Oak Alley Plantation

Oak Alley Plantation.

On our third full day in Louisiana, we took a tour to Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana. Oak Alley was a fully functioning sugar plantation in the 1800's. The property was founded in 1830, and was purchased by Jacques and Celine Roman in 1836. The mansion was built in 1837, designed in a Greek Revival style, with 28 columns to match the 28 oaks creating an alley up to the property from the river.

The Jacques and Celina ran the plantation until 1848, when Jacques passed away from Tuberculosis at the age of 48. His wife, Celina, then proceeded to drive the plantation's business into the ground, until her son, Henri, took over management in 1859. Celina passed away from pneumonia in early 1866. Later that year, due to the Civil war, and lingering debt, Henri was forced to give up the plantation. It was subsequently put up for auction.

In the intervening years, Oak Alley changed ownership over a half dozen times, and fell into disrepair. It was purchased by Andrew Stewart in 1925 for his wife, Josephine. The couple began the long and laborious task of restoring the house to its original glory. Josephine Stewart created the Oak Alley Foundation in 1966, which allows the house to operated for educational purposes as a non-profit organization.

Tom and I on the second floor veranda.

Oak Alley is not actually considered to be a large plantation house. Although it about 18,000 sq. ft (with the veranda included), it only contained between 6-8 rooms inside. Some plantations houses in the area would have had upwards of 100 rooms in the big house.

Tom and I enjoyed some mint juleps while we were taking our tour through the big house. I think they had real sugar cane syrup in them-- they were delicious!

Reconstructed slave quarters.

The grounds also featured six reconstructed slave quarters. These quarters served as a slavery exhibit that covered the history of Oak Alley from the 1800's through to emancipation. The exhibit features information and artifacts that help depict the lives of the approximate 200 enslaved people who lived and worked at the plantation.

 

Ladybug crawling up a doorframe in the slave quarters.

 

Oak alley.

The oak trees lining this pathway are over 300 years old. Some of the limbs are so large and unwieldy, they are essentially resting on the ground.

Oak leaf.

Tom and I noticed that many of the oak leaves on the ground had these weird fuzzy puffs on them. I'm not sure if it is mold, or some sort of insect egg sack. Either way, we didn't touch them-- just looked!

 Butterfly in the garden.

 I wish we had had a bit more time at the plantation to look around and roam the grounds. We were on a relatively tight timeline since we had taken a bus tour. We missed a few of the stops on the grounds, and we probably would have stopped for a second mint julep, if we'd had the time!

Oak Alley Plantation was definitely the "Grande Dame" of the area.