces, detailed plaster frieze moldings, and modern conveniences. The main house tour contains a number of beautiful rooms, perhaps the most memorable being the White Ballroom.

The tour guides are costumed but the atmosphere was fairly relaxed as we were even allowed to sit on some of the furniture. During the tour, there were interesting stories about how the green velvet curtains may have inspired Selznick for Gone with the Wind , how the youngest Randolph son ran off to New Orleans with the enslaved cook’s daughter and was all but written out of the family history, and how the plantation house managed to survive the Civil War with only a grapeshot hitting one of its columns.

We definitely recommend visiting the small museum and watching the video before or after your tour. We had gumbo and jambalaya at the small cafe and found the food to be both tasty and a very good value.

We’d recommend Nottoway Plantation for those looking for a grand and beautiful plantation house, some interesting stories of the Randolphs lives before and during the Civil War, and opulent furnishings. However, it is not going to be the best fit for those seeking information on slavery or plantation life; it also does not have any additional historical buildings to visit other than the main house.

It is very convenient for those basing in Baton Rouge as it is the closest of the more grand plantation houses. Nottoway Plantation may also be a good choice for those wanting to spend the night in a plantation house as only a few plantations houses allow guests in their main house.

Houmas House Plantation & Gardens

Houmas House Plantation is one of the beautiful restored Greek Revival plantation homes, nicknamed the Sugar Palace. However, the house is actually two houses connected by a carriageway and the dates of the original older house are still a mystery. Many believe, and we were told on the tour, that it is the original Latil house that was originally French colonial (circa 1775) but it was expanded and updated into a more Federal style over the years. It is known that the larger newer main house built in the Greek Revival style was built around 1840.

The house is sumptuously furnished and the costumed guides tell the story of what it was like to live in the house during the time of the wealthy sugar barons. The plantation also has beautiful gardens, three restaurants, and overnight accommodations.

In 2015, Houmas House was voted #2 of top historic homes to tour in America by USA Today. The plantation is also a private residence and is known for being the setting for many scenes from Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte starring Bette Davis.

Address: 40136 Highway 942, Darrow, LA 70725 Houmas House Plantation Website: www.houmashouse.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: c. 1775? (older French colonial house with Federal additions?) & c. 1840 (Greek Revival main house) Architectural Style: Greek Revival (also Federal) Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: The plantation was originally bought by two New Orleans businessmen, Maurice Conway and Alexandre Latil, from the Houmas Indians. Latil built a modest house here which may be the existing smaller house. General Wade Hamilton from South Carolina was the next owner and his son-in-law, John Smith Preston, built the present Greek Revival mansion. It then went through a succession of owners, being purchased by Dr. George Croza in 1940 who restored the house. In 2003, it was purchased by current owner, dog-loving businessman Kevin Kelly, who actually still lives in the house. Tours/Tour Guides: The main house and kitchen can only be viewed on a guided tour, but the grounds and gardens are self-guided. Tour guides are costumed in antebellum clothing. Main House Furnishings: The house is furnished, some pieces are original but most are period pieces. House is sumptuously furnished and has a lot of antiques. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also has the kitchen (visited on the tour) and two matching brick octagonal two-story garconnières (c. 1840s), although these were not open for viewing during our visit. Slavery Information: There was a small amount of information about slavery during the mansion tour. Gardens: Yes, almost 38 acres of gardens that include both indigenous Louisiana plants and exotic plants and flowers. There is the Hampton Garden, Upper Garden and Neptune Pavillion Fountain which surround the Fountain Courtyard. There are also eight 200-year-old grand live oak trees on the property, these were once part of a 24 oak tree oak alley leading all the way to the Mississippi river until most were cut down by the Works Progress Administration levee crew during the Great Depression. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed outside and inside. Food: Yes, there is a cafe (Cafe Burnside) offering lunch, The Turtle Bar (located inside one of the garconnières) serving drinks, a restaurant (Carriage House Restaurant) serving breakfast, cocktails, and dinner, and a more formal restaurant serving dinner (Latil’s Landing Restaurant). Reservations are required for dinner. Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: Houmas House is probably the most accessible of the River Road plantations. Although there are a number of stairs within the main house, the house has a ramp and elevator offering step-free access. The elevator can hold wheelchairs and most mobility scooters. The gift shop, cafe, and restaurant are wheelchair accessible and there are wheelchair accessible toilets available. Much of the grounds has sidewalks and drivers with golf carts are regularly available to take guests around the grounds. Houmas House also offers two ADA overnight rooms, one of which has a roll-in shower. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: Yes, a few options are this tour (Houmas House only), this tour (Houmas House plus lunch and Madewood Plantation), and this private tour (also includes Destrehan Plantation). Lodging: Yes, there are 21 rooms and suites in modern cottages on the property. Breakfast and a tour of the Houmas House mansion are included with an overnight stay. Check prices here . Crowds: Medium to Large – This plantation was not that busy the day we visited, but it can get large crowds. It is well-known and popular. Most Unique: The flair and knowledge of the costumed guides (they really are good at acting like they are Southern antebellum ladies/gents), the sumptuous furnishings and antiques, tour is pet-friendly, and the extensive gardens. Houmas House is also well-known in the area for its food, especially the fine dining experience at Latil’s Landing Restaurant.

Our Impressions of Houmas House Plantation

Houmas House Plantation is one of the most opulent of the Louisiana River Road plantation homes, beautifully restored and filled with elegant furnishings and antiques. The costumed guides aim to take you back to the height of the antebellum period and show you what it would have been like to be part of a sugar baron’s family and live a lavish lifestyle. Our guide was not only entertaining, but also very knowledgeable about the house, history, and furnishings.

The tour included visits to the main Greek Revival mansion and the smaller older house that contains the kitchen and restaurant. Some of the antiques are quite remarkable and you even get to see the owner’s bedroom (if he’s not in it) and you’re likely to see his dogs. This is a private residence as well as a house museum and you are allowed to touch many of the objects and even sit on the furniture, and since the owner loves dogs, well-behaved pets are allowed on the tour.

Be sure to check out the short video in the gift shop before or after your tour and leave time to walk around the gardens and grounds. We were sad to not have time to dine here as dinner at Latil’s Landing Restaurant was highly recommended to us, even by staff at other plantations.

Houmas House is a great plantation for those looking to hear about what it was like to live as an owner of a wealthy sugar plantation, see elegant furnishings and antiques, and stroll through beautiful gardens. However, this is not going to be a good fit for those looking for slavery information or those looking for a more intact plantation complex with lots of historical buildings to visit. However, it was one of the most entertaining house tours we took and the best plantation to visit if you are looking for gardens or a pet-friendly house tour!

Poché Plantation

Poché Plantation is the youngest of the Louisiana River Road plantations we visited, and the existing main house was actually built after the Civil War in 1867. The house is unique for its architectural style, Victorian Renaissance, and is also significant for its association with its original owner, Judge Felix Pierre Poché. In addition to being a founding member of the American Bar Association, Poché is also known for keeping a diary in French detailing the Civil War in Louisiana. It is one of only a handful of existing printed accounts of the Civil War as a Confederate in Louisiana.

However, perhaps the most unique thing about Poché Plantation is that it is also a motor coach RV park (as well as a B&B). This is an ideal spot for those exploring the Louisiana River Road in a campervan or RV!

Poche Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Address: 6554 State Highway 44, Convent , LA 70802 Poché Plantation Website: www.pocheplantation.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: circa 1867 (some time between 1867 and 1870) Architectural Style: Victorian Renaissance Revival Main Cash Crop: Originally a sugar cane plantation, later Perique tobacco (rare and unique tobacco grown in St. James parish) Working plantation today?: No Owners: J udge Felix Pierre Poché built the house after the Civil War on what was a sugar cane plantation, but he primarily used it as a summer home for him and his family until selling it in 1892. It is currently owned and run by Mark and Yvette Anderson Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can be visited with a guided tour, please call ahead for tour times. There is also a small museum focused on post-Civil War local history. Tours are typically given by the owner. Main House Furnishings: The house includes some original furnishings and some period specific pieces. Other buildings to visit on property: T he other historical building on the property is the Judge’s Office which is a 4-room building built in 1830 which may or may not be open during your visit. St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church is just a short 5-minute walk from the plantation. Slavery Information: You won’t likely find a great deal of information about slavery here. The current plantation home was built after the end of slavery. Judge Felix Pierre Poché came from a planter family, but spent his life working as a lawyer, judge, and politician. Gardens: Extensive grounds but no formal garden. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed inside and outside. Food: No, but picnic area and group kitchen facility available on site for campers. Gift Shop: No Accessibility: The main house at Poché Plantation is not wheelchair accessible. Some of the RV park amenities are wheelchair accessible including the shower rooms, and at least one of the overnight cottages is wheelchair accessible. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: No Lodging: Yes, Poché Plantation is a RV park and also rents bed-and-breakfast rooms and cottages. The RV park is a full-service site designed to accommodate about any type of modern RV, campervan, or fifth wheel home with large concrete spaces, tower hook ups, WIFI, showers, coin laundry, hot tub, and a swimming pool. Crowds: Low. The RV park is popular , but typically visitor numbers for house tours are low compared to nearby plantations. Most Unique: The architecture style and being the only plantation that allows RV overnight stays (state’s only destination RV resort) . The youngest property open for tours in the area.

Our Impressions of Poché Plantation

Poché Plantation is a bit of a surprise for most visitors as a RV park and a plantation house are not normally located side by side. We did not actually tour Poché Plantation as we arrived just after the daily tour times, but we did walk around the property a bit in our search to see if tours were still available. We recommend calling or emailing ahead for those wanting to tour the plantation house.

This house is probably not likely going to wow those looking for a grand plantation house or those searching for historical information about plantation life, slavery, and/or life in antebellum Louisiana. However, the architecture is unique and the story of Judge Felix Pierre Poché and his family is quite interesting.

A couple of rooms in the main house (as well as guest cottages) can also be rented out for those looking for a plantation house stay. RVers wanting to explore the Louisiana plantation homes should definitely check this place out.

Oak Alley Plantation

Oak Alley Plantation is often referred to as the Grand Dame of the Great River Road with its lovely Greek Revival style mansion and famous 300-year-old alley of oaks. It is certainly one of the most photogenic and has been featured in several films, including Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , Primary Colors , and Interview with the Vampire . Guests also have the option to eat, shop, and/or stay overnight at this plantation.

However, the beauty and amenities here come at the price of being one of the most visited plantations in Louisiana and it can get quite crowded. Despite potential crowds, it can be a hard plantation to resist, and you can read our full Oak Alley review .

Address: 3645 Highway 18, Vacherie, Louisiana 70090 Oak Alley Plantation Website: www.oakalleyplantation.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: 1839 (built between 1837-1839) Architectural Style: Greek Revival Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: J acques Télesphore Roman built the Oak Alley mansion as a gift for his wife Celina. The Roman family would run the sugar cane plantation until 1866 when it was sold to a long succession of owners, slowly falling into disrepair. The house would be restored in the 1920’s by Texan cattle ranchers Andrew and Josephine Stewart. Today, the Oak Alley Foundation, set up by Josephine Stewart, runs the plantation. Tours/Tour Guides: The m ain house can only be visited with a guided tour, but the outdoor exhibits, gardens, and other buildings are self-guided. Tour guides are costumed in antebellum dress. Main House Furnishings: The house is sumptuously furnished. Only a few pieces are original, but most are period consistent items from the mid-1800’s. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains 6 reconstructed slave cabins which contain a slavery exhibit, an Overseer’s Property (original building, private), sugar kettles, old plantation bell, Roman family tombstone, and a blacksmith shop that includes a 1890’s forge (demonstrations are sometimes done here). There is also a Sugar Cane exhibit and an interactive Civil War exhibit. Slavery Information: There is a small amount of information on slavery on the main tour. There is quite a bit of additional information available about slavery at Oak Alley in the self-guided slavery exhibit housed in the 6 slave cabins that were built using period consistent techniques and materials. Gardens: There is an English garden and small flower gardens. There are two oak alleys, one in the front of the house and one in the back. The famous Alley of Oaks is a 800-feet-long alley of 300-year-old mature Virginia Live Oaks located on what would have been the front of the house. An alley of younger oaks in the back alley were planted in the 1830’s and 1930’s. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed inside and outside. Food: Yes, there is both a sit-down restaurant and a cafe at Oak Alley. There is also a Spirits Bar located across from the restaurant. There are also some picnic tables located near the parking lot. Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: The Oak Alley Plantation main house has step-free access (with a movable ramp that can be placed over the 1 step) into the ground floor but the second floor is not wheelchair accessible. There are 22 steps to reach the second floor of the house. Guests who cannot climb the steps will be led by the guide to the media room to watch the tour on an individual iPad after seeing the ground floor. There are 3 steps up to access slave cabins. There are wheelchair accessible toilets in the Oak Alley restaurant. There are disable parking spaces near the restaurant which visitors should ask about at the booth upon arrival. The gift shop, restaurant, and outside paths are accessible (made of concrete or brick). One of the overnight cottages is wheelchair accessible. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: Yes, there are several options including this tour (Oak Alley only), this tour (also includes Laura Plantation), this tour (choice of 2 plantations), this well-rated full day tour (also includes Laura Plantation, lunch, and swamp tour), and this private tour (Oak Alley only). Lodging: Yes, there are currently 8 guest cottages on the property; some are historical plantation cottages, some are newly constructed modern deluxe cottages. Read about our Oak Alley Plantation visit and overnight stay. Crowds: Large – this is one of the most visited plantations in the area and crowds can be very large at times. Most Unique: The oak alley and the grandeur of the house and its furnishings. It is also known for its restaurant’s Creole and Cajun dishes and its mint juleps.

Our Impressions of Oak Alley Plantation

Oak Alley is a crowd pleaser with its beautiful Greek Revival mansion, dreamy alley of stately live oaks, and sumptuous furnishings. The plantation is lively, busy, and has dining and lodging opportunities. It is popular and crowds can be large here, so try to visit in the early morning or late afternoon if you can.

Oak Alley can be visited for free with a New Orleans Pass , so we strongly recommend visiting here for pass holders.

The house tour focuses on the lives of the first owners (Romans) and last owners (Stewarts), antebellum life in the house, and the decline and restoration of the house. The house seems smaller inside than it does from the outside. Towards the end of the house tour, you get a nice view of the oak alley from the verandah.

Interesting tidbits from the tour that stuck with me was the mystery of why there is no Spanish moss on the live oak trees, the use of the courting candle, and that the plantations enslaved gardener Antoine was the first person to successfully graft pecan trees and his work resulted in the first named variety. Be sure to spend time at the Slavery Exhibit; we do wish a guide-led tour focused on slavery was also offered here at Oak Alley for those wishing to know more on the topic.

Our overnight stay at Oak Alley was a wonderful experience with a nicely furnished modern cottage and the privilege to stroll the grounds peacefully after all the visitors were gone. We ate three meals at Oak Alley, including dinner in our room, and we really enjoyed all the dishes we tried and we also enjoyed sipping on mint juleps (three types to choose from!) while walking around the grounds.

Oak Alley Plantation is a great fit for those travelers seeking a grand richly furnished plantation house and photogenic views. The view of Oak Alley Plantation house from the oak alley may be the best view on the entire River Road.

St. Joseph Plantation

St. Joseph Plantation is a working 1,000 acre sugar cane farm that has been owned by the same family since 1877. Family members still manage the property and even lead many of the house tours. St. Joseph is described as “authentic”, and plantation house tours focus on the lives of those who lived at the plantation with a special focus on Creole culture and the Reconstruction period.

St. Joseph Plantation (when a part of it was known as Priestley Plantation) is also the birthplace of Henry Hobson Richardson, a prominent 19th American architect, probably best known for designing Trinity Church in Boston.

The family also owns the adjacent Felicity Plantation, which is not open to the public but is regularly used for filming, including 12 Years a Slave , The Skeleton Key , Oprah’s Queen Suga r, Underground series, and the 2016 remake of Roots mini-series .

Address: 3535 Highway 18, Vacherie, LA 70090 St. Joseph Plantation Website: www.stjosephplantation.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: c. 1830 Architectural Style: Raised French creole Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: Yes, still a working sugar cane plantation Owners: St. Joseph Plantation was built by the Louis Scioneaux family, then sold to a French doctor Dr. Cazamine Mericq and then to Alexis Ferry and his wife Josephine (daughter of the immensely wealthy sugar planter François-Gabriel “Valcour” Aimé). In 1877, the house was purchased in a sheriff’s sale by Joseph Waguespack who named it St. Joseph Plantation and it is still owned by descendants of the Waguespack family today. About 200 Waguespack and Simon family members currently own stock in the family-run sugar cane plantation. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can only be visited with a guided tour, but the other buildings are self-guided. Special themed tours, such as a Creole Mourning tour, are sometimes offered. Tour guides are not costumed. Main House Furnishings: Rooms are furnished and m any of the objects are original to the house and/or family. Many of the pieces are Reconstruction era (post-Civil War period). Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains original slave cabins (c. 1830-1840), detached kitchen (c. 1880’s), blacksmith’s shop, carpenter’s shed, and a small schoolhouse. Some buildings have been moved closer to the house but most remain where they were built. There is also a short video on sugar cane production that you can watch. There is also a former plantation store on the property (currently a flower store), that was the longest opened store on the River Road, only closing in the 1990’s! The family also owns the next door Felicity Plantation house, built in 1850, which is currently not open to visitors but is often used for filming. Slavery Information: There is a small amount of information about slavery on the main tour. There are original slave quarters buildings on the property for viewing. Gardens: No gardens, but t here are small pretty flower beds and a number of trees on the property, including some grand 300 -year-old live oak trees on the property. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed outside and inside. Food: No, but picnic tables under the oak trees are available for use by visitors who bring a picnic lunch. Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: Only the first floor of St. Joseph Plantation has step-free access and is accessible for wheelchairs. There is no step-free access to the second floor which includes a large portion of the tour rooms. The film room, farm tools, and gift shop are on the first floor and are wheelchair accessible. Day Tour Available from New Orleans: Yes, this tour includes a visit to St. Joseph Plantation and Whitney Plantation. You could also arrange a private tour. Lodging: No Crowds: Small – this is not typically a busy property and is not very well-known in comparison to many of the other plantations. Most Unique: Working family-owned sugar cane plantation, focus on Creole customs, owned and run by family (most guides are family), and authentic furnishings.

Our Impressions of St. Joseph Plantation

St. Joseph is a family-run working sugar cane plantation that feels more authentic than most of the other properties. The house is not nearly as grand as its finely furnished restored next door neighbors Oak Alley or Houmas House, but the lack of heavy restoration helps add to the experience here. We also enjoyed that we were able to touch many of the pieces of furniture/artifacts in the house; Laurence even had a go at the pump organ. It was one of my favorite visits as it felt less commercialized than some of the others and it does not get the crowds of some of its better-known neighbors.

The main house was lived in until 1997 and the guides are able to give you plenty of interesting details about family life here following the Civil War. There is of course also information about the antebellum period and Civil War history of the house and inhabitants, but what is more interesting here is hearing from the family of life following the Civil War. Many of the former slaves stayed on as tenant farmers and some of their descendants continued to live on the plantation for generations. Tenant farming, especially in the 19th and early 20th century, was still a tough life and tenants lives were heavily dependent on the weather, crop conditions, and the goodwill of plantation owners.

The descendants of Joseph Waguespack have continued to run the farm through good and bad times. The tour guides and gift shop staff are normally family members. It is interesting to hear stories of those who remember growing up or visiting the plantation and to see items such as the christening gowns worn by generations of family members (including some of the guides).

Don’t forget to leave some time to explore the outside buildings (e.g., slave cabins, kitchen) on your own (pick up a leaflet for some information on the buildings). If it is a nice day, consider picking up some food from a local grocery store or deli and eating under one of the oak trees here.

This is a great bet for those looking to visit a family-owned working plantation and those wanting to hear a bit more about what happened on plantations after the Civil War!

Laura Plantation

Laura Plantation is a French creole plantation that is known for being run by four generations of the Duparc-Locoul family, with the women of the family being primarily responsible for running the plantation. The last owner from the family, Laura Locoul, would sell the plantation and later in her life write a memoir, Memories of the Old Plantation Home: A Creole Family Album , focused on her time growing up and running the plantation. It is now this memoir that provides the main material for the guided house tours at Laura Plantation.

Laura Plantation is also known for being one of the locations where folklorist Alcée Fortier (born at Petit Versailles Plantation) recorded the African stories of the trickster Br’er Rabbit from the slaves (known as Compair Lapin in French Creole).

In 2004, the plantation house suffered extensive damage due to a fire (now restored), but numerous original outbuildings from the antebellum period survive on the property.

Laura Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Address: 2247 Highway 18, Vacherie, LA 70090 Laura Plantation Website: http://www.lauraplantation.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: 1805 (80% of house was destroyed by a fire in 2004 so rebuilt and heavily restored) Architectural Style: French creole Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: This house was built by Frenchman Guillaume Duparc and was then passed onto 4 generations of his family who worked and live on the plantation, ending with Laura Locoul who sold the plantation in 1891. The plantation was then sold to the Waguespack family (owners of St. Joseph Plantation) who farmed the sugarcane and lived at the plantation until 1984. It is currently owned and run by the Laura Plantation Company as a Creole cultural attraction. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house and grounds can only be visited with a guided tour; guided tour includes main house, slave cabins (c. 1840), gardens, and a view of some of the other buildings (barns, overseer’s cottage). Tours are available daily in both English and French. Tour guides are not costumed. You can book your tour in advance here . Main House Furnishings: The house is furnished but the furnishings are not original, but are era specific. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains a number of other buildings, including slave cabins, barns, overseers’ cottages, and the Maison de Reprise (1829; mother-in-law house). You can’t visit these buildings on your own but on the guided tour you get to go inside a couple of the slave cabins and get exterior views of some of the other buildings. Slavery Information: Moderate. There is a substantive amount of information provided about slavery, life of slaves on the plantation, and part of the tour takes place in the slave cabins. Gardens: Yes, there is a small formal French garden, a kitchen garden, and a banana tree grove. Photography Allowed: Photography was allowed outside and inside. Food: No restaurant, but snack food and drinks were available in the gift store. Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: The basement of the main house of Laura Plantation is at ground level and is step-free; however, t here are 15 steps up/down into the main floor of the house. There are 3 steps up/down into the slave cabin. The house can accommodate a wheelchair or walker (although not a scooter) if visitor has a companion who can assist them up the stairs and carry the wheelchair. The gift shop and museum are wheelchair accessible but the 1840’s slave cabin is not. There is a wheelchair accessible toilet on site. Paths through the grounds are graveled or bricked. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: Yes, there are several tours options, including this tour (also includes Oak Alley Plantation), this tour (also includes either Whitney Plantation or Oak Alley), this full day tour (also includes Houmas House, brunch, and swamp tour), and this private tour (also includes Houmas House, lunch and an airboat ride). Lodging: No Crowds: Moderate to Large – This is a popular plantation and can get quite busy. Most Unique: The focus on the lives of Laura and her family, emphasis on Creole culture, connection to the Br’er Rabbit tales, tours provided daily in French, and a moderate amount of information on slavery.

Our Impressions of Laura Plantation

Laura Plantation is a popular plantation and the tour focus on the story of Laura Locoul and her ancestors make it unique from the other plantations. In the past, plantation tours focused on the house and the Br’er Rabbit connection, but today the focus here is very much on the four generations of the Duparc family, particularly the women who all heavily contributed to the running of this plantation. I would recommend reading the actual book the tour is based on either before or after your tour.

Laura grew up in a strict French-speaking Creole family and did not want to run the family plantation but did her duty running it for a while before deciding to marry a non-Catholic man, sell the plantation, and move to St. Louis. Late in her life she would write her memoir after a return visit to the plantation and questions from her children about her life on the plantation.

The tour also focused on Creole culture and the lives of the slaves at the plantations, and we liked that part of the tour took part in the slave cabins with a focus on the lives of some of the known slaves. These cabins were actually lived in until 1977, first by former slaves and their descendants and then by lumber company workers. We also appreciated the colorful facade of the Creole main house; however, the majority of the house is not original and so there is not very much focus on either the house or the interior furnishings on the tour. So this would not be a great fit for those looking to learn a lot about the house, the furnishings, or general plantation life.

This tour is a great fit for those wanting to learn about a Creole family and its story of running a plantation across multiple generations. It also has quite a bit of information on both Creole culture and the lives of slaves at Laura. Also, this a great place for anyone wanting a tour in French as it is the only plantation that we know of that regularly gives daily tours in French.

Whitney Plantation

Whitney Plantation is the only plantation in Louisiana to focus on the story of slavery. In fact, it is credited as the first (and currently only) museum dedicated to slavery in the United States.

Tours here focus on slavery and try to communicate the harsh realities of slave life on a Louisiana plantation. It was the practice of slavery that made the great wealth of the plantation owners possible, and it was forced slave labor that harvested the fields and built the majority of these beautiful homes. The plantation includes artwork dedicated to slavery as well as three memorials: one dedicated to the slaves at Whitney, one dedicated to the slaves of Louisiana, and another to slave children.

Much of the information used in the tour, including many of the quotes, come from the Slave Narratives Collection that was part of the Federal Writers Project where former slaves (mostly children and young adults at the time of slavery) were interviewed between 1936-1938 across 17 states and most of these interviews are available online and in print in the Whitney Plantation gift shop.

Significant historical buildings on the property including the Spanish Creole main house with original painted murals, the only French Creole barn in the United States, and the oldest detached kitchen in Louisiana. The plantation is also known for being the setting of some scenes from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained .

Whitney Plantation Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Address: 5099 Highway 18, Wallace, LA 70049 Whitney Plantation Website: www.whitneyplantation.com Original Date of Main Plantation House: c. 1790 (expanded in early 1800’s) Architectural Style: Spanish creole Main Cash Crop: indigo, then sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: The plantation, originally known as Habitation Haydel, was first owned by Ambroise Heidel, an immigrant from Germany who purchased it in 1752. The main house is believed to have been built by his son Jean Jacques Haydel. It was sold to a succession of owners over the years. The plantation gets its current name from owner Bradish Johnson (who purchased it in 1867) who named it after his grandson Harry Whitney. Today, it belongs to John Cummings, an attorney from New Orleans, who was the person who decided to open it for the first time to the public and to dedicate it to understanding the facts of slavery. Tours/Tour Guides: Whitney Plantation can only be visited on a guided tour. Tour guides are not costumed. Main House Furnishings: The house is furnished but the pieces are not original, but they are period furnishings from the early 19th century. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains a number of other historical buildings on the plantation, many of them original, including a pigeonnier (c. 1820, the other one is a reconstruction), mule barn, overseer’s house, detached kitchen (c. 1790), French Creole barn, blacksmith shop (rebuilt in 2005 to original design), and slave quarters cabins (original cabins brought from other nearby plantations), and a baptist church (moved here from Paulina, LA). Other buildings and memorials are relatively new and have been constructed to house the slavery museum and exhibits. The memorials include the Wall of Honor (Whitney slave memorial), Allées Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (memorial to slaves in Louisiana) and The Field of Angels (slave memorial to Louisiana slave children). Slavery Information: Large. This is the only plantation, and only museum in the country, currently solely dedicated to sharing information about slavery and stories of former slaves. There are several memorials, artwork, and original slave quarters on the property to view. There is also a large number of books in the gift shop on the subject of slavery. Gardens: No, but there are some great old live oaks in front of the main house. Photography Allowed: Photography was allowed outside and inside. Food: No, but there is a vending machine with snack food and drinks at the visitor center. Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: The majority of the guided tour at Whitney Plantation is accessible for mobility scooters and wheelchairs, as most takes place outside. The visitor center, gift shop, church with introduction video, memorial area, and bottom floor of the Big House have step-free access and are wheelchair accessible. The second floor of Big House has 10 steps and is not wheelchair accessible. There are 2 steps each to get in and out of slave cabins and kitchen. Outside paths are mostly made of tight gravel. Tour is 1.5 hours long so may not be a good fit for those who have difficulty standing for longer periods of time although you can bring a walker, cane, or collapsible chair with you. The visitor and information center has a wheelchair accessible toilet, and there are 4 disabled parking spaces. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: Yes, there are several tours options, including this tour (Whitney only), this tour (also includes choice of Laura Plantation or Oak Alley), and this tour (also includes St. Joseph Plantation). Lodging: No Crowds: M oderate – opened in 2014 this is becoming a more popular plantation as it becomes more well-known to the public. Most Unique: The focus on slavery, slavery memorials, Spanish Creole architecture of main house and its decorative wall paintings, oldest detached kitchen in Louisiana, and last known surviving French Creole barn in the United States.

Our Impressions of Whitney Plantation

Whitney Plantation is the only plantation museum in Louisiana dedicated to slavery, and the tour is strongly focused on providing factual information about slavery as well as stories from former slaves. First, we checked out the small museum at the Visitor Center where there is some good information on slavery around the world–I was quite surprised about the Catholic church’s role in both encouraging and later ending slavery, Portugal’s large role in the slave trade, and the large number of slaves brought to Brazil.

Our tour started with a visit to the church where we watched a good introduction film and the we were each given a card with information about a former slave. There are 40 excellent slave children statues made by artist Woodrow Nash and you can locate the one made to represent the slave you are given; these really help to made a more personal connection.

After this, we were taken outside and given some more information and taken through 3 slavery memorials (the bronze sculpture depicting a crying angel carrying a slave baby to Heaven is quite evocative) which was about 2/3 of the tour. There was some great information here, including some truly heart wrenching stories, but we would have liked to have just been introduced to the memorials and left to explore the memorials on our own rather than exploring them on a time limit as a group.

The final part of the tour was exploring the buildings, which included slave cabins, an iron jail, the kitchen, blacksmith’s shop, and the master’s main house. There was some great information on the jobs and work of some of the slaves. The main house tour is quite quick as it is not the focus of the tour but the house is significant for its age, architecture, and the painted murals on the interior and exterior of the house which are original and quite rare. Be sure to leave a bit of time to browse the gift shop, which has a particularly large collection of books related to slavery.

Whitney Plantation is obviously not a place for those wanting to focus on the tales of the wealthy owners, sumptuous house furnishings, or a detailed information about the plantation buildings themselves, as the focus here is primarily on slavery and the memorials. It should also be noted that the majority of the 1.5 hour tour takes place outdoors and involves quite a bit of walking so plan accordingly. However, for anyone wanting to truly learn the harsh facts about slavery, especially slavery in Louisiana and the American South, they should definitely pay a visit to Whitney Plantation. The story of plantation life is not complete without the history of slavery.

Evergreen Plantation

Evergreen Plantation is one of the largest and most intact plantation complexes in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. The majority of the buildings are antebellum, including the 22 slave cabins in their original sites; however, some of the buildings have been rebuilt or heavily restored. Evergreen Plantation and Whitney Plantation were both originally owned by German farmer immigrant Ambroise Heidel, and his sons would build the currently standing main houses at both plantations.

Evergreen also possesses a beautiful alley of live oak tress, estimated to be about 200 years old. Evergreen Plantation is also known for being the setting of some scenes from Django Unchained and the 2016 remake of the Roots mini-series.

Address: 4677 Highway 18, Edgard, LA 70049 Evergreen Plantation Website: evergreenplantation.org Original Date of Main Plantation House: c. 1790 (expanded 1803, drastically remodeled & expanded in 1832) Architectural Style: Greek Revival (originally French creole) Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: Yes, land is currently leased by the owner for sugar cane production Owners: This house was built by planter Christophe Heidel (son of Ambroise Heidel, his brother built Whitney Plantation) and his wife Charlotte Oubre as a 2-story raised French Creole villa and it was later covered to a Greek Revival house and expanded in 1832 by later owner Pierre Clidamant Becnel. The Becnels would sell it to the Creole Songy family in 1894, the Songys would lose the plantation to the bank during the Great Depression, and then in 1946 it was purchased from the bank by Louisiana oil heiress Matilda Gray who used it as a second home. She restored, updated, and furnished the house, and at her death it was inherited by her niece Matilda Gray Stream who still owns it today. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house and grounds can only be visited on a guided tour . Tour guides are not costumed. Main House Furnishings: The house is furnished with period pieces from the 19th century, but also contains some modern pieces and elements as it was used as a residence until the end of the 20th century and is still sometimes used for entertaining. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property contains 37 buildings on the National Register of Historical Places and is one of the largest and most intact plantation buildings in the American South. The buildings include 22 original antebellum slave quarter cabins, a domestic slave quarter, a detached kitchen (c. 1790, heavily restored), 2 garçonnières, 2 pigeonniers, a barn, and a Greek Revival privy (a.k.a. outhouse, 1832). Some buildings you can tour inside, and some you can view only from the outside. There is also a museum/interpretive center at the visitor center. Slavery Information: Moderate. A portion of tours at Evergreen Plantation are dedicated to the lives and work of the slaves on the plantation. There is also the 22 slave quarters buildings on the property for viewing and you get to go inside a couple of them. Gardens: Yes, t here is a formal hedge garden behind the house. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed outside and inside. Food: No Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: The main house of Evergreen is two story accessible by stairs only, and has approximately 15 steps total. The first floor does have 1 step up to enter. There are no ramps to this one step although a wheelchair can, with assistance, may be pulled up this step but would have access to the ground floor only. Most paths and roadways are gravel, grass, or brick. The kitchen has 2 steps and the slave quarter house has 4 steps, neither have ramps. The welcome and information center has a ramp providing step-free access, a wheelchair accessible toilet, and a disabled parking space. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: Yes, there are few tours options, including this tour (also includes Oak Alley, lunch, and swamp tour), this tour (also includes Oak Alley), and this private tour (private drive along River Road and visit to plantation of choice). Lodging: No Crowds: Small to moderate – this is not typically a busy property and is not as well-known in comparison to many of the other plantations. Most Unique: The number of historical buildings on the property including the 22 slave cabins in their original configuration, being one of the most intact plantation complexes in the South, and the photogenic alley of live oaks. It is also a working sugar cane plantation; however, the owner is not involved in the sugar cane plantation but leases the land out to others.

Our Impressions of Evergreen Plantation

Evergreen Plantation is the most intact of the Louisiana River Road plantations so there are a lot of buildings to view, although many have been heavily restored on the inside. The most significant is the 22 antebellum slave cabins still in their original position (at least one has been rebuilt, many restored) that sit underneath a portion of the picturesque alley of live oaks. The oak alley here is interesting in that it along the side of the house rather than in front of it. This oak alley has Spanish moss draping the trees (missing at Oak Alley) which helps give it a mysterious and eerie feel.

Laurence and I did not actually have a chance to do the full tour here but we did visit the interpretive center/visitor center and spent 45-minutes with one of the tour guides at the center. The interpretive center is great to see before you start the tour so you can get an idea of the history of the plantation. After you buy your tickets at the museum center and get an introduction here, you’ll follow the guide by car to park nearer to the actual plantation house to start the walking tour. The plantation complex is amazingly symmetrical and the tour includes visits to some of the outbuildings (slave cabins, kitchen) as well as the main house.

We can’t comment on the actual tour since we didn’t take it or visit any of the interiors. We were also told by both visitors and guides that there is an emphasis on slavery on the tours, although obviously not nearly as much as next door at Whitney. This tour is great for those wanting to see a largely intact plantation property (although furnishings are not original) with multiple outbuildings, a beautiful oak alley, and hear the history of the past owners, slaves, and current owners.

San Francisco Plantation

San Francisco Plantation is the most colorful of the Louisiana River Road plantations and although built during the antebellum period, it was built in the Gothic Steamboat style. Viewed from some angles, the house resembles the ornate and yet graceful structure of a Mississippi riverboat. The house was so architecturally distinctive that it inspired novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes to write Steamboat Gothic , a novel about a steamboat gambler who moves his family to Louisiana.

The plantation also has an interesting history of ownership, it first become a sugar plantation when owned by Elisée Rillieux, a free man of color and businessman. He quickly sold it to Edmond Bozonier Marmillion and his partner Eugène Lartigue for a large profit, and it would be Edmond who would build up the plantation and construct the current main house. Sadly, Edmond would die soon after the house’s completion and only one day before the arrival of Valsin and his new German wife Louise on a visit from Europe. Instead of returning to Germany, they were forced to take over the sugar plantation and were stopped from selling it by the onset of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The name of the plantation is believed to derive from Valsin’s comment on the debt and cost of the estate, the French slang phrase “sans fruscins” which means “without a penny in my pocket”, becoming St. Frusquin. The name would be Americanized to San Francisco Plantation by future owner Achille D. Bougère. The house interior is distinctive for its painted ceilings and Southern German accents and motifs.

Address: 2646 Highway 44, Garyville, LA 70051 San Francisco Plantation Website: www.sanfranciscoplantation.org Original Date of Main Plantation House: 1856 (built from 1853-1856) Architectural Style: Steamboat Gothic Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: This house was originally built by Edmond Bozonier Marmillion and then the plantation was run by his son Valsin Bozonier Marmillion and daughter-in-law Louise. The house then had a succession of owners. In the early 20th century, the house was purchased by the Ory family who lived here for about 50 years. In 1954, the Ory family leased the house to Clark Thompson and his wife who maintained the premises and opened the mansion to the public, living here until 1974. It was then purchased by the ECOL Company and later by Marathon Oil. The San Francisco Plantation Foundation was created and the home underwent a massive restoration, and is still funded and maintained by Marathon Oil and the trust today. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can only be visited with a guided tour, but the grounds and other buildings are self-guided. Tour guides are costumed in antebellum period dress. Main House Furnishings: The house is furnished but none are original (except the wine racks), but the furnishings are period pieces. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains a slave cabin (c. 1840, moved here from another plantation) and a one-room school house (c. 1830’s) that can be visited. Slavery Information: There is a small amount of information on slavery on the main tour. There is also a slave quarters building on the property for viewing with more information. Gardens: No. Property does have flower beds and some majestic oak trees. You can see the oil refinery buildings in the distance which can detract from the beauty for some. Photography Allowed: Photography was allowed outside but not inside the main house. Food: No Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: There is step-free access to the main floor of the San Francisco Plantation house but only the first floor of the house is wheelchair accessible. It is about 15 steps to reach the second floor of the house. Those who cannot do the second floor portion of the tour will receive a book about the history of the plantation that includes photos of all the rooms. The gift shop is wheelchair accessible. Paths on the property are concrete and there is a toilet on site that is wheelchair accessible. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: There used to several day tours available that included San Francisco Plantation, but they seem to no longer be taking part in any of the regular scheduled tours. You can arrange a private tour such as this one . Lodging: No Crowds: Small to m edium – this is a popular plantation but not as well known as some of the other area’s plantations. Most Unique: Steamboat Gothic architecture, colorfulness of the house, and painted ceilings.

NOTE: As noted by one of our readers, San Francisco Plantation discontinued its tours in 2022 and has sadly closed to visitors. The owner (Marathon Petroleum Corporation) has at least temporarily closed it and it is unclear when and if it may open in the future. Both the house and grounds are closed to the public. For more information, see the news story by WDSU about the plantation’s uncertain future here .

Our Impressions of San Francisco Plantation

San Francisco Plantation is a sort of microcosm of this area, a beautiful historical home surrounded by an industrial complex. The San Francisco Plantation Trust, funded by Marathon Oil, has spent millions of dollars researching, restoring, and maintaining this house. We think it is a great example of a modern industry helping to preserve a piece of history although some visitors may not enjoy glimpses of the oil refinery in the distance. The house itself has been restored to its antebellum look and it is quite unusual in its architecture and color; it really stands out among all the other River Road plantations.

San Francisco Plantation can be visited for free with a New Orleans Pass , so we strongly recommend visiting here for pass holders.

The guide was quite knowledgeable and some of the furnishings were unusual (copper freestanding shower), but one of the highlights of the house’s interior is the four painted ceilings which are in various states of restoration.

The most fascinating aspects of the tour to us was the history of the family and imagining how difficult it must have been for Valsin Bozonier Marmillion to come for a visit to find his father had just died and that he was heir to a sugar plantation he never wanted. It was particularly difficult for his German wife Louise who wanted to return to her home in Germany. Louise would only do this many years later after losing both her husband and brother-in-law. It is also interesting that Louise’s German descendants only reconnected to the house in the 1980’s, not being able to locate it with its new Americanized name, and they provided Louise’s letters, photos, and documents that help provide richness to the current tour.

Definitely make a little time for walking around the exterior to take photos of this architecturally unusual house with its two flanking water towers and to visit the slave cabin and school house. This is a great plantation for those looking to visit a more nontypical plantation that has an unusual architecture and an interesting family story.

Ormond Plantation

Ormond Plantation is currently a fully operating bed-and-breakfast and one of the few plantation houses on the River Road that allows you to spend the night in the main house. The house also has a bit of a spooky past. The first owner, Pierre D’Trepagnier, was called away one evening from his family dinner by men who allegedly worked for the Spanish government (reminder that Louisiana was once held by Spain) and disappeared that evening to never return.

In 1898, State Senator Basile LaPlace, Jr. bought the plantation and legend has it that in 1899 he was shot and hung in one of the large oak trees at Ormond Plantation by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Today’s owners however are a friendly hard-working family running the house as a bed-and-breakfast, restaurant, and also offering historical house tours by appointment.

Ormond Plantation Louisiana Plantations River Road New Orleans Baton Rouge

Address: 13786 River Road, Destrehan, LA 70047 Ormond Plantation Website: http://www.plantation.com/ Original Date of Main Plantation House: 1789 (exact date unknown) Architectural Style: French Creole/ West Indies Style Main Cash Crop: sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: The house was built around 1789 by Pierre D’Trepagnier, who was awarded a tract of land by Spanish Governor Don Bernardo de Gálvez. After D’Terpagnier’s mysterious disappearance in 1805, it was sold to Colonel Richard Butler who would name the plantation Ormond after his ancestral home, the Castle Ormonde in Ireland. In 1898, State Senator Basile LaPlace, Jr. bought the plantation but died in 1899. The house would then be owned by a series of owners and became in quite a state of disrepair until being restored and renovated by Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Brown. Today, Ormond Plantation is owned by the Carmouche family who run it as a bed-and-breakfast. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can only be visited with a guided tour unless you are staying at the bed-and-breakfast. Tours for non-guests are given by appointment, just call ahead. Tour guides are not costumed. Main House Furnishings: The furnishings are not original, but many are antiques. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains two garconnières (c. 1830). There is also a collection of dolls on display in the main house. Slavery Information: There is a small amount of information on slavery on the main tour, but not much is known about any specific slave information at Ormond Plantation. Gardens: No, but there are a few grand old live oak trees on the property. Photography Allowed: Photography was allowed outside and inside. Food: Yes, the Ormond Plantation Restaurant serves lunch and dinner. Dinner is served on limited days and by reservation only. Gift Shop: No Accessibility: The main house at Ormond Plantation has step-free access to the ground floor and there is an elevator that can be used to take visitors to the second floor. The garconnieres do have two small steps and are not wheelchair accessible. The paths are wheelchair accessible and there are wheelchair accessible toilets available in the house. Some of the overnight guest rooms are wheelchair accessible. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: No Lodging: Yes, 5 en-suite rooms are rented out in the main house and garconnières. The rooms come with breakfast and access to most of the house. Crowds: Small – this is not typically a busy property and is not very well-known in comparison to many of the other plantations. Most Unique: Architectural style and that there is a bed-and-breakfast housed in the main plantation house .

Our Impressions of Ormond Plantation

Ormond Plantation was one of the plantations we were lucky to be able to see during our trip as it was closed that week for renovations, but one of the kind owners invited us to come by to take photos and do a quick tour. It ended up being convenient since there were no guests staying at the time.

We did not stay here, but the rooms looked wonderful and inviting and we would love to return for a stay and a meal. Everyone we encountered was also very friendly and we could imagine ourselves sitting outside on the back patio sipping drinks in the evening. The history of the plantation owners was quite fascinating, almost unbelievable, from the mysterious disappearance of Pierre D’Trepagnier to the alleged hanging of State Senator Basile LaPlace, Jr. by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

This plantation is not a showroom for tour groups like many of the others, but a working, lived in bed-and-breakfast, so while it does not have the “wow” factor of some of the grand mansions and has been modernized, it felt authentic, relaxed, and comfortable. We recommend that those wanting to either have an overnight stay or a meal at a plantation house, check out Ormond Plantation. It is also a perfect place to escape the crowds of the more popular and busy plantations and is one of the closest plantation homes to New Orleans.

Destrehan Plantation

Destrehan Plantation is one of the oldest and best-documented buildings from the state’s colonial period; the house was built while Louisiana was a Spanish colony. The house was completed in 1790 as a French Creole house and was later expanded and renovated into a Greek Revival home in 1840. Its history is fairly well-known and the main house has somewhat miraculously survived even after a multitude of owners and the property being turned into an oil refinery and company town.

The plantation was saved by the River Road Historical Society and American Oil Company (now Amoco) and today the plantation features house tours, numerous educational exhibits, and period craft demonstrations. The plantation’s collection of historical artifacts includes a document signed by both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison assigning four men, including Jean Noel Destrehan, to the Orleans Territorial Council.

Destrehan Plantation has also been used as a filming location, including for Interview with the Vampire (main house interiors) and 12 Years a Slave (1830 mule barn).

Address: 13034 River Road, Destrehan, LA 70047 Destrehan Plantation Website: www.destrehanplantation.org Original Date of Main Plantation House: 1790 (built from 1787-1790) Architectural Style: Greek Revival Main Cash Crop: indigo, then sugar cane Working plantation today?: No Owners: The house was built for owner Robin de Logny by an enslaved man of color and master builder named Charles Paquet. After de Logny’s death, his daughter Celeste and her husband Jean Noel Destrehan took over the plantation. It would stay in the Destrehan family and extended Rost family until 1910. Louise Odele and Pierre Rost would renovate and restyle the house in 1840 to the Greek Revival style. It was then sold to the Destrehan Manufacturing Company and then to an oil company, which is now Amoco. They built an oil refinery and company site on the town and it was used as such from 1914 to 1958. In 1971, the house and about four acres of the plantation was deeded from Amoco to the non-profit River Road Historical Society from Amoco, who still manage and run the plantation today. Tours/Tour Guides: Main house can only be visited with a guided tour, but the gardens and other buildings are self-guided. Demonstrations are also given at various places on the property by staff and volunteers (see schedule in visitor center). Tour guides are costumed in antebellum period clothing. Main House Furnishings: Only a few of the furnishings are original, including a heavy marble bathtub; however, the rest of the furnishings are period consistent. Other buildings to visit on property: T he property also contains a number of other buildings, but most are not original to Destrehan, but have been brought in from nearby plantations. The garconnières (part of the house tour), wash room, and water well are original. Other buildings include 2 antebellum slave cabins (original to Helvetica Plantation), a mule barn (c. 1830, original to Glendale), and an overseer’s cabin (original to Caire-Graugnard). Other buildings have also been constructed to hold the educational exhibits and demonstrations. Slavery Information: There is some information about slavery on the main tour. There are documents in the education center related to slavery, an exhibit dedicated to the 1811 Slave Revolt in the educational center, and there are two original slave/sharecropper cabins on the property (original to Helvetia Plantation) for viewing. Gardens: There is a rose garden and a heritage garden with sugarcane plants. There are also some grand live oak tress on the property. Photography Allowed: Photography is allowed outside and inside. Food: No Gift Shop: Yes Accessibility: Within the main house at Destrehan Plantation, there is one step down into the plantation and then one step into the foyer, but there is a portable ramp available and an elevator to provide step free access. The inside of the plantation house can accommodate wheelchairs but not scooters. Scooters are limited to the carriageway. The plantation store has a ramp. There is enough space to maneuver and place a wheel chair inside the gift shop, plantation, education center, and outdoor kitchen. The slave cabin has stairs and limited space and are not wheelchair accessible. Wheelchair accessible toilets are available in the gift shop and near the plantation house inside the cistern. Day Tours Available from New Orleans: Yes, there are a few tour options, including this tour , this tour (also includes swamp tour), this small group tour (also includes airboat swamp tour), and this private tour (also includes Houmas House for East Bank option). Lodging: Yes, there are two self-catering Creole cottages for rent on site that recently were refurbished as guest lodging. You can see them here . Crowds: Large – Destrehan Plantation is the closest plantation to New Orleans and because of its proximity, it gets a lot of crowds. Most Unique: The period craft demonstrations, focus on history, and historical documents, including one signed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Our Impressions of Destrehan Plantation

This is a great historical plantation property and of all the River Road plantations we visited, this is the closest one to New Orleans. It is less than 10 miles from the New Orleans airport and less than 30 miles drive from New Orleans. This proximity makes it convenient but more crowded as it is popular with day trippers and bus tours from New Orleans.

We were lucky to arrive just after most of the bus tours and school tours had left for the day, so we actually had a tour that was just the two of us. Our guide was very knowledgeable and there are a lot of historical documents that have been recovered about the plantation, which gives a depth to the tour that will appeal to history lovers. Many documents, photos, and artifacts are available for viewing (many electronically) in the artifact room and the document signed by Thomas Jefferson is kept for viewing in a separate climate-controlled room, which we visited at the end of our house tour.

Destrehan Plantation is a great source of information not only on the owners, but also the enslaved. For instance, we learned that the builder of the original French Creole house was an enslaved man of color named Charles Paquet, slaves from the Destrehan Plantation took part in the 1811 Slave Revolt and three were executed (Gros Lindor, Petit Lindor, and Jasmin), Jean Noel Destrehan was appointed on the tribunals after the revolt, and from 1865 to 1867 the plantation was used to establish a Home Colony for newly free slaves. Hundreds of former slaves were housed and fed on the Destrehan Plantation property following the end of the Civil War.

We also were able to attend two of the period craft demonstrations that were going on during our visit, one on open hearth cooking and one on blacksmithing. We ended up buying one of the demonstrated blacksmith pieces from the gift shop. There are about a dozen different craft demonstrations and lectures that happen each week which also include candle making, indigo dyeing, use of the laundry, weaving, and African American herbal remedies.

We felt that Destrehan Plantation offered a very well-rounded experience complete with a guided house tour, a lot of historical information, antebellum outbuildings (although most not original to Destrehan), educational exhibits, and period craft demonstrations.

There you have it, probably the most complete online guide to Louisiana plantations along the River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans! Feel free to ask us any questions about any of the Louisiana plantations we visited.

Have you been to any of these plantations or have any of these on your bucket list? Feel free to share any advice or tips of your own and please share any information updates. Also, if you found this guide helpful in your trip planning, we’d love to hear from you!

An incredibly comprehensive guide to the beautiful plantations along the River Road in Louisiana between Baton Rouge and New Orleans Louisiana

**Disclosure: We received complimentary entry into the majority of the above plantations in order to review them for this article; however, this article contains only our own honest thoughts and opinions. Some complimentary media entries were covered by press passes provided by the New Orleans Convention and Visit Baton Rouge. You can read more in our Ethics Code about how we accept work.**

An incredibly comprehensive guide to the beautiful plantations along the river road, Louisiana

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NADIA Post author

August 30, 2023 at 4:40 pm

Voglio farvi i complimenti per questa esaustiva guida, ne farò buon uso il prossimo marzo. In particolare vi ringrazio per le informazioni riguardo le piantagioni accessibili alle persone con problemi di deambulazione come me. Ho apprezzato tantissimo, grazie

Translated to English: “I want to congratulate you on this comprehensive guide, I will put it to good use next March. In particular, thank you for the information about the plantations accessible to people with walking problems like me. I really enjoyed it, thank you”

Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author

August 31, 2023 at 3:48 pm

So glad that you found our Louisiana planation guide useful in planning your upcoming trip in March.

Yes, we tried to put the latest information about wheelchair accessibility, steps, and mobility concerns but I would try to double check the info if there is anything that you definitely need to be in place. If you have specific concerns, you can always send an email to the specific plantation or feel free to ask us any questions and we are happy to try to help!

Wishing you a wonderful trip to Louisiana!

Best, Jessica

Charlene Post author

May 16, 2023 at 12:46 am

I’m planning a road trip to visit several plantations and this guide is a big help. Such great information in one place! One update: San Francisco permenantly closed in early 2022.

From the news story ( https://www.wdsu.com/article/san-francisco-plantation-faces-uncertain-future/38684922# ) : In a statement to WDSU, Marathon said, “The San Francisco Plantation House was included in Marathon Oil Company’s purchase of the Garyville Refinery in the mid-1970s. Since that time, we (now Marathon Petroleum Corporation) have taken seriously our responsibility to help preserve its historical significance as a museum. However, as a fuels manufacturing company, we also recognize that museum ownership is not part of our core business. Given this, we have decided to discontinue operations of the plantation as of 2022 and continue to evaluate proposals from third-party stakeholders. We will keep our parish and key stakeholders apprised of any developments, if applicable.”

May 18, 2023 at 1:10 am

Hi Charlene,

Glad that our Louisiana plantations guide has been helpful in helping you to plan your visit!

Thanks so much for sending us that update about San Francisco Plantation, we have added this update above. I am sad to hear that the San Francisco Plantation house and grounds have closed to visitors. I hope that it does reopen in the future with new owners/managers as the tours here were good and the architectural style is quite unique.

Just let us know if you have any questions as you plan your trip! Also do send us other updates as a lot has probably changed due to COVID-19 since our last visits to this area.

May 31, 2023 at 3:37 am

Unfortunately, Evergreen Plantation is also closed to tours. It was one of the top three I wanted to visit. However, they do still have an excellent web site for learning more about the enslaved people who lived there.

June 2, 2023 at 4:54 am

That is a shame to hear that Evergreen Plantation is closed, the intact complex and information here is amazing. Do you know why tours have closed and if it expected that they are completely stopping tours indefinitely? I knew they stopped tours for COVID, but it was then expected they would eventually reopen.

Yes, Evergreen has always had a lot of research and a large archive of documents, when we visited it was mostly on paper but I believe they put a large slavery database online a couple of years ago. They also have a really nice photo gallery so you can see most of what you would have seen on the tour at least in photos.

Shiela Post author

January 9, 2023 at 9:31 am

Thank you for your informative blog. My husband and I had one day in New Orleans, and your blog was the inspiration I needed to rent a car and visit three of these sites.

Shiela from Alberta, Canada

January 11, 2023 at 1:05 am

So glad you found our Louisiana Plantations guide helpful for your trip to New Orleans. Hope you had a wonderful time in NOLA and the nearby area!

Gale potter Post author

February 21, 2022 at 3:10 pm

I would like to buy a paper copy of the information u have provided on the plantations . We are traveling to the plantations in April and the information would be so helpful. Thank U Gale Potter

February 22, 2022 at 5:41 am

Hello Gale,

Glad that our Louisiana plantations post has been helpful in planning your April trip so far.

We don’t have any printed guides available for sale, but all our advice and information is free to use on our websites. You can also print them off yourself although many of my posts are very long (hundreds of pages printed) so I’d recommend using them online rather than printing them! But also since there are a lot of links, you won’t be able to see/use these on a paper copy.

If you still want to print the article, you can do so as long as you are a member of our monthly newsletter (which is free). This also allows you to take part in our monthly travel giveaways . To print the article in a printer-friendly format (with all ads and images removed) or save them as a clickable PDF, you just need to subscribe to be subscribed to our monthly travel newsletter (it is free and easy to subscribe).

Once you are subscribed (check your email and click the link to confirm the subscription) then you just need to go to the article you want to print, click on the print icon (at the side or at the end of the article) and put in your name and then the email address you used to subscribe to the newsletter.

Hope this helps and do let us know if you have any questions as you plan your trip!

Kelly Butcher Post author

January 24, 2022 at 8:26 am

I absolutely loved this article! This is the most comprehensive information on the La. plantations that I have ever read. I have been on one visit to the plantations, but I plan on going back to visit those that I missed. I was happy that you didn’t just jump all over the map. I liked that you would list them N to S. I loved that you listed places to stay. Last time, I had to study a map, and try to figure out how long I would stay at each plantation, so that I could plan accommodations. I didn’t get it quite right. Now, I can plan and book ahead to places I did not know existed. Thanks for this article. It was awesome!

January 25, 2022 at 3:20 am

I am so glad you really enjoyed our guide to the Louisiana plantations along the River Road and found it helpful for planning your future return trip. If you have 2-3 days it definitely allows you time to visit more places. I would recommend 2-3 plantations per day max. There is definitely more to do at some plantations than others so some you may only spend 1 or 2 hours whereas others you can spend 3-4 hours if you stay for a meal. Nice to stay locally along the way, and you even have the option to stay at a couple of the plantations overnight.

If you have any questions, just let me know! Wishing you a great trip.

Sandy Post author

December 22, 2021 at 1:04 am

This guide is wonderful. My family (parents) and I took the River Road tour in the early 198o’s as we were looking for Emilie Plantation, an original part of San Francisco Plantation. The reason being, my Grandmother and her family had lived there for many years prior to WW1. Her Uncle Doctor Chauff was the owner and had his medical practice below the house (raised Creole Cottage) . The relatives in New Orleans gave us vague but findable directions, and we were able to contact the owners (small towns are/were quite agreeable to helping you find people), who turned out to be cousins of ours, and of each other!! They bought the house in dilapidated condition from the oil company who owned it at the time. The cousins basically restored the house, raised their family there, and lived there for many years. At Emilie’s 100th Birthday (1986or7 I think), they held a party and sent hand drawn pictures of the house on the announcement. The Lavets eventually sold the plantation back to the oil company, who then not too long ago sold it to one of the descendants of one of the enslaved people who worked there prior to the house being built. I read that gentleman’s story online in an historical writing from a New Orleans paper. The cousins are long since gone I’m afraid, but the wife did extensive genealogical research on the house and Chauff families connected to all. I have been priviliged to have copies of her research. Interestingly, we visited Oak Alley at that time , along with a couple other of the Plantations along River Raod, none of which had been restored to better than new condition as they sit today.

The owner of Oak Alley was still living in the main house, an elderly woman then. Her Housekeeper, who had been there her whole life, gave us the tour. No one else was there. It was wonderful. Destrehan, as I recall, was almost unlivable then…paint gone, roads overgrown, and certainly not open for viewing! And I very much remember the artistically muralled walls in San Francisco, which are never mentioned any more, and seem to have been done away with. They were more like greeneries or wallpaper, but handpainted when the house was built.

The saving and restoration of these old homes is invaluable, but I think they make people think the homeowners actually lived like that…clean, spotless rooms, beautiful furnishing and not as life truly was in the mid nineteenth century. Think – no electricity, running water, indoor toilets, electic stoves and gas ranges. No fast foods for dinner!. It was not an easy life no matter how much money you had or how many attendants.

But again, thank you for this article. It was evocative, and fascinating to see what might have been, even if it wasn’t. and I signed up for your Blog.

December 22, 2021 at 7:39 am

Thanks for sharing your story and your family connections to one of the plantations along the River Road. It is great that you were able to visit Emilie Plantation in the 1980s given its connection to your family. Do you know if the Baloney family (the family who were descendants of enslaved people who worked at San Francisco plantation) still own the plantation as it looks like it may have been sold after his death?

If you haven’t seen it, there is a National Register for Historic Places document for Emilie Plantation (the house was was registered in 1988) you can download and it has a lot of information about the plantation, its construction (built in 1882 according to the document), and its history.

So glad you enjoyed our blog post on the Louisiana plantations along the River Road. I hope you get a chance to visit the River Road again. I am sure so much has changed, but you can still see the murals at San Francisco (most are on the ceiling if I remember correctly)! There are also some nice murals at Whitney Plantation and it is also the first plantation to focus on slavery. Destrehan and Oak Alley are definitely going to be much changed.

Thanks again for sharing your story!

Robyn Post author

December 4, 2021 at 11:31 am

This is such a fabulous account of the plantations! I was there in 2015 and saw several of the more well-known ones, in addition to others in different parts of Louisiana, and one in Mississippi as my route took me through it for one day. I’ve probably seen 25 or 30 plantations altogether in several states. As you mention, they’re not redundant as each one has a different feeling. Of course, THE most different is Whitney, which I was privileged to learn about from a brochure picked up on the road, elsewhere in Louisiana. Whitney wasn’t in any of the guidebooks that I had checked out of libraries, because it was brand new at the time, only open a couple of months. I’ll mention, that I discussed it with the costumed guide at one of the other plantations I later went to. She hadn’t visited it herself, but knew persons who had, and who were appalled by it. I suspect there are still some such persons around within what you might call the “plantation community” who live in denial of the truths presented at Whitney. Thankfully, they’re a minority.

The last plantation I saw (anywhere in the South) was Rippavilla in Tennessee in 2018. Due to a personal reason, I traveled for a total of 4 days in 2019, then, due to the pandemic, not at all in 2020 or 2021. I’m itching to get back on the road. Your website has got me fired up.

By the way, one thing lacking on it. You mentioned that Houmas House is dog-friendly. I didn’t notice any dogs when I was there (and the owner wasn’t home). You omitted that a lot of plantations have one or more cats on the grounds, not strays but ones cared for by staff. As a cat person (I like dogs, but I LOVE cats), I am always enchanted by any cats seen on the grounds of a plantation, and think such a life must be about as close to heaven as a cat can get.

December 5, 2021 at 8:38 am

I am so glad that you enjoyed our article about the Louisiana plantations along the River Road and that it has got your excited to explore more!

When we were at Houmas House we met the owners’ dogs and it accepted visitors with dogs as well as of course any type of service animals. I just checked and according to their website, it still says it is dog-friendly so it seems visitors travel with dogs can still bring well-behaved dogs (most do not allow dogs with the exception of service dogs of course). I don’t remember seeing cats at the plantations (as a cat lover I generally notice them!) but I am sure some of them do have indeed have cats living on the grounds. Most of the plantation houses are not lived in, which is what makes Houmas House unique as it is still, as far as I am aware, still being used as a private residence.

I hope you get a chance to return to LA and visit Whitney Plantation and any others that you missed on your visit. Whitney was definitely novel when it opened (the first museum dedicated to slavery in the USA) and is still very unique in the area. Another one you may want to check out if you are in South Carolina is McLeod Plantation Historic Site in Charleston, SC which we discuss in our Charleston plantations article. In the last 10 years, there has been a big increase in discussions about slavery and African American experiences at plantations as well as other sites and museums. The changes have been quite notable and most plantations now include information on slavery and many now include special tours, exhibits, or presentations. Hopefully, this will continue to evolve.

I hope you get a chance to travel again soon. We know that the pandemic as well as the recent hurricanes (particularly Ida) have been really hard on many of the plantations. Most have reopened, but many do require pre-booking and reservations and have implemented COVID measures (limited numbers, face mask policies, etc.) so do check before visiting.

Wishing you safe and fun future travels, Jessica

Meagan Kiel Post author

January 11, 2021 at 3:15 pm

This is such an amazing article! Thank you for the thorough break down of each of the plantations. We are traveling with our four kids- age 4-11 and hoping to visit a couple plantations while staying in the area. Were there any particular plantations or tours that you feel would be better suited to kids? Even ones that had plenty of info without having to have a guided tour.

January 12, 2021 at 8:14 am

Glad you are finding our Louisiana plantations guide helpful in planning your visit to this area!

I would say most of the guided plantation tours won’t likely be that interesting for children, especially the younger ones. Almost all the plantations only offer guided tours of the interior parts of the homes.

I would say that Oak Alley’s tour is pretty short and the guides here (and at many of the plantations) like to add talking points to try to keep kids entertained, and then there are areas on the grounds for them to run around, as well as a gift shop, unguided slavery exhibits to visit, and a restaurant. Laura Plantation also had a more kid-friendly tour I would say, although not too much else to do on the property. Destrehan caters to a lot of school groups and may be another one to consider.

Houmas House has some lovely gardens, so one idea would be that if you’re traveling with a partner, you could take turns doing the house tours, perhaps with the interested older kids. Then the other could be exploring the gardens and doing other things on the estate (getting food, gift shop, outdoor buildings that don’t require tour). I think Houmas House also has a video you can watch. Destrehan House also normally has a lot of other things going on like craft demonstrations and such which would be of interest to kids. So it could be a good place to split up as well.

Some of the plantations can arrange pre-booked private tours. I would suggest perhaps seeing if you can book a private family tour of one of most interest. Letting them know that you are looking for a tour for X number of people that is more kid-friendly. So that could be another option.

If you are traveling soon, I’d check the plantations’ COVID-19 policies on their website (or give them a call) as some plantations may be closed or have restricted openings. Some may require pre-booked reservations and many have changed the nature of the visits during the pandemic.

Hope that helps, and would love to hear where you decide to go and about your experience.

January 22, 2021 at 7:48 am

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your helpful response!

Sue Post author

October 4, 2020 at 5:03 pm

I am planning to visit plantation country next month. I see that Evergreen is closed due to Covid. Is it possible to photograph that oak alley from the road without going on to their property?

October 5, 2020 at 5:27 am

That is a shame that Evergreen Plantation will be closed during your visit, but I know some of the plantations are still closed or have added restrictions or shorter hours due to the pandemic. No, the oak alley at Evergreen Plantation is not visible from the main road and you would only be able to photography it during a tour of the property. People still work and live on the plantation, including some older folks, so that may be why it is closed for their health and safety.

However, if you are interested in an oak alley, I’d recommend visiting Oak Alley Plantation instead as it has a beautiful oak alley. The plantation is currently open to visitors but with reduced capacity and added safety procedures. I think most of the exhibitions and attractions are open there. Just be sure to bring along your face mask. There is an oak alley on both sides of the house with the front one being the more photogenic. Given the reduced numbers allowed on the tours, you should be able to get some good photos.

Patricia Ladner Post author

May 21, 2020 at 9:15 am

Do you have a louisiana guide i can get that helps to see the plantations

May 21, 2020 at 9:20 am

Hi Patricia,

What do you mean by a Louisiana guide? If you are looking for printed materials about Louisiana, I’d contact the state tourism board, Louisiana Travel, as they offer a free Louisiana travel guide to people who request it.

But this post should provide all the information you need to know to help you visit the plantations in Louisiana that are located along the River Road. It can be printed, if necessary, by clicking the print icon on the sidebar or at the bottom of the article.

If you are planning a trip and have any questions, please feel free to ask and we’ll be happy to help!

Leslie Robinson Post author

September 19, 2019 at 3:18 pm

Thank you Jessica for this wonderful blog about the River Plantations in Louisiana. We have seen several of these plantations before, but we are planning a “first trip” to NOLA and the plantations for some friends. Your writing is clear and concise and the information is exactly what I needed. I rarely leave comments, but just wanted to be sure to say “Thank you” for your efforts!

September 20, 2019 at 6:04 am

Hi Leslie, So happy you found our River Road plantation helpful in assisting your friends in planning their visit to New Orleans – we appreciate you taking the time to leave us a comment! We are excited that we will be back in the area in Spring ourselves 😉 Best, Jessica

J Lawson Post author

July 11, 2018 at 5:18 am

I really enjoyed this article. I did this river road drive in 1987 so reading this brought back some great memories. We did only tour 2 plantations, Oak Alley & Nottaway, but we stopped & took photos outside all the others. I also took pics of each historical sign. I did notice you did not mention Indian Camp. I had never heard of it till the day we drove that road. Though a tour would not be on the agenda, it is def. worth stopping for a photo & pic of the historic sign. Thanks for the memory refresh with this read.

July 11, 2018 at 5:30 am

Hi there, Yes, so happy you enjoyed our River Road Planatations post and that it brought back some good memories. Many of these plantations have been restored and opened to the public since 1987, and the tours have definitely changed a bit over the years.

I think for Indian Camp, you are referring to the old Woodlawn Plantation (often called Indian Camp). The sugar plantation would later become part of the leprosy hospital in Carville which is definitely an interesting place to visit! It was open until 2015 but since then part of it has been opened to the public as the National Hansen’s Disease Museum . We actually saw a play about the hospital museum performed a couple of years ago at Edinburgh Fringe. So if you ever go back, it would definitely be worth a stop!

Patty Soriano Post author

August 1, 2017 at 1:33 pm

Hi! I’m glad I found a link to your information on Pinterest. When I have a little more time I will go back and read everything more carefully. When we first decided to take a trip to louisiana, one thing on our list was visiting a plantation. I started reading on TripAdvisor about those we might choose. Although there were a lot of good reviews, there were also enough terrible reviews for each place that couldn’t be ignored. There were many issues, which disturb me, but one consistent was that people felt like they were being herded through the house quickly. Sometimes the tour groups were so large that the last people to reach a room did not get to hear what the guide was saying because they wouldn’t wait for the people to get there. I’d like to know if you ran into any issues where you would warn us against that particular place. I apologize if I am asking something that someone else has already asked, or if you have addressed it elsewhere. You have given us so much to digest and I hope to get through it as soon as I can. I appreciate your information.

August 1, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Hi Patty, Glad you found our Louisiana Plantation guide from Pinterest! Yes, there is a pretty comprehensive guide to the 12 plantations we visited along the River Road, and can take a while to read and digest, but it should give you a good idea of the plantation(s) that you might want to visit on your trip. Now we never experienced not being able to hear or have time to see rooms during any of our tours, but I could imagine that happening in a couple of plantations during their busiest times. In terms of crowds, some of the plantations get a lot more visitors than others. For instance, Nottoway, Oak Alley, Laura, Houmas House, & Destrehan Plantation are probably the most popular and draw the biggest crowds and run back-to-back tours throughout the day. In the article, we’ve tried to indicate the crowd sizes under each plantation but of course this is going to vary a bit by day and time of the year. I will say that Oak Alley has one of the shortest and busiest house tours so that may be one you want to avoid and Laura was also busy although the tour lasted longer. We were alone or only joined by a couple of other people at some of the plantations: Magnolia Mound, St. Joseph, Evergreen, San Francisco, and Destrehan but all these can also be very busy at times, especially if a bus of people arrive for a tour. If you stay at Ormond Plantation, you can ask to arrange a personal tour for free – lovely walk around the house and property. Our advice would be to choose the plantation(s) you really want to go to and try to make their first tour of the day (or alternatively their last tour of the day) as these tend to be less crowded and the bus tours are not normally there yet. If you find that you are joining a very crowded tour, ask to wait and go on the next one. Being flexible with your time can be key as when we were at Destrehan, a giant group of schoolchildren had just arrived and were put on the tour in front of us, but we were given a tour just to ourselves as we were the only ones left for the last tour of the day. Hope this helps! Best, Jessica

August 5, 2017 at 12:44 pm

Thank you, Jessica. I’ll be taking everything you say into consideration. Chances are we won’t ever have another trip to NOLA, so we want everything to be as good as we can plan it for this time. Living in Texas, we have the same nasty hot, humid weather that Louisiana has, so we know not to go during the worst months. We’re hoping to find some cooler weather in the fall, and maybe the crowds and tour groups won’t be as large then either. Thanks so much for all the information. Wish we could see all of them as you did, but maybe we’ll do two since we’ll be out there!

August 5, 2017 at 6:58 pm

Wishing you a wonderful trip to Louisiana and NOLA! ~ Jessica

Joanie Long Post author

July 11, 2017 at 1:47 pm

Traveling through this area on my way to Fort Walton Beach, Florida for a beach vacation. Wanted to tour one or two plantation homes, but had no idea which. Other articles I read didn’t help me much at all, but this one was perfect! I read every word of it, and I have now narrowed down my choices somewhat. Thanks so much for such a fun and informing article. Wish I was a travel writer!!!

July 12, 2017 at 5:58 pm

Hi Joanie, Glad you found our guide to Louisiana plantations along the River Road helpful – we put a lot of research & time into the article. Hope you have a wonderful trip through Louisiana on your way to Florida – and thanks for taking the time to comment. We always love to hear that our information or photos helped someone! Best, Jessica

Nicole Post author

April 30, 2017 at 1:11 pm

I’ll be in New Orleans for a couple of days next month and a trip to a plantation house is definitely on the list and this makes it so much easier to choose. So, thank you so much for writing it all down so nicely — the excitement is growing even more.

Greetings from Germany!

April 30, 2017 at 1:25 pm

Hi Nicole, Glad that this article helped boost your excited for your upcoming trip to New Orleans! It is easy to plan a trip to a plantation house if you will be in New Orleans for 2-3 days – you can either rent a car, join a bus tour, or hire a driver. Coming from Germany, you might want to visit one of the homes with a Germany connection like San Francisco Plantation (many of the families had German or French ancestry). Within New Orleans itself (can be reached via public transit or car), you might also want to visit Longue Vue House and Gardens which is not a plantation house but a nice historical home with pretty gardens. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! Happy travels, Jessica

Candice Post author

April 14, 2017 at 7:52 am

Thank you so much for your wonderful post! I was especially happy to see a photo of Susan, a guide at Houmas House!! She was our guide several years ago, and she was a blessing to spend time with. SO happy to see she is still a guide at Houmas House and doing well!

April 14, 2017 at 7:55 am

Hi Candice, Glad you enjoyed our post on the Louisiana plantations! Yes, Susan is still guiding at Houmas House (or at least as of last Feb.) and was a delight. She was recommended to us by others as well and is definitely an entertaining guide! Happy travels, Jessica

Ann Post author

April 4, 2017 at 4:04 pm

Wow! So glad I found this. You have done such a wonderful job and I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the fascinating information.

I would love to see some of the plantation homes with my daughters. Perhaps a future trip.

I have only visited Houmas House. It was many years ago. Of course I was terrified by “Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte” as a child & this was part of the lure. I am sad to say that I don’t think I like the remodel of the house, from what I can see in the photos. When we visited I remember wallpaper? Not sure if it was original, but I believe it was in the foyer or area with the staircase. Some sort of mural type wallpaper. The current owner’s taste looks rather tacky (good southern word). A shame. I would still love to revisit the place.The tour sounds like it has improved.

I picture our trip being on a long weekend. We live outside Houston and I am wondering if we could fly into Baton Rouge and leave via New Orleans.

Also wondering out of all the plantations where you can stay overnight, which two you most recommend?

We may have to narrow it down a bit. Not sure we can cover this many plantations in such a short time. If we had to choose only six, which would those be? I know, very hard decision.

Thank you again for your wonderful article.

April 5, 2017 at 4:30 pm

Hi Ann, Glad you found our article on the River Road plantations in Louisiana helpful in planning your next trip. Yes, I think that the Houmas House has definitely changed with the new owner and he is a dog lover and a collector of lots of things – I think it would be interested for your to revisit the property to see it again.

Let’s see – yes I think flying into one city and out another (Baton Rouge and New Orleans) is a good way to do it or since the two aren’t too far apart you could probably do a round trip if it saves you on rental car return. I would definitely not recommend visiting all of these, especially if you only have a few days to visit. If your trip is only going to concentrate on plantations (not visiting New Orleans or Baton Rouge) you could easily do six plantations in 2-3 days but you’ll need to plan ahead as not all are open daily. But I would choose 2-3 each day you want to visit and then really spend time visiting them with leisurely meals in between. For an overnight stay, I would choose one of the grander and more popular plantations for one night (Oak Alley, Houmas House, or Nottoway Plantation) and a lesser known plantation for the other (Ormond or Poché) – I would base this partially on your route and where you plan to visit each day so you don’t have to backtrack too much. You might also want to do at least one stay where you actually get to stay in the main house (e.g., Nottoway, Ormond, or Poché).

In terms of which six, it really depends a lot on your particular interests. Are you interested in romanticized plantations, costumed guides, slavery, antiques, craft demonstrations? Looking for lesser visited plantations to escape the tour buses? I would recommend trying out ones that are going to be different from one another – so for example Magnolia Mound Plantation for its history and antiques, Destrehan for its history and craft demonstrations, San Francisco for its unique architecture, Laura for its focus on the people that lived in the house, Houmas House for its gardens and restaurant, St. Joseph for being a working plantation, Whitney for its focus on slavery, Nottoway or Oak Alley for its beauty, Evergreen for most intact plantation, etc. Read my descriptions and just choose the ones that sound best to you, no reason to go to a plantation that doesn’t look or sound interesting to you personally! I have good memories from all of them actually as I love learning new thing and visiting new places – they are just different. One place that sticks in my mind is probably St. Joseph Plantation, just because you often get a tour from people whose family lived in the house and still work on the plantation. It felt very authentic.

Happy travels! Jessica

Col. William Thornton Post author

March 29, 2017 at 3:09 pm

I am very intent on acquiring an enlarged c-print of your evening photograph of Oak Alley Plantation’s Great House, as seen through the darkening entrance of its magnificent oak trees. When convenient, please provide a cost for a minimum crop size of approximately 19″w x 17″h mounted to a masonite panel.

Col. Will Thornton, USMCR, Ret.

March 30, 2017 at 3:20 am

Dear Col. Thornton, We are happy to sell you a copy of the Oak Alley photo although it would probably be best if you had it printed locally rather than us printing it here. We have emailed you about buying the Oak Alley print. Please let me know if for any reason, you do not receive that email. Best, Jessica

Olivia Maddox Post author

March 20, 2017 at 5:49 pm

Thank you for such an informative, well-written guide on these homes. You provide much more detailed information than the tourism bureaus. My husband and I–plus our dog–are RVing to Mississippi and Louisiana to visit Vicksburg, Natchez and the River Road plantations in April. Oak Alley was definitely on our list but we were unsure which other homes to visit. Your guide will be so helpful as we make our picks. I appreciate that you took so much time to write and compile this much information, particularly noting special interests such as history, architecture and photography. I look forward to reading more from you in the future–you ‘re now a “go-to” reference!

March 22, 2017 at 1:56 pm

Hi Olivia, Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, we greatly appreciate people taking the time to provide feedback. We are so happy you enjoyed this blog post and found the information so useful! Those are some great places to visit and we hope to get to Vicksburg and Natchez soon but did not have time to include Mississippi on our last road trip. There are a number of River Road plantations in Louisiana and being able to see a few different ones I think gives you a broader perspective than only visiting one of them. Oak Alley is definitely one of the most popular, but we also enjoyed visiting some of the lesser known ones (St. Joseph Plantation was one of our favorites) and ones that focused more on things like history & the lives of the slaves and tenants. Best of luck on your road trip! Happy travels, Jessica

Bohuna Hendrych Post author

February 13, 2017 at 5:40 pm

What a fantastic article. We were planning to see only one plantation. After reading your detailed information we will have to book one more night in New Orleans and see more plantations. Thanks for helping us to make decision.

February 13, 2017 at 7:22 pm

Hi Bohuna, Glad you found our River Road Plantation guide useful! Yes, there are a lot of plantations that you can visit. You can’t see them all in 2 days, but you should be able to visit several of them and get some variety 😉 Enjoy your trip to New Orleans! ~ Jessica

Jo Post author

November 26, 2016 at 6:05 pm

Thank you for a thorough review of our area. I will be sharing on our social media. I have the pleasure of working with the majority of these homes and owners. Thank you for sharing our history and the beautiful pictures! This is wonderful – you really did your homework!

travelcats Post author

November 26, 2016 at 10:27 pm

Thanks Jo, glad you enjoyed this post and thanks for sharing it on social media. We did definitely take our time and visited most of the area’s plantations to make this New Orleans Plantation Guide! Best, Jessica

Debbie Carter Post author

August 14, 2016 at 10:39 pm

When can I find a map to plot our trip.

August 15, 2016 at 11:05 am

Hi Debbie, First I figured out which plantations I wanted to visit and then I used all the addresses (all are included in the blog post) and plotted it out on Google Maps first to get a sense of the order and how long between each plantation. Then we used a combination of GPS and a paper map from the New Orleans Planation Country to get around. You can get a copy of the visitor guide with area map here (they can mail it, you can pick it up, or download a digital copy): http://visitnopc.com/request-a-visitors-guide/ Hope this helps! Best, Jessica

beatravelling Post author

July 17, 2016 at 1:31 pm

Always wanted to visit this part of the US. Looks amazing!

July 17, 2016 at 1:54 pm

Earlier this year, we did a month long road trip through parts of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana and had a great time. Can’t wait to return! ~ Jessica

Clare (Suitcases and Sandcastles) Post author

July 10, 2016 at 4:06 am

Such a useful and fascinating guide to the plantations of Louisiana. Your pictures are as wonderful as ever. I think your tips are particularly helpful especially with regard to the sensitivity needed when visiting these plantations. I’m surprised to read that most don’t focus much on the slavery aspect of plantation life. I would love to visit some of these.

July 10, 2016 at 4:24 am

Hi Clare, Thanks, yes, we found in reading plantation reviews that there were many comments about people (especially African American visitors) feeling uncomfortable during tours or feeling like other guests (or even staff) made ignorant/inappropriate remarks. Until relatively recently, most plantations focused very little on slavery and most of the slavery related exhibits at plantations are fairly recent. The opening of Whitney Plantation has increased focus on the role of slavery at many of the other River Road plantations. But I think many visitors don’t want to focus on the heavy topic of slavery while on holiday and they just want to tour a pretty house which is fine, but I do think a good amount of information about the subject should be available for interested visitors at many of the plantations. I would love to see optional guided tours that focus on the role of slavery and African American life (the history of blacks on plantations after the Civil War is often missing) on plantations at some of the plantations with the largest visitor numbers. This is an area that some of these plantations could definitely improve, but there are a handful that do a good job and Whitney is probably the best in the country. Hope you get a chance to explore this area some day! ~ Jessica

Eileen g Post author

July 9, 2016 at 3:34 pm

12 is a lot of plantations to visit! You do a great job differentiating them so this is a great guide. Those with grounds are sometimes the best ones for younger kids, who don’t do so well on house tours.

July 9, 2016 at 4:26 pm

Hi Eileen, Yes, 12 plantations was so many, but I am glad all the work went into making such a comprehensive guide! Yes, I think younger kids may get bored during a house tour but many older kids seemed to be enjoying them when we visited. I think some of the longer tours may be difficult especially. Houmas House has a lot of area to run around in and some beautiful gardens and you can pay to just visit the gardens. However, most plantations the entry price includes everything so if you don’t do the house tour, it would be paying a lot to gain entry to just the grounds. We don’t have children but a few others that come to mind: Oak Alley has a lot of space to run around and the tour is fairly short, Destrehan has the craft demonstrations and outdoor space, and St. Joseph is quite laid back and has picnic tables and areas to run around outside. Families may also enjoy an overnight stay as the cottages on some of the plantations are very well suited for families. ~ Jessica

Ruth Post author

July 9, 2016 at 10:29 am

I have enjoyed the tour through all these plantations. How long it took you to visit them? I know people will visit the plantations for different reasons but I will be interested in the historical aspects of them. You mentioned there were visitors/owners descending from owners and slaves. It will be interesting to heard their stories about the time when plantation where prospering.

July 9, 2016 at 3:59 pm

Hi Ruth, Glad you enjoyed reading about the palntations. We visited these over the course of 4 days I believe. You can easily visit 2 in a day, 3 if you are only spending about 2 hours per plantation as many of them are very close together. We visited these 12 for the purposes of writing this as travel writers but I think as normal visitors, seeing 2-3 would probably be quite enough for one trip:-) Yes, you’ll find that people who are descendants of former owners, staff, slaves, tenant farmers, etc. will sometimes come back and many of course still live in the area. Some are even employed at the plantations. The point is really that you never know. There are some great books out there on plantation life from all sorts of perspectives (the plantation gift shops are full of them) and you might want to check out the WPA Slave Narratives (these are free to read online, although sadly Louisiana did not take part) and the memoirs of Laura Locoul that I mention in the post, as it talks about her experience growing up and running the Laura Plantation. Today, an example of a still working sugar plantation is St. Joseph and many of the staff members are the family owners and the same family has been running it since 1877! ~ Jessica

Stephen Garone Post author

July 6, 2016 at 10:26 am

That is one thorough post! I’ve been to three of these plantations, but you made me want to see the rest! Thanks for sharing.

July 8, 2016 at 11:26 am

Hi Stephen, Yes, I think most people visit 2-3 of the most famous Louisiana planations and never hear about the others. Hope you get a chance to return to the area! ~ Jessica

Randy Post author

July 5, 2016 at 8:09 pm

Thank You for including the lesser known plantations such as Poche Plantation and it’s RV Resort. Camping on an actual plantation is an experience greatly enjoyed. There is a resturant on Poche grounds as well as an official US Post Office.

July 8, 2016 at 11:24 am

Hi Randy, You’re welcome and sounds like you had have had a good stay at a plantation before! The Convent Post Office is within the fencing of Poche Plantation; however, there is actually not a restaurant at Poche Plantation (at least not when we were there a few months ago). But there are several within a 5-10 minute drive (Hyman’s Seafood Restaurant, Nobile’s Restaurant, B&C Seafood Market & Cajun Restaurant, Subway). Best, Jessica

Anda Post author

July 4, 2016 at 10:02 pm

Thank you for this comprehensive guide of the 12 River Road Plantations. I didn’t get to see but some of them when I was there, but I have to say that reading your post I felt like I visited all of them. This post will definitely be bookmarked for future reference and shared on my FB and Twitter. Lots of valuable information in good photos.

July 5, 2016 at 4:47 am

Hi Anda, You’re very welcome 🙂 I know you have been to New Orleans several times and visited Oak Alley and some other plantations along the River Road. If you return, maybe some of the lesser known plantations may appeal. Thanks so much for sharing, greatly appreciated! ~ Jessica

Seana Turner Post author

July 4, 2016 at 6:42 pm

I’ve not been to the Louisiana plantations… what a thorough review of all there is to see! I have been to a couple in SC, and I have to say that I found the experience remarkable. It touched me in a variety of ways, from learning about the lifestyle, to seeing the truth of what it took to run these operations, and to simply experiencing the way many Americans lived their lives. They are both beautiful and touching at the same time. History never disappoints!

July 5, 2016 at 4:45 am

Hi Seana, Yes, there are some great historical plantations and homes in SC as well! I love historical homes of any kind and learning about the history of each of these places–the good, the bad, and the sad–was very interesting. I would definitely not recommend visiting all 12 of these (we did it for the purposes for writing this guide obviously) but I would definitely recommending visiting more than one as they each have a different feel. People have such varying interests (e.g., architecture, gardening, photography, history of slavery, Creole culture) and hopefully this guide will help visitors choose the places that are best for them rather than just choosing the most popular ones. ~ Jessica

Marcia Post author

July 4, 2016 at 1:45 pm

Wow, this is an amazing post, chock full of valuable information! I read about the Whitney earlier this year and have been thinking of visiting, hopefully before the summer ends. Thanks for such a detailed post, I’m bookmarking it to help me plan my trip. Thanks again!

July 4, 2016 at 4:40 pm

Hi Marcia! Thanks, glad this was helpful and I hope you make a visit to Whitney Plantation. It can be a really powerful experience and a very sad one at the same time, but also quite informative. Whitney has one of the longer tours and the majority of the tour is outdoors, so if you can time it so that it is not unbearably hot and humid, it can make for a much more pleasant experience:) You can carry water bottles during the tour but no other drinks/food. If you do have a date and time in mind, you can book tickets to Whitney in advance on their website as they do sometimes sell out a tour time, especially in high season. Happy travels! ~ Jessica

J R (Bob)Brown Post author

August 2, 2018 at 3:08 pm

Can I get your opinion on the best 3 day tour. Friend and I are very interested in visiting, especially from a historical perspective. Probably in September. What’s a good starting point? Somewhat familiar with the area. Bob Brown

August 2, 2018 at 4:22 pm

It would be easy to see a lot of these Louisiana plantations in 3 days.

-If you are asking about a guided tour, you’d have to arrange a private one as the group ones offered are just day tours from New Orleans.

-If you are asking about a self-guided tour, I’d recommend starting in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans and then just following the River Road, to the other city. The map in the article shows you all the locations so you can plan your route. In terms of time, you can visit 2 to 3 plantations each day without being too rushed, and just choose the ones that sound most appealing. All of the River Road plantations offer some great historical info, but the ones that stood out a bit more from a historical perspective were Destrehan Plantation (probably the one with the most documented history), Magnolia Mound Plantation, Evergreen Plantation, San Francisco Plantation, Laura Plantation, Whitney Plantation, and St. Joseph Plantation.

-I’d also recommend taking in some of the other local history as you go through by stopping in the some of the towns. One great history stop is the National Hansen’s Disease Museum in Carville which is located on a former plantation. The site is across the river from Nottoway Plantation. There is also the River Road African American Museum in Donaldsville. Some great historical sites in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans as well of course!

Hope this helps – let me know if you have further questions!

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The 3 best new orleans plantation tours.

Learn about the Big Easy's role in slavery on one of these daytrips.

Best New Orleans Plantation Tours

Slave quarters with large bowls in front of the house

Courtesy of New Orleans Kayak Swamp Tours

Whitney Plantation's exhibits are largely devoted to the lives of the enslaved people who worked on the property hundreds of years ago.

Known for its Creole cuisine, Mardi Gras festivities and iconic architecture, New Orleans has something to offer every traveler, especially history buffs. The area's antebellum plantations offer a look at the lives of enslaved workers, how local landowners ran their farms using – and profiting off – the labor of the enslaved and how agriculture impacted New Orleans.

Picking the right tour means more than picking a plantation close to your hotel. (Many plantations are located within an hour's drive of the French Quarter .) You'll want to find a tour where first-person accounts depicting the brutal conditions enslaved workers had to endure are the focus. These stories help to provide a more complete picture of plantation life and provide context for why plantation owners were able to afford the luxurious mansions preserved on the property. Additionally, look for plantations that emphasize researching about the lives of enslaved workers, plantations that do not host weddings and those that employ descendants of former slaves.

Not sure where to start? Begin at Evergreen Plantation. This research-focused property is not open to the public, but you can explore its comprehensive website to learn more about the lives of the enslaved men, women and children who were forced to work on the plantation. Visitors can also peruse a slavery database, read biographies of slaves who labored at Evergreen and take a virtual tour.

Taking into account the above criteria – as well as traveler opinion and expert sentiment – U.S. News identified some of the top New Orleans plantation tours.

Gray Line – Whitney Plantation Tour

Price: Adults from $79; kids from $39 Duration: 5.5 hours

Opened to the public in 2014, Whitney Plantation offers a distinct look at the enslaved people who lived and worked at the site more than 200 years ago. This Gray Line tour, which lasts about 5.5 hours, allows access to museum exhibits, artwork and recorded first-person slave narratives. Reviewers say this tour is particularly powerful and important and describe it as a must-do activity. They also appreciate the bus drivers who share more tidbits of information on the drive to Whitney.

Tours depart Wednesday through Monday at noon and 1 p.m. Ticket prices start at $79 for adults and $39 for children 12 and younger. Gray Line offers other plantation tours, ghost tours, swamp tours and more.

View & Book Tickets: Viator | GetYourGuide

Two statues of enslaved children on front porch

New Orleans Kayak Swamp Tours – Whitney Plantation & Swamp Kayak Tour Combo

Price: From $195

Duration: 8 hours

Travelers say this daylong tour is a wonderful way to experience two must-do New Orleans attractions. Half the tour is a kayak trip through Manchac Swamp to see cypress trees and local wildlife while learning about the history of the area. The other half is a moving visit to Whitney Plantation, where the experiences of enslaved workers are the main focus. In between the activities, you'll stop for lunch (at your own expense).

Fees start at $195 per person, regardless of age, and tours begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday through Monday. Transportation to and from New Orleans (pickup is near Frenchmen Street) is included. The company says the paddle is suitable for beginner kayakers. It also offers kayak excursions through Honey Island Swamp, among other options.

View & Book Tickets: New Orleans Kayak Swamp Tours

Legendary Tours – Laura Plantation Tour

Price: Adults from $79; kids from $45 Duration: 5.5 hours

Named for Laura Lucoul, a Creole member of the family who owned the plantation, Laura Plantation allows visitors not only to explore the lives of enslaved workers on the property, but to also learn more about Louisiana's Creole heritage. During this half-day outing with Legendary Tours, travelers will explore the plantation in depth, view slave quarters, see the great house and much more. Tourgoers commend their drivers and say the guides at Laura Plantation are excellent.

Tours last about 5.5 hours and operate Wednesday to Monday beginning at 10 a.m. (though keep in mind, transportation pickup starts at 8 a.m.) Tickets start at $79 for adults and $45 for children 5 to 12; kids 4 and younger explore for free. Fees include round-trip transportation from select areas of New Orleans. Legendary Tours also offers tours exploring other area plantations.

View & Book Tickets: Legendary Tours

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Plantation Tours

Beautiful mansions along the banks of the mississippi river take visitors back in time.

The Antebellum south comes to life at the many plantations that line the Mississippi River, a throwback to the city’s agrarian past. Located as close as an hour outside of New Orleans, you can tour these stately mansions and hear stories from all perspectives, from the famous local families that built and owned them to the views of the slaves who worked there. Learn why the kitchens are not part of the main house and find out how residents lived in comfort before air-conditioning. Many of the plantations serve lunch so you can make a day of it or just visit one or two. Some offer overnight accommodations with dinner and breakfast. For a list of tour companies that offer plantation tours see below. For a list of plantations, see here .

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HISTORY & LEGACIES

Whitney plantation, the plantation every american should visit, -national geographic.

THE WHITNEY INSTITUTE EDUCATES THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE HISTORY AND LEGACIES OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES

Whitney Plantation (legal name The Whitney Institute) is a non-profit museum dedicated to the history of the Whitney Plantation, which operated from 1752-1975 and produced indigo, sugar, and rice as its principal cash crops. The museum preserves over a dozen historical structures, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Whitney Plantation Historic District.

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Your support matters, in these uncertain times, our mission continues., @follow us on instagram, whitney plantation on social media, events & seminars, whitney plantation events, temporary exhibit on view march through november 2024, extractivism.

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CALL US TODAY

(225) 265-3300

5099 LOUISIANA HWY 18 EDGARD, LA 70049

[email protected]

494 Hopsewee Rd., Georgetown, SC 29440 | Phone: (843) 546-7891

Call to book • Book online • Email us • Get directions

Join us TUESDAY, Jan. 16 AS WE REOPEN FOR the 2024 Season!

Photo by Alan Sherlock

Experience Southern History at Hopsewee Plantation

Built circa 1740, some 40 years before the American Revolutionary War, Hopsewee Plantation was one of the South’s major rice plantations and the birthplace of Thomas Lynch, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Now privately owned, this National Historic Landmark—midway between Myrtle Beach and Charleston in the heart of South Carolina’s Lowcountry—reopens to the public for the 2024 season Tuesday, Jan. 16 until mid-December. We close for weddings and special events , so please check our calendar when booking for availability.

book online

CAll to book

Take two popular tours together and save with our new package deal!

Brand new hopsewee house tour and gullah geechee presentation package deal 1 hour 45 minutes; tues–sat at 10:00 am, 11:00 am, 12:00 pm, 1:15 pm & 2:15 pm.

Historic House Tour Explore the home from room to room, including the two original slave cabins that still stand on the grounds. Learn about the rich history of Hopsewee, its previous families as well as its current owners, the Beatties, and the enslaved who lived and worked on the plantation.

Gullah Geechee Presentation Join us as we expand the narrative about the experience of the enslaved West Africans on this historic plantation to include their contributions to the wealth and influence of colonial South Carolina through their knowledge, ingenuity, and labor that helped build our nation.

Buy tickets online or call (843) 546-7891 . Please contact us for groups of 10 or more.

Hopsewee Historic Landmark House Tour 50 minutes; Tues.–Sat., 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, & 3 pm

Explore the home from room to room, including the two original slave cabins that still stand on the grounds. Learn about the rich history of Hopsewee, its previous families as well as its current owners, the Beatties, and the enslaved who lived and worked on the plantation. During your visit, make sure to enjoy the mossy oaks and river vista. Afterwards, enjoy lunch or tea at our River Oak Cottage , ranked as one of the state's top tea rooms. Buy tickets online or call (843) 546-7891 . Please contact us for groups of 10 or more.

NEW ! Hopsewee Historical Museum Self-guided; Tues.–Sat., 10 am-4 pm

Learn about the enslaved individuals who lived here as we present some of Hopsewee’s missing history through archaeological investigation and research. What we have learned is presented here so that all may have a better understanding of what life was like for those who were forcefully brought here, who were born here, who lived, loved, labored and died here and even, perhaps, sometimes laughed here. Click to learn more or make a reservation .

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Gullah Geechee presentation 30 minutes; Tues.–Sat., 11:15 am, 12:15 pm, 1:15 pm, & 2:15 pm Takes place in our Slave Cabin Dwelling

Join historians Vennie Deas Moore as we expand the narrative about the experience of the enslaved West Africans on this historic plantation to include their contributions to the wealth and influence of colonial South Carolina and how their knowledge, ingenuity, and labor help to build this nation.

Folklorist and cultural preservationist Deas Moore is the 2020 winner of South Carolina’s 2020 Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award recognizing the work of those in the state keeping traditional arts alive. Her presentation focuses on the experience of the West African enslaved rice growers in the plantation’s fields.

Sweetgrass Basketweaving CLASS

3 hours; Thursdays at 1:00 pm

Sweetgrass baskets are a Lowcountry tradition dating back to the 1700s, when they were brought to the United States by West African slaves. Handmade of tightly coiled strands of bundled grass, these strong yet supple baskets played an important role on southern rice plantations and today are treasured for their artistry and cultural significance.

Discover more about sweetgrass baskets and learn this unique craft in a hands-on class with instructor Vera Manigault . An eighth-generation weaver and Gullah descendant, Manigault is from Mount Pleasant, SC, one of the main areas where baskets are still made, and has been featured in national magazines and on television shows. Read more about her in an article about this important art form .

Hopsewee Ghost Tours

50 minutes; Wednesdays at 5:00 pm

Go back in time and experience Haunted Tales at Hopsewee Plantation, presenting stories of author and storyteller Elizabeth Robertson Huntsinger . She’s given hundreds of programs on the history and ghostly legends of Georgetown County as a Historical Interpreter for over 25 years. She has several books to date as author of Ghosts of Georgetown , More Ghosts of Georgetown , and Georgetown Mysteries and Legends , which you can buy in our gift shop or in our online shop .

Arrive a little earlier for Wine by the River Wednesdays ! Enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres as you browse the Hopsewee gift shop and get your book purchases signed by the authors.

Art of Indigo Dyeing Workshop 2.5 hours; Thursdays and Saturdays at 11:00 am

Experience the magic of creating with all-natural indigo! Learn more about this important part of Lowcountry culture and history, right here at the Hopsewee, built by indigo baron and Winyah Indigo Society’s first president Thomas Lynch, Sr.

Rice was the second major crop at Hopsewee. Indigo was the first cash crop for the plantation, the dye from which was used to color the uniforms of English soldiers. All-natural indigo dyeing basics are covered as you create a bandanna, a tea towel and a tote to take home.

Eat and Drink

English tradition meets southern charm at the River Oak Cottage Tea Room , with a full menu of Lowcountry favorites, sweet and savory treats and a variety of teas. Reservations recommended.

Plan an Event

With beautiful and bucolic wooded grounds along the peaceful North Santee River, historic Hopsewee provides the picture-perfect backdrop for private parties or your special bridal occasion .

#1 of 51 Things to Do i n Georgetown, SC

According to TripAdvisor Travelers as of November 2023

Sign greeting visitors to the River Oak Cottage Tea Room at Hopsewee. Photo by Mick Schulte.

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Plantation Tours

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Experience History

Plantation Tours near New Orleans

Step back in time and experience the rich tapestry of Louisiana’s past with New Orleans plantation tours. These historic sites, each with their own unique stories and significance, offer a glimpse into the South’s antebellum era, revealing its grandeur, challenges, and undeniable impact on American history.

Oak Alley Plantation

A visit to Oak Alley plantation is a immersive journey into antebellum South. This iconic estate shares its evolution overtime, from a mere land grant on a map to its time as a working sugarcane plantation and to the creation of the nonprofit that owns and operates site. Visitors are invited to explore all facets of this National Historic Landmark through interpretive exhibits including the Slavery at Oak Alley, the “Big House”, the East & West Gardens, and various other exhibits and points of interest.

Other Planation Tours near New Orleans

Laura Plantation

Houmas House Plantation

St. Joseph Plantation

Nottoway Plantation

Destrehan Plantation

Whitney Plantation

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Facing America’s traumatic history head-on through tourism

D ARROW, La. — The grand old homes that sit along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans — an area called Plantation Country — are filled with tales that stretch back hundreds of years. But the history and the stories that are shared vary wildly depending on which plantation you visit.

At Houmas House , an 1829 Greek Revival mansion flanked by manicured gardens, a tour guide walked visitors through the high-ceilinged rooms on a recent gray afternoon. The house was brimming with pricey antiques and cases of shiny bric-a-brac. The guide stopped to show tourists a room where Bette Davis slept during the filming of 1964′s “Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte” and pointed to the lawn featured in a scene from 2018′s “Green Book.”

What the guide did not talk about were the more than 800 enslaved people at Houmas House who were forced to work in Louisiana’s dangerous sugar trade. At one point, Houmas had more enslaved people than any other plantation in Louisiana.

“This tour isn’t about that,” the guide said when asked about the plantation’s enslaved population. Instead, he dispensed more than an hour of “Gone with the Wind”-style revisionist feel-good history about plantation life filtered through a lens of moonlight and magnolias.

But increasingly, those romanticized narratives of a genteel antebellum South are being stripped away. Plantations along the serpentine River Road in Louisiana and throughout the South are increasingly sharing what life was like for enslaved individuals. Some plantations have only just begun incorporating those brutal and traumatic histories into their tours. Others, like the Whitney Plantation , have taken the lead by showing plantation life from the perspective of those who were enslaved.

The 234-year-old Whitney Plantation is located in Louisiana’s Plantation Country, but despite its proximity to other plantations, its mission is worlds apart from its neighbors. There’s no air of sentimentality or mint juleps. The nonprofit Whitney offers a clear-eyed view of what life was like for its 350 enslaved inhabitants. The 14-room “big house,” as it’s called on plantations, has been stripped of its ornate furnishings. Unlike most plantation tours that focus on the main house, the emphasis at the Whitney is the world outside of those walls.

It’s an emotional experience. Tour guides give visitors an unflinching description of what life was like, from the heat of the outdoor kitchen to the cramped, rough-hewn cypress cabins that would have housed up to a dozen workers each. The emotion carries over into the art, which includes life-size sculptures of the children who were enslaved here, a wall of more than 100,000 names of the enslaved who lived in Louisiana, along with a more visceral and jarring art installation that pays tribute to those killed in the 1811 Slave Revolt .

Absorbing the information and hearing about the brutality can be overwhelming. But, as the executive director of the Whitney points out, it’s a large part of US history that many of us were never taught or couldn’t fully grasp from textbooks.

“I think people should visit plantations,” said Ashley Rogers, executive director of the Whitney. “And I think the reason you should visit plantations is because you need to understand our history. Our nation became powerful in part, in significant part, because of the forced labor of Africans and African descent people that we put to work on and off plantations. Slavery is not just plantations, slavery was everywhere. It was the fuel of our early economy, our early republic. So there’s no way to understand the United States today without understanding a plantation. Period.”

The Whitney Plantation is unique in that it never operated as a place for tourists before its current incarnation. It was purchased by New Orleans attorney John Cummings in 1999 after it had fallen into disrepair. He spent $8 million and 15 years creating Louisiana’s only slave museum. It’s now a nationally heralded example of an ethical way to show plantation life.

“I do think that we’ve influenced other sites,” Rogers said. “There are more plantations that are telling the story differently, from both sides. But our focus is different. Our mandate is really helping people understand the slave trade, helping people understand slavery, and how the story of what happened here fits into the wider story of our country.”

About 30 minutes from the Whitney, guides at Laura Plantation spend equal time talking about the Creole families that owned the plantation and the people who were enslaved there. On an overcast morning earlier this month, a guide leading the tour at Laura didn’t shy away from talking about the physical and psychological abuse that was part of daily life.

By the end of the hourlong tour, one woman was fighting back tears.

If all of this sounds overwhelming — and it is — keep in mind that many tours also touch on the resilience of generations of enslaved people.

“I think there are amazing stories to learn at these places,” said Braden Paynter, director for methodology and practice at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience . His organization works with historical sites around the world, including several plantations. “There are things that you can learn about the hardships, but also about the incredible capacity of humans to find their way through really hard times and build love and family.”

The grander houses in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South have been slower to adapt. Many of them derive their income from hosting weddings, or from restaurants and lodging. Nottoway Plantation, which bills itself as Nottoway Resort , provides visitors with more information about the trees on the property than it does about the enslaved laborers who built the house. Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie has lodging and a restaurant, but it’s also starting to give a broader view of plantation life, including re-creations of cabins. But the focus remains on the ornate big house and its surrounding trees. Tours at Oak Alley end with a stop at the bar to sip a mint julep served in a commemorative glass.

If you have an interest in visiting plantations, there’s an ethical way to do it. Experts say to start by researching a location online. If a plantation’s website includes a database of the people who were enslaved, along with information about the big house and its occupants, there’s a good chance you’ll hear a broader perspective on plantation life. Websites that include images of tour guides in period garb or focus on weddings and events will likely present a whitewashed version of the history. Paynter advises building extra time into your schedule after visiting a plantation to process and reflect on what you’ve learned.

Two plantations are frequently held up as examples of ethical tourism: the Whitney Plantation and McLeod Plantation in Charleston, S.C. The Charleston County Parks and Recreation Department acquired the McLeod Plantation in 2011 and spent years carefully restoring the estate. Historian Toby Smith , who gives tours of the former cotton plantation, said initially there was resistance from some in the community who were uncomfortable with the way the history of the plantation was being told.

“When you talk of all of the blood that was shed here, it changes the conversation radically,” Smith said. “You are acknowledging the humanity of the hands that were pricked by the thorns, and the hours and the burnt backs that were bent over in the hot sun. You’re talking about the children who were out there as young as 5 or 6. It brings the story forward in a way that it is almost palpable.”

Back in Louisiana, a pair of sisters who live in the River Parishes, where plantations were once plentiful, have launched the Descendants Project . Their mission is to make life better for the descendants of the enslaved families who live in these primarily Black towns. When the plantations closed, more than 200 petrochemical plants and refineries moved in along the river. Pollution from the factories has resulted in another nickname for Plantation Country: Cancer Alley. Sociologists and environmentalists refer to the scenario as environmental racism. According to a study from Tulane University , Louisiana has the second highest rate of new cancer cases in the nation.

The sisters behind the Descendants Project, Jo and Joy Banner , have been fighting further industrialization here. On top of that, they’ve done something quite remarkable. The siblings, who can trace their roots back 300 years and have ancestors who were enslaved at both Laura and Whitney plantations, acquired a plantation earlier this month. The Banner sisters now own Woodland Plantation in LaPlace. It’s the first time that the plantation has been under Black ownership in its 231-year history.

“Woodland Plantation will be a cultural center,” said Joy Banner. “It’s not just a place for tours. it’s a place for education. The idea is that we are connecting Black history. This is a historic Black community. We’re the foundation of everything. Our people built the infrastructure. Look how much our ancestors contributed. This is a way of owning and celebrating our ancestry.”

The “Children of Whitney” statues are located throughout the Whitney Plantation Museum. They were created by artist Woodrow Nash.

Plantations aren't the only destinations tied to slavery: What to know before visiting

Throughout the South, people can visit plantations and other destinations tied to slavery, but the connections aren’t always clear. They can be in surprising places and look nothing like expected.

“The most important thing for people to remember in much of the eastern seaboard of the United States and in much of the South is that enslaved people – literal captives forced to work under coercion, violence, and torture – contributed to the construction and functioning of more spaces than we regularly discuss,” Laura Rosanne Adderly, an associate professor of History at Tulane University, told USA TODAY. Her specialties include the history of the African diaspora and Black enslavement. “Enslaved people and the fruit of their suffering, the fruit of their literally stolen labor are all over the landscape in the United States and the rest of the Americas.”

Here’s what people visiting these spaces should know.

Plantations as destinations

Sprawling Southern plantations have long attracted visitors with their stately mansions and carefully manicured gardens.

“When you're going through those massive houses and looking at the opulence, just think about what it meant for that to exist at that point in time,” urged Minkah Makalani, director of the Center for Africana Studies and associate professor of History at Johns Hopkins University.

“These were actual sites of enslavement and all the evil and violence that came with it,” he said.

But not every plantation tour centers those experiences. Some former plantations also lean into their lush ambiance, doubling as bed and breakfasts and event venues.

In 2020, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds apologized for holding their 2012 wedding at a former plantation in South Carolina. The couple also donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and pledged to educate themselves after being “uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.”

“That soil is literally soaked in the blood of men, women, children,” Makalani said of plantations. “These places should be seen and held in the same regard as we would hold other sites of massive atrocities and human rights violations,” like Nazi concentration camps or Japanese American incarceration camps from WWII.

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Hidden history

Of course, slavery wasn’t limited to plantations.

“I think there are loose ideas that Black enslavement was 'mostly' confined to agricultural plantations in certain parts of the deep South, or that enslaved people were either at their place of captive work or inhabiting some designated residence as a 'slave cabin' or 'slave quarters.'” Adderly said.

“Some people have no idea that the building that they went to yesterday was a former slave dwelling,” said Joseph McGill, a history consultant for Magnolia Plantation in South Carolina and founder and executive director of the Slave Dwelling Project .

He’s spent more than a dozen years visiting and spending the night in places where enslaved people lived, to draw attention to their continued existence in and out of plain sight.

“If you go to any historic city, you're going to find a lot of slave dwellings being used as a lot of different things,” he said. ”I’ve come across some that have been used as man caves, she sheds , offices, pool houses. I think the worst I’ve come across is they used it as a restroom.” He wasn’t at all surprised by some being offered as Airbnbs , before the company disallowed the practice last summer.

McGill said early on he was adamant that these spaces be preserved solely for historic interpretation, but an experience with a Missouri homeowner changed his perspective.

“In our effort to bring her into our camp … she got so frustrated with us in the process that she tore it down,” he recalled. “So now it’s gone. It can’t be used for anything.”

While he still doesn’t agree with every use of the former dwellings, he said: "These are private properties, and we should allow these owners to do with these buildings as they wish. Now what I ask is the people who inhabited these places, their stories are told. But I think we can better tell those stories if the buildings exist."

Honoring the ancestors

One place that both preserves that history and centers the voices of people who were enslaved is Colonial Williamsburg , which is offering free admission to its historic area on Juneteenth and a number of educational programs all year round.

“Our motto is that the future may learn from the past, and in order for the future to learn from the past, you have to represent the entire past,” said Stephen Seals, manager of Curated Programming for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He noted that 52% of the city’s colonial population was Black and enslaved.

Seals portrays one such historic figure, James Armistead Lafayette , whose service to the Continental Army, while enslaved, helped ensure victory at the critical Battle of Yorktown during the Revolutionary War. At first, interpreting him was tough.

“I cried because I was like, oh my God, there's so much suffering that we still deal with today that I'm having to portray here, and I'm not OK,” Seals said. But a colleague told him something that still fuels him today.

"She said, 'Hold your head up high,'" he recalled. "She said, 'For so long, these people who we are portraying were not allowed to have a voice within society, and we are giving them a voice. We are honoring the ancestors by making sure that now people see them and see them as human beings. We are humanizing the dehumanized.' She said, 'that's an honor, and that's something that you should be very proud of,' and she was right. And I took that to heart."

Among the questions visitors ask him, as Lafayette, is if it was better to be enslaved in the city than on a nearby plantation.

“It's not any better. It's just different,” Seals explained. “Because if you're in the house, you are serving the people that own you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you're working in the fields, yeah, you're working from sunup until sundown, but you usually have Sunday off.”

“It also means that you're living in proximity to the enslavers, to the people that own you, which means that it's much harder for you to be yourself,” he added. ”You're constantly being watched, and you're constantly having to check how you are and what you're doing because there's not really a way for you to get away from the people who own you.”

Seals said he’s had a wide range of reactions from visitors over the years. Some have gotten angry. Some have cried. He said others just didn’t know what to do after learning things weren’t as they had thought.

“As an interpreter, it's not my job to tell someone what to do, but it is my job to help give them the context to figure it out on their own or to help them have that conversation to figure it out,” he said. “That's hard to do. But, oh, is it rewarding when it works.”

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Notable Southern Plantation Tours in the United States
11 Remarkable Southern Plantation Tours in the US
Savannah Georgia Plantation Tours
11 Remarkable Southern Plantation Tours in the US
10 Most Beautiful Historic Southern Plantation Homes You Can Visit
10 Most Beautiful Historic Southern Plantation Homes You Can Visit

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COMMENTS

10 Most Beautiful Historic Southern Plantation Homes You Can Visit
Nottoway Plantation. Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana, is home to the South's largest antebellum mansion. The ornate, Greek and Italianate style mansion is bursting with opulence and demonstrates the vast wealth of prestigious sugarcane planter John Hampden Randolph. Wikimedia Commons: By Bogdan Oporowski.
8 Most Notable Southern Plantation Tours in the United States
History buffs with an interest in the southern part of the United States will enjoy these plantation tours. They offer insight into the history of slave labor, plantation living and how the south evolved into what it is today. 1. Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana. Located in Louisiana, Oak Alley Plantation was first a sugar cane ...
11 Remarkable Southern Plantation Tours in the US
This Plantation in Louisiana was built in 1787 and is located 25 miles away from downtown New Orleans. It was home to successful sugar producers Marie Celeste Robin de Logny and Jean Noel Destrehan. By 1804, fifty-nine enslaved workers lived on the property, producing over 203,000 pounds of sugar.
THE TOP 10 South Carolina Plantation Tours (UPDATED 2024)
Visit Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens on this 4.5-hour tour from Charleston, South Carolina. One of the oldest working plantations in the United States, Boone Hall was founded in 1681 and still grows crops. During your tour led by a guide in period costume, you'll see the plantation's slave quarters and learn about its history and modern-day use.
THE TOP 10 USA Plantation Tours (UPDATED 2024)
Boone Hall Plantation Admission & Tour with Transportation from Charleston. 348. Visit Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens on this 4.5-hour tour from Charleston, South Carolina. One of the oldest working plantations in the United States, Boone Hall was founded in 1681 and still grows crops.
An Ethical Guide to Plantation Tours
Plantation tours range widely, and not all of them center Black voices. ... When Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds had their 2012 wedding at Boone Hall Plantation, in South Carolina, activists ...
Oak Alley Tour with Cajun Encounters
Our tours fill up fast! Call 504.834.1770 or visit our online booking portal to book your tour today. See all New Orleans plantation tour options offered by Cajun Encounters. Oak Alley Plantation is one of the most sought-after plantation tours in the South. Book your tour with Cajun Encounters today!
Visit plantation homes of the South
Laura Plantation. Originally owned by a French-Creole family, the Duparcs, Laura Plantation was established in 1804 and is still set among sugar-cane fields today. Its Big House has a distinctive Creole style, painted in shades of red, green, ocher and gray, with a balcony running along its entire width.
Top-rated historic plantations to visit in the deep south
South Carolina: Millford Plantation in the central part of the state is one of the best-preserved examples of Greek Revival architecture in North America. This jaw-dropping estate is certainly impressive both inside and out. The main house was completed in the early 1840s, and the grounds feature outbuildings such as the laundry room, kitchen ...
10 Notable Southern Plantation Tours in the United States
The south's largest antebellum mansion is Nottoway Plantation. Located in Louisiana northwest of New Orleans and southwest of Baton Rouge, Nottoway is a Greek and Italianate style mansion full of extravagant features and details. ... The plantation offers tours that highlight 250 years of family ownership, emphasizing the dependence on slave ...
9 Historic Plantations You Can Tour In South Carolina
Tour all of these historic plantations in South Carolina for unforgettable experiences. 1. Boone Hall Plantation - Mount Pleasant, SC. Flickr/Angi English. Flickr/denisbin. Boone Hall dates back as far as 1734, although the current main house on the property was constructed in the early 1900s. Still, a visit to Boone Hall is like opening a time ...
South Carolina Historic Homes
For over 75 years, the Prince George Winyah Church Women have hosted the Tour of Historic Plantations and Homes each spring. In this self-guided tour, visitors have a unique opportunity to tour select historic plantations, town homes, and gardens located in and around Georgetown County, South Carolina. Tickets are required, and we recommend you ...
Evergreen Plantation
The most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. ... The Evergreen Plantation tours include the main house as well as the complex's preserved slave quarters and other dependencies. Dating back to 1790, the "Big House" began its existence as a raised Creole house, and was ...
101. Experience a Southern Plantation
Guided tours are available daily except Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The plantation is located at 325 Country Club Drive on James Island, just south of Charleston of U.S. Hwy. 17 ( map ). (843) 795-4386. Middleton Place (circa 1741) is a National Historic Landmark and one of South Carolina's most enduring southern icons.
20 Plantations You Should Visit in the United States
Destrehan Plantation is open seven days a week but remains closed during major holidays from 9 am to 4 pm. The plantation offers guided tours that explain how things were, including the culture, music, and the food. 15. Rose Hill Plantation - Bluffton, South Carolina. Rose Hill was an antebellum plantation home for Dr. John William and his wife.
THE TOP 10 Louisiana Plantation Tours (UPDATED 2024)
297. Soak up the atmosphere of the bayou on this 8-hour cultural tour from New Orleans. Visit the Oak Alley Plantation House, dating from 1837, and view the stately row of 28 evenly spaced mature oaks that line the driveway. Follow your guide, dressed in period costume, through the mansion, the blacksmith shop and the onsite restaurant.
Louisiana Plantations Guide: 12 River Road Plantations
A comprehensive guide to Louisiana Plantations along the River Road. We recently visited 12 Louisiana plantations along Louisiana's River Road between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Louisiana's River Road parallels the east and west banks of the Mississippi River for about 70 miles (about 100 miles of actual road) through the Louisiana parishes of St. Charles, St. John, and St. James.
The 3 Best New Orleans Plantation Tours
Gray Line - Whitney Plantation Tour. Price: Adults from $79; kids from $39. Duration: 5.5 hours. Opened to the public in 2014, Whitney Plantation offers a distinct look at the enslaved people ...
Best New Orleans Plantation Tours
Cheryl Gerber. Nottoway Plantation. The Antebellum south comes to life at the many plantations that line the Mississippi River, a throwback to the city's agrarian past. Located as close as an hour outside of New Orleans, you can tour these stately mansions and hear stories from all perspectives, from the famous local families that built and ...
Whitney Plantation
Whitney Plantation (legal name The Whitney Institute) is a non-profit museum dedicated to the history of the Whitney Plantation, which operated from 1752-1975 and produced indigo, sugar, and rice as its principal cash crops. The museum preserves over a dozen historical structures, many of which are listed on the National Register of Historic ...
Historic Hopsewee Southern Plantation
Gullah Geechee Presentation Join us as we expand the narrative about the experience of the enslaved West Africans on this historic plantation to include their contributions to the wealth and influence of colonial South Carolina through their knowledge, ingenuity, and labor that helped build our nation. Buy tickets online or call (843) 546-7891.
Plantation Tours near New Orleans
Plantation Tours near New Orleans. Step back in time and experience the rich tapestry of Louisiana's past with New Orleans plantation tours. These historic sites, each with their own unique stories and significance, offer a glimpse into the South's antebellum era, revealing its grandeur, challenges, and undeniable impact on American history.
Plantation Tours
Charleston Private Garden Tour. Historian takes guests to her friends' private gardens downtown; ends with High Tea served on Cantonware at Charlestonian's home overlooking the Ashley River. 843.708.2228. Website.
Facing America's traumatic history head-on through tourism
Plantations along the serpentine River Road in Louisiana and throughout the South are increasingly sharing what life was like for enslaved individuals. ... Unlike most plantation tours that focus ...
Plantations aren't the only destinations tied to slavery: What to know
Sprawling Southern plantations have long attracted visitors with their stately mansions and carefully manicured gardens. "When you're going through those massive houses and looking at the ...

10 Most Beautiful Historic Southern Plantation Homes You Can Visit

Pebble Hill Plantation

Evergreen Plantation

Whitney Plantation

Shirley Plantation

Nottoway Plantation

Belle Meade Plantation

Magnolia Plantation

Destrehan Plantation

Belle Grove Plantation

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8 Most Notable Southern Plantation Tours in the United States

History buffs with an interest in the southern part of the United States will enjoy these plantation tours. They offer insight into the history of slave labor, plantation living and how the south evolved into what it is today.

2. Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville, Tennessee

3. Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, South Carolina

4. Destrehan Plantation, Louisiana

Nottoway Plantation, White Castle, Louisiana

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Pebble Hill Plantation, Thomasville, Georgia

Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee

James Madison’s Montpelier, Virginia

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11 Remarkable Southern Plantation Tours in the US

Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, LA

Belle Meade Plantation, Belle Meade, TN

Shirley Plantation, Charles City, VA

Nottoway Plantation, White Castle, LA

Sherwood Forest, Charles City, VA

Pebble Hill Plantation, Thomasville, GA

Whitney Plantation, Edgard, LA

Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, Hermitage, TN

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC

Destrehan Plantation, Destrehan, LA

James Madison’s Montpelier, Montpelier Station, VA

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An Ethical Guide to Plantation Tours

Take plantation tours that center Black voices

Avoid plantations that host weddings

Look for the living descendants of enslaved people

Ask about reparations

Broaden your view of when slavery happened

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Oak Alley Plantation Tour

History of oak alley plantation

Visiting The Plantation

Share the Experience!

Plantation homes of the South

How to fit plantation visits into a wider trip

Which plantations to visit in the South: our recommendations

Laura Plantation

Oak Alley Plantation

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Luxury Georgia & the Carolinas self-drive tour

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